Anyone who knows anything about bass will tell you Chesapeake Bay is a far superior fishery when compared to the Delaware River. But there's a great equalizer in tidal fisheries, and its name is August. Check out these Day 1 comparisons between the Elite Series tournaments held last year in August on the Delaware River and Day 1 yesterday on Chesapeake Bay:
Big bag: Delaware – 16-14; Chesapeake – 17-14 (16-14 is 2nd)
50th place: Delaware – 5-14; Chesapeake – 7-6
No. of zeroes: Delaware – 6, including Kevin VanDam; Chesapeake – 10, including Mike Iaconelli
No. of limits: Delaware – 23 of 106 anglers; Chesapeake – 43 of 107 anglers
Big bass: Delaware – 4-3; Chesapeake – 5-15
By the way, Morizo Shimizu, who enters today in 3rd place with 16-9, was in 2nd place on Day 1 at the Delaware River with 12-2.
Again, the point here is that all tidal-influenced fisheries are tough in August, not that Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River are comparable any other time of the year.
As Iaconelli noted at Wednesday's anglers' meeting, “Wherever we go – the Hudson, the Potomac, the James, here, the Delaware, even the California Delta and the Louisiana Delta, it’s going to be tough in the summertime. Fish are spread throughout the system. There are no big groups. You’ve got to hunt and peck. You’ve got to junk fish.”