Matt Herren appears to be in a prime place entering the eighth of nine regular-season stops on the 2019 Bassmaster Elite Series. The Alabama angler moved up from ninth to fifth in the Toyota Angler of the Year standings last week at the St. Lawrence River. And he has a record of success at Cayuga Lake, finishing 12th in 2016 and 10th in 2014.
But Herren was less than confident after three days of practice here. Some of his skepticism was due to Cayuga’s lack of aquatic vegetation after it had been abundant in previous years. But mostly it was because Cayuga is always an unknown until the tournament begins. The 42,000-acre lake “fishes small,” as its glacier-carved origin left few pockets and coves and vast depths up to 435 feet where no bass live.
“In a perfect world, if I could get everything I found in practice to myself, I think I could catch them pretty good,” Herren said. “But you just don’t know. This is the ultimate chess match.
“You never know here because you don’t know who is fishing what. It fishes so small. You don’t know who is going to be fishing on top of who, and what you found that you’ll have to yourself.”