Paul Mueller is fishing closer to his Naugatuck, Conn., home than he usually gets on the Elite Series. And apparently it feels like home at Cayuga Lake. Mueller added a 4-pound smallmouth to his livewell this morning for his fifth keeper of the day. It gives him 17 1/2 pounds unofficially.
There’s a good smallmouth bass population in Cayuga. At the St. Lawrence River last week, largemouths provided a few key keepers here and there for some contenders, but smallmouths were the money fish. The reverse is true at Cayuga.
Mueller had a 20-pound, 9-ounce Day 1 bag here in 2016, when he finished 24th overall.