Mueller adds a big smallmouth

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.