With the venue change from Waddington to Clayton and Lake Ontario added to the mix, but Canadian waters eliminated, it’s interesting to compare the first two days from the St. Lawrence River this year to the first two days of the Elite Series event in 2017. Both tournaments were held in late July. Lake Ontario was off-limits in 2017.
The St. Lawrence River was thought to be fishing better then than it is now, but that’s a matter of opinion. And it’s based mostly on the water conditions at the time, not an overall trend on the St. Lawrence, which has been a rising star in smallmouth bass fishing for the past decade.
It would take 90 pounds, 3 ounces over four days to win in 2017, which is second-highest only to the 95-3 in 2018 of the five previous Elite Series events here since 2013.
Once again, on Day 2 the obvious statistic in this comparison is the improvement at the top of the standings this year, based on the top five places. For example, second place was 42-12 in 2017 and 51-12 yesterday. In 2017, 42-0 was fifth and 44-2 was fifth yesterday.. That doesn’t hold down the standings. For example, 31-7 was 75th in 2017 and 25-7 took 75th place yesterday. Could this be the Lake Ontario effect?
“You’re going to work for four-pounders in the river,” said Paul Mueller, the Day 1 and Day 2 leader by ounces over Chris Johnston. “You’re going to work for five-plus-pounders in the lake. That’s the difference.”
We’ll follow this trend over the next two days to see if it holds. And see if the wind allows anglers to keep fishing the massive open waters of Lake Ontario.
| Day 2 | 7/21/17 | 7/24/20 |
| Total anglers | 109 | 86 |
| Limits caught | 104 | 76 |
| % catching limits | 95.4% | 88.4% |
| 1st place | 43-13 | 52-2 |
| 5th place | 42-0 | 44-2 |
| 10th place | 40-3 | 40-7 |
| 25th place | 37-9 | 36-5 |
| 50th place | 34-13 | 30-10 |
| 75th place | 31-7 | 25-7 |
| Big bass | 5-11 | 6-5 |
| Total fish weighed | 532 | 416 |
| Total weight | 1,767-13 | 1,364-13 |
| Ave. wt./bass | 3.32 lbs. | 3.28 lbs. |
| Day 1 | 7/20/17 | 7/23/20 |
| Total angler | 109 | 86 |
| Limits caught | 105 | 83 |
| % catching limits | 96.3% | 96.5% |
| 1st place | 24-5 | 27-1 |
| 5th place | 21-14 | 24-2 |
| 10th place | 21-7 | 21-4 |
| 25th place | 19-9 | 19-0 |
| 50th place | 18-0 | 16-0 |
| 75th place | 15-7 | 12-7 |
| Big bass | 6-1 | 7-13 |
| Total fish weighed | 537 | 423 |
| Total weight | 1,855-1 | 1,443-11 |
| Ave. wt./bass | 3.45 lbs. | 3.41 lbs. |