From Greg DiPalma’s success on a Carolina rig to Brian Snowden’s Day 2 big bass of 5-13 on a spybait, there has been an unusually wide variety of key lures on the St. Lawrence River this week.
Of course, various soft plastic drop shot lures have been the major player. But Steve Kennedy’s “hunting-and-fishing” method put him in second place after two days. Kennedy has used a 7-inch hand-painted glide bait in a yellow perch color pattern to find big smallmouth bass, then catching them on a small Keitech swimbait or a hand-tied jig.
Speaking of jigs, the black hair jig has been important for several anglers, Bill Lowen in particular.
“Typically up here they eat a swimbait real good,” Lowen said Friday. “For whatever reason, they’re not eating it very well for me. I’ve tried different colors, different sizes. But, boy, you put on that black hair jig, if you see one swimming just throw it out there in front of him and thunk!
“The only thing bad about that thing is it’s got such a little hook. You almost feel like you’re crappie fishing. You’ve got to chase them down, chase ’em, chase ’em. It’s pretty stressful. I don’t know if my heart can take another day of it.”
Then there’s Keith Combs and Ray Hanselman Jr., who have been successful with crankbaits and jerkbaits.
The always popular “Lures of the Top 10” feature compiled by Craig Lamb after the tournament will be especially interesting after this event.