Even the anglers that caught them again Friday thought the smallmouth bass bite was harder to pinpoint than on Day 1 at the St. Lawrence. But on paper, it wasn’t that much tougher.
Instead of 52 bags over 20 pounds, there were “only” 34. Instead of seven 5-bass limits weighing 25 pounds or more, there were only two.
However, after two days leader Brandon Lester is halfway to 100 pounds at 50-1. A century mark total on a smallmouth fishery is a mountain yet unconquered.
“That’s still my goal – 100 pounds,” said Brandon Palaniuk, who sacked 25-12 Friday, one ounce less than Lester, and moved up to sixth place with 46-11. “I bet (Kevin) VanDam a hundred dollars this morning that it would take 100 pounds to win. He said, ‘No way.’ So I want to win my hundred dollars.
“To my knowledge, no one has ever broken 100 pounds on smallmouth. And I’ve never made the century club, so I’d love to do it on smallmouth.”