I spent a week at North Carolina’s Outer Banks before heading to Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River to scout them before the cutoff. My family vacations at the Outer Banks every year or two, and we’re usually joined by several relatives and friends.
We rented a house on the narrow, 200-mile strip of barrier islands that comprise the Outer Banks. Waves from the Atlantic Ocean lap 100 miles of sandy beaches on the east side of the strip. Currituck and Albemarle Sound border the western side.
About a dozen people made the trip. Everyone is free to fish, hang out at the beach house or go into town to shop and enjoy the restaurants.
The guys usually fish the ocean from the beach and drink beer. You never know what you’re going to catch. It might be big a big redfish, drum or stingray, but we spend most of the time fishing for sharks.
We rely on heavy tackle: 65-pound braid and a 400-pound mono lead. Some of our crew opts for an 800-pound steel leader. We bait a 14/0 BKT Monster circle hook with things like mullet, tuna heads, tuna belly, stingray or whatever we can get at the bait shop. Sometimes we catch our own bait.
Most bites come after the sun goes down. We fish until 2 to 4 a.m. Then we sleep until midday, get up and do it all over again.
We’ve caught four different species of sharks, including sand tigers, sandbars, blacktips and spinners. From what we’ve seen, the sand tigers are bigger than the other species. My buddy Willie caught the biggest sand tiger on this trip. It took him the better part of an hour to beach it.
A week relaxing on the beach was a good reset before the final two Elite events of the season. I’ve had such a terrible year that my only chance to qualify for the 2027 Bassmaster Classic is to win the last tournament on the St. Lawrence.
I’ll spend a week at Champlain and then live on the St. Lawrence for three weeks before the cutoff. I plan to invest 12 hours a day there, idling and searching for rockpiles and other areas that have the potential to produce big smallmouth during the tournament.
I haven’t fished for smallmouth in nine months, so I’ll do a little fishing to get in tune with my tackle and baits. But I’ll mainly be looking. If I find giants before the cutoff, they probably won’t be there when I return for the tournament.
Even if I finish down near the bottom, I’ll know I did everything I possibly could have to win.
The St. Lawrance tournament is usually won on Lake Ontario, but I want to spend time checking out the river. Big smallmouth also swim in the river, and I want to keep it honest.
Some anglers rely on the river as a backup when huge swells roll across Lake Ontario. If I think there’s 25 to 30 pounds to be caught somewhere on Lake Ontario, I’ll venture out there even if there are 9-footers.
I grew up fishing with my dad on Lake Ontario, trolling with downriggers for salmon. Being out in big waves was normal. I used to get seasick all the time and puke in my dad’s boat. But I loved it so much I forced myself to go. My body eventually got used to it.
So, I’m pretty comfortable driving in nasty seas with a bass boat. You just have to take your time and not get in a hurry. Honestly, I like when it gets wavey and stirs up the current. If you can get around the big smallmouth under those conditions, they’ll bite.
