Seneca Falls, N.Y. — Conditions on New York’s Cayuga Lake were different today — overcast and cooler than yesterday — but not different enough to shake the first round leader in the Bass Pro Shops Northern Open. For the second straight day, New Jersey’s Pete Gluszek, a two-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier, brought in the heaviest catch of the round. His Day 2 limit weighing 20 pounds, 14 ounces gives him a 4-7 lead over Brian Bylotas (35-11) of Pennsylvania. Arkansas Elite Series pro Stephen Browning is third with 35-7.
“Everything changed today for me,” Gluszek said. “I had to change up the depths I was fishing and used completely different methods today. The areas that were red hot yesterday were cold today.”
Careful not to share much information before the tournament’s final round on Saturday, Gluszek added only that “It’s important to be doing the right thing at the right time.”
Browning moved into third place on the strength of the day’s only other 20-pound catch. His 20-7 jumped him up 16 places and into tomorrow’s finals, which will feature only the top 12 professionals and co-anglers.
Bylotas’s five-bass limit weighed 19-10 and moved him from 13th into second place. He liked the overcast conditions because he believed they kept the bass shallower and more active throughout the day.
“I caught my bass between 10- and 14-feet deep today,” he said. “I was using a 3/8-ounce tube in green pumpkin and a 1/2-ounce homemade jig in watermelon. I must’ve hit 20 different spots today, but that’s what it took to put the bag together. I wasn’t catching them bunched up. I was catching one or two here and another at the next stop.”
Todd Cole (34-6), Deron Eck (33-3), Chris Daves (32-15), James Niggemeyer (31-12), Skip Johnson (31-4), Michael Iaconelli (30-7), Jim Bianchi (30-3) Robert Parmer (30-3) and Kyle Kempkers (29-15) round out the top 12 who will fish for the title on Saturday.
At stake in this finale of the three-event Northern Open season are cash, prizes, a potential berth in the 2013 Classic and invitations to join the 2013 Elite Series. To earn a spot in the Classic, an angler must not only win an Open tournament but fish all three Open events in that division. Gluszek has fished both previous Northern Opens and stands to earn the Classic berth if he can hang on for the win. He last competed in the Bassmaster Classic in 1999.
New York’s Ken Golub and his 5-11 largemouth from Day 1 continue to hold the lead for Carhartt Big Bass honors. John Lorenzo of Pennsylvania fell just short with a 5-10 bass in the second round.
Connecticut’s Stephen Longobardi took the lead on the co-angler side of the competition with a Day 2 catch of three bass (the co-angler limit) weighing 8-11. It gives him 19-0 for the first two days and a one pound lead over Patrick Casey of New York. Three other co-anglers are within two pounds of Longobardi’s total.