Day 1 on Cayuga - Bassmaster

Bobby Lane was the first angler I spotted on Day 1 of the Busch Beer Bassmaster Elite Series event on Cayuga Lake.

The morning was just getting started as Ott DeFoe was changing spots just a couple minutes into Day 1.

The morning started early for Bobby Lane as he hooked up with a quick keeper.

Lane fought his first fish to the boat and began to gain control enough to swing it.

The fish emerges as Lane pulls it in.

The Cayuga largemouth thrashes as it enters his Phoenix.

Solid start for Lane, who was on the move and headed to another spot, presumably one with spawning fish nearby.

He stops at his next area briefly before taking off so we wandered over to the next pro…

…Shane Lineberger.

Lineberger hooked up.

But to his demise it was a chain pickerel.

Then he takes a moment to retie because the toothy creature frayed his line.

Meanwhile some recreational fishermen were having at it as well.

He, too, caught a chain pickerel.

Lineberger stayed with it and was plugging away to start his day.

He was in the vicinity of some anglers that were filling their limits so he kept his head down and kept casting.

Drew Benton started the morning very strong and caught close to 19 or 20 pounds very early and was still working on upgrading when we rolled up.

The feisty smallmouth fought at the front of the boat as Benton brought it to the side.

He swings in a keeper that will give him a slight upgrade.

Benton’s sight fishing paid off early on Day 1 and now he had a decision to make whether he kept catching them or managed his fish.

Benton and Koby Kreiger cross paths and talk about how their morning went.

In between his bed fishing waypoints he would fish some moving baits out in front hoping to pick up an extra bite or two.

Then he makes a couple flips…

As Shaw Grigsby rolls by.

Grigsby, who has a reputation as one of the best sight fishermen, hooked up.

He swings aboard a keeper smallmouth.

Then smiles for his marshal to take a quick photo.

Benton continued searching…

But was taking his efforts elsewhere.

He steps up on his trolling motor to get a better view.

And then takes a gander at the sky. The clouds rolled through and made it tougher to sight fish. The south wind also produced a solid chop on the water, which also isn’t conducive to sight fishing.

He posted up on another fish he found in practice while a home owner kicked back and watched from the dock.

Benton decides to make a small move just a little farther up the bank.

Then he was back at it looking at another smallmouth.

Didn’t take him long to hook up with this one.

Then he negotiated his footing and stepped off the trolling motor and back to the carpet as he fought the fish.

He swings aboard a smaller keeper, but one that won’t help him.

Justin Lucas and Randall Tharp seemingly race to their next spot.

I headed just up the lake and found Chris Lane fishing solo today as he didn’t have a marshal.

Todd Faircloth, who did very well here in 2014, worked a shallow grass flat.

Faircloth hooked up.

This one didn’t help him, but he caught a giant later that boosted his bag. The video is on Bassmaster.com.

He decided to pack up and idle across the shallow area to another part of the grass flat.

Instead of making the trek across the shallow area I checked out a cluster of anglers in the vicinity.

Bradley Roy was one of those anglers and he was hooked up pretty quick.

As he got it close to the boat he began to realize it wasn’t a bass.

Instead, it was one of the many chain pickerel that fill Cayuga.

On his next few casts he hooked up again.

Another chain pickerel for Roy.

Not to be outdone, Adrian Avena got in on the pickerel action.

The cluster of anglers made a clean sweep of the active fish on this spot.