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Syracuse, NY – The 2008 Elite Series season comes down to the 11th and final tournament at Oneida Lake. If this were the World Series of Poker, many at the “table” would push all in this week as they’re either pressing to re-qualify for the 2009 season or trying to secure a berth in February’s Classic in Shreveport. In the case of Todd Faircloth and Kevin VanDam – this week it’s go big or lose out on claiming the Toyota Tundra Angler of the Year title and $250,000 prize.
Faircloth edged VanDam out of the top spot last week at Erie by doing what he’s done all season – fish an exceptionally clean and consistent tournament through Sunday. VanDam, on the other hand, who came to Erie with a narrow 16-point lead, failed to make the Top 12 cut, and this week he’s at Oneida’s Champions Choice trailing Faircloth by 21 points.
When Tommy Biffle won on Oneida back in 2006, he defied conventional wisdom and pursued largemouth in extremely shallow water. In last year’s Major at Oneida, many anglers stole a page from Biffle’s playbook by going for largemouth for quality and smallmouth for numbers. This year, all reports indicate that the banks are lined with anglers looking for largemouth as the typically more consistent smallmouth bite has been incredibly difficult to find.
Unlike at last week’s Empire Chase, the weather at Oneida shouldn’t be too much of a factor, in terms of on-the-water conditions; however, the pros that The BASS ZONE spoke to pointed out that the late spring may be to blame for the inconsistent deepwater smallmouth bite. While they are graphing schools of smallmouth out deep, getting them to eat has been hit and miss.
Additionally, there are only a few shoals on the lake where bait and schools of smallmouth are congregating, which brings a new wrinkle to the week. If many anglers in the field are targeting largemouth, it’s safe to assume that at some point in the week that bite will fade. As good as each of the 106 anglers in this week’s field are, the smallmouth that are biting will likely have been found by several anglers.
According to everyone we’ve spoken to, a mixed bag of green and brown fish will be required to have success. Here’s what they had to say:
Kevin VanDam
“The fishing this week has been a lot slower than what I’ve seen it in the past here. In my own mind I know how I need to fish to have shot to win, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. It’s kind of different this week because I feel like I need to have a top 10 in order to have a shot at the Angler of the Year, and I always fish to win, but I will take more chances this week than I normally would. You’ve got to have a plan in your mind of what you want to do, and I’m going to accomplish that. That’s just what I’m going to do.
“I feel like if you can catch between 13 and 14 pounds a day you’ll be in good shape. The fishing is a lot tougher than it has been, and you can’t use last year as a gauge because it was only a 50-boat field and we were only here for two days.
“It’s going to be a real interesting week, to say the least.”
Dean Rojas
“I’ve had a pretty good practice. I’m getting between 15 and 18 bites a day, and now I’m just trying to find some back-up stuff in case my primary pattern goes away. I’m just ready for this thing to start.
“I think the boat pressure this year, as opposed to last year, will be the biggest factor. That’s why I’m trying to find more stuff, and just trying to figure out some different patterns because this lake is just way too small for 100 boats. We’ll just have to deal with it.” |
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Kenyon Hill
“The lake is in good shape, in terms of how it looks, but the bite seems to be off for some reason. I don’t know if it’s because of all the pressure, or if it’s just the time of year, or what. In the past, you could pull up to a spot and just catch the fire out them. It’s not like that this year, so I’m having to run around a lot.
“This lake is a little on the small side, so with 100 boats, space is pretty limited. I’m going to just catch them as good as I can one day, and then worry about the next day when it comes around. There’s going to be a lot of guys splitting time shallow and deep, so spot-hopping is going to be pretty tough to do because of the lake’s size.
“Normally, about 13 pounds a day will put you way in the Top 12, and I don’t think it’s going to be off that by much. I do think that it’ll take a little bit of both brown and green fish – depending on what you want to do – in order to have much success though.”
Jeff Kriet
“I’ve been catching 10 to 12 keepers a day, but the weight hasn’t been that good. My best five would go maybe 10 pounds a day. In the past, you could come in here and catch 30 to 35 keepers that would go 13 to 14 pounds but all the better quality fish are suspended out in the middle of the lake and they’re just really, really hard to catch.
“I don’t know if it’s a weather thing or what. The best I can tell is that these fish are keying on little bitty fry like they do on Lake Murray back in Oklahoma a lot this time of the year. If you can get on them at the right time, you can catch a good limit really fast, so timing is critical.
“It’s definitely not the Oneida that I’m used to seeing, and I think that a lot of guys are going to try and catch largemouth because they’re a lot easier to catch. I just don’t think they’ll last very long, because if everyone goes and jerks on a couple they’ll get beat up really quick.
“I just think that you’re going to have to go out and let the day happen because they could turn on. Right now, I’m just having a really tough time figuring it out…but I think a lot of people are.”
Mike McClelland
“This is probably the toughest practice I’ve ever seen at this lake, and maybe one of the toughest I’ve had all year. It’s really disheartening when you come to a lake like this that’s just full of fish and can’t get anything going on.
“I don’t think that we’re actually missing anything, I just think it’s a pretty tough period up here right now. This lake is just so full of fish though, that I have to believe at some point they’re going to start biting.
“I still have an outside shot at the Angler of the Year, and seeing how this thing is panning out, it would be entirely possible for Todd (Faircloth) or (Kevin) VanDam to stumble. I just want to be right there if they do. The first day of the tournament is going to be the tell – that’s when we should be able to see what kind of week we’re going to have.
“There’s another front rolling through today, so it might change it up some more. I don’t know these smallmouth lakes that well, but there’s definitely something going on because there are just so many fish out suspended whereas last year they were up shallow chasing bait. It’s going to be an interesting tournament though, for sure.”
Todd Faircloth
“I struggle Monday pretty bad and just wasn’t able to put anything together. Tuesday I was able to learn a few things and had a pretty decent day. Hopefully I can expand on what I learned that day and have a decent tournament.
“I have no idea what it’s going to take to win this year, but I would guess that 12 to 13 pounds a day will be pretty solid. It seems like everyone is spread out, so the lake is fishing pretty big right now. It might not be that way once the tournament rolls around though.
“I haven’t quite made up my mind just yet on exactly what I want to do, so hopefully today I’ll be able to get a better understanding of what I’m going to be doing Thursday. I’m really excited about this week, and have a few jitters going on. I’m really looking forward to it, so I’m just ready to get started.”
Jared Lintner
“This is one tournament that I’ve been looking forward to all week long because it’s just such a phenomenal fishery, but I think it two days of practice I may have put together a limit. I’ve caught six fish in two days…it’s just brutal.
“I can see them on the graph, but I just can’t get them to eat. I’ve gone all the way down to four-pound test line and still can’t get them to bite. The largemouth deal is just so random that I don’t know if a guy could pattern it or not. I’m just struggling.
“The only thing that I can see that’s different is that the lake is down maybe a foot. That’s hurting the largemouth bite I think, but the smallmouth should be affected at all by that. Thing is, I’ve caught more largemouth this week than I have smallies, so I don’t know what to think.
“Like I said, you can see them all over, you just can’t get them to bite. Now that Biffle has won up shallow, the largemouth deal has just been exposed. Everywhere you go there are guys up shallow so the largemouth bite isn’t that good anymore. I don’t think a guy can go all four days without fishing for smallmouth.
“If it stays the way that it is right now, I think eight pounds a day will be in the 50 cut and 11 or 12 pounds a day will win. Someone will find them…they always do.”
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