Scouting Report/Watch List
Oneida Will Make Contenders Earn Their Accolades

Thursday, August 07, 2008   by:Bassfan.com
 

Photo: ESPN Outdoors Tommy Biffle proved in 2006 that a tournament at Oneida could be won with largemouths, and the place has never been quite the same since.

A tougher Lake Oneida than the Bassmaster Elite Series pros have seen in either of the past 2 years is set to host the finale of the circuit's 11-tournament season this week. And with all that's at stake, maybe that's as it should be.

In years past, the biggest dilemma anglers faced at Oneida (often called the "thumb" of New York's Finger Lakes chain) was getting five bites that averaged 3 pounds or better. This time around, even the 2-pound bites that had been a-dime-a-dozen previously have been hard to come by for some.

The ramifications of a bomb-out here will be greater than normal. The Angler of the Year (AOY) – in all probability down to a two-man duel between leader Todd Faircloth and three-time winner Kevin VanDam – will be determined, as well as berths in the 2009 Bassmaster Classic (Top 37 in the points) and requalification for next year's Elite Series (Top 84).

As is always the case at Oneida, fans will see a mix of largemouths and smallmouths come across the stage. The largemouth fishing has gotten tougher since winner Tommy Biffle and some of the other top finishers exposed the lake's green-fish potential to the world 2 years ago, but many who are in contention this time will box at least one or two a day as kickers.

Before getting into more about the bite, here's more on the lake itself.

BassFan Lake Profile

> Lake Name: Lake Oneida
> Type of Water: Natural lake
> Surface Acres (full pool): 51,000 acres
> Primary structure/cover: Humps, weedlines, drop-offs, rock shoals, a few docks
> Primary forage: Perch, emerald shiners, immature white bass/white perch, mayfly nymphs/emergers
> Average depth: 12 feet in west end, 30 feet in east end
> Species: Largemouths, smallmouths
> Minimum length: 12 inches
> Reputation: Mega-numbers lake with easy 2-pound average, 3-pound fish abundant but tougher to catch
> Weather: Unsettled and cool for this time of year. Showers of one type or another are predicted for each tournament day, with high temperatures ranging from the high 60s to the mid 70s
> Water temp: Mid 70s
> Water visibility/color: 5 to 10 feet/a slight tinge in some places
> Water level: Full pool
> Fish in: 1 to 40 feet
> Fish phase: Summer
> Primary patterns: Tubes, dropshots, topwaters, jigs, jerkbaits, Carolina-rigs, flipping jigworms, spinnerbaits
> Winning weight: 60 pounds (4 days)
> Check weight: (Top 50): 23 pounds (2 days)
> Fishing quality (1=poor, 5=great): 2 for Oneida
> Biggest factors: Largemouths – can they hold up for 4 days?
> Biggest decision: Smallmouths or largemouths, and west end or east end?
> Wildcard: Weather – will the clouds turn on the bite?

Well-Fed Fish

Many anglers BassFan spoke with have described a tougher-than-normal Oneida smallmouth bite, but were unsure as to why that's the case. One reason might be that the fish just aren't hungry.

Dick Hyde Jr., who works at the Bass Pro Shops outlet in Auburn, N.Y. and will compete in the tournament as a co-angler, said the lake has experienced an enormous hatch of perch fry this year and the bass are feasting on them.

"Those fry are 2 to 3 inches long now, and the smallies are just following that bait and gorging themselves," he said. "They're just going to where the food is and staying there, and you have to find them.

"Some of those schools (of baitfish) are as big as a bass boat."

The largemouths aren't nearly so bait-oriented, but the unstable weather that the region has had this year has made them tough to keep track of, too. Nighttime temperatures have often crept down into the 50s, and that's prevented many of them from taking up long-term residence in the shallows.

Throw in the increased angler pressure that's been put on them the last 2 years and you come up with a true wildcard scenario.

"You can fish for largemouth all you want, but they're not going to win it again," said Jon Bondy, a Canadian who has a strong history on Oneida. "The last time was a fluke."

A Sea of Grass

The first 2 days of last year's Memorial Major were contested here, and anglers talked about how the amount of submerged grass was down from 2006. It's come back with a vengeance, and now there's a lot more than there was even in '06.

That means the fish are more scattered and groups of them are more difficult to pinpoint.

Photo: BassFan Steve Kennedy is confident he can get the right bites, but not so sure he'll be able to put all of them in the boat.

"Before it was mostly little isolated patches," said Steve Kennedy. "Now you come across areas where, 10 to 15 feet offshore, there's nothing but grass as far as you can see. You can't key in on where the fish are going to be, and that's definitely going to affect some of the shallow guys."

Added Dean Rojas: "There's five or six types of grass here, and I've pretty much been bit out of all of them. That makes it hard to target one type or another."

Versatility Could be Key

With smallmouths and largemouths strewn about the lake at depths from the surface to 40 feet, the door might be open for a savvy junk-fishermen to fare well. That's what some anglers ended up doing in practice anyway, since they couldn't establish anything that was reliable.

"I'm not on what you could even call a pattern – I just caught some random fish," said Jared Lintner. "I'd catch one dropshotting, then one flipping in the grass, then one on a frog, then maybe one on a jerkbait.

"It's a tough way to fish a tournament because you can go a long time without a bite, and then you'll catch one. It's very frustrating. I think the guy who wins is going to get on something a little different than what anybody else is doing."

Said Gary Klein: "I'm just thinking about where I can get my first bite, I don't have anything that I can pull up on and be confident that I'm going to catch a fish.

"On the flip side, I normally do well in tournaments like this, where a 4-pound fish really means something."

But Bondy cautioned against the idea that weights will be down considerably from historical levels.

"You can expect guys to catch them – they always exceed what they're willing to say. This place is full of fish."

Will Weather Help?

If the weather forecast is correct, the anglers won't see much sun on the tournament days. Several felt that could only help the sluggish bite (especially for those focused on largemouths in shallow water), but others thought the effect would be negligible.

Here's a sampling of opinions:

> Kennedy – "It'll have an effect, either positive or negative. The first (practice) day was overcast, and I thought it was really good."

> Lintner – "The weather coming in certainly can't hurt."

> Rojas – "I don't know. I've gotten bites when the sun's out and I've gotten some when it's cloudy, but I think it'll probably help."

> Klein – "I don't think it'll effect much of anything other than us (the anglers)."

The AOY Duel

If Faircloth holds on to win the AOY, he'll have earned it. With six Top-12 finishes in 10 events, he's fished more days this season than anybody.

His performances here the last two times have been decent (he was 26th in the limited-field Major last year and 36th in '06). But as he's proven all year, versatility is his stock in trade, and his 6th-place showing at Erie last week (where VanDam was 18th) was about as clutch as it gets in this game.

Photo: BassFan Todd Faircloth has a 21-pound lead in the Angler of the Year race, but he'll likely need another high finish to hold off Kevin VanDam.

But even another single-digit finish might not be enough to keep VanDam at bay. The No. 1 angler in the BassFan World Rankings may be more adaptable than anybody, ever, and he has a lot more experience on northern waterbodies. He was 3rd here in '06 and he's capable of dominating this event from start to finish. If he were to lead all 4 days, the bonus points would be enough to push him past Faircloth even if the Texas is the runner-up.

It would be no surprise to see this one stay up in the air until the scales close on Sunday.

Field Notes

Following are some practice notes from the pro field:

Kenyon Hill

"I'm not catching a lot of fish. I can find fish on my depthfinder, but it's hard to make them bite. I just haven't landed on anything yet.

"I'm just going to settle down and fish real hard. I don't think it's going to come down to any magic spot or magic bait – I'm just going to have to get after it."

Matt Reed

"It's absolutely harder than I've ever seen it here, and I don't know why. I finally found somewhere that I can catch a few, but I don't know if they're the right fish or not. It's just been so hard to get bites.

"It's really driving me crazy. I've tried to find a pattern that I can catch numbers on, but it's been brutal."

Jared Lintner

"Last year in the major I was catching 30 or 40 smallmouth by noon, and then 20 to 30 largemouth from there until the weigh-in. This year it's tough to get a bite. I've tried some of the tricks we use in California when the bite gets tough, but I haven't been able to nail anything down.

"This is too good a fishery for it to have been this poor for this many days in a row. Unless there was a big fish-kill that nobody knows about, there still has to be tons of them in there."

Chris Lane

"I figure I need a Top 5 to make the Classic, so I'm going to stick with largemouths. I caught them pretty good the first (practice) day, but I haven't been back there. I didn't have numbers, but the size wasn't bad. I'm just going to go for the five biggest ones I can catch.

"It's going to be hard fishing for 4 days for the guy who wins this thing. I don't think anybody's going to be able to do it in one spot."

Jon Bondy

"It is tougher, but I'm catching them. I'm pretty excited. The smallmouth are doing something, and I think a lot of guys are missing the boat. I'm fishing just like I would at St. Clair.

"I've got a couple areas where they're really in there good. I'm better off when it's cloudy and nasty than when it's sunny. When it's sunny, they're just following the bait up and not really doing much."

Tommy Biffle

"I think it's going to be pretty tough. The bite doesn't seem to be as good and there are more people doing what I was doing (2 years ago).

"There's a lot more weed growth this year and that gives them more places to hide, and the guys going after smallmouth are complaining too. It might not take much more than 13 pounds a day (to win)."

Dean Rojas

"It's been fair for me – I'm not going to say it's been bad. I think it's going to take a mixed bag because there's been a lot pressure on the largemouths. Oneida isn't that big and there's a lot of boats out there.

"A lot of people are fishing the same stuff, so I'm going to try to mix it up a little bit."

Steve Kennedy

"I'm not sticking my fish so I'm not really sure what I've got, but I'm getting plenty of bites – enough to get me excited, anyway. I hope to have a mixed bag, but I'll fish for primarily largemouths.

"It's just a matter of getting the right ones and getting them into the boat. I'm confident I'm going to get bit, but when you're throwing 10-pound line around docks, those 5-pounders can go either way."

Matt Reed

"Everything looks as good as always, but the bites just aren't there. Guys are fishing their butts off for two or three bites a day.

"I'm fishing a lot of good-looking water, but I might be the 10th or 15th boat to get there that day. This is a pretty small lake to have this on and those fish are getting educated pretty good."

Top 10 To Watch

With the above factors in mind and more, here's BassFan's recommendation on the Top 10 to watch at this event. In no particular order, they are:

1. Kevin VanDam – This is the type of situation in which athletes who are truly great show why they deserve that tag. He's reportedly on some good smallmouths, and he's a good bet to be in or near the lead from start to finish.

2. Todd Faircloth – He doesn't have the history that VanDam does, but he'll close out a truly special season here. He might need a win to claim the AOY, but that's certainly within the realm of possibility.

3. Aaron Martens – It's been an up-and-down season for the 2005 AOY, but he's got momentum from his runner-up finish at Erie and he loves to fish for smallmouths. The fact that conditions are somewhat difficult also works in his favor.

Photo: BassFan Dave Wolak grew up in this region and almost always fares well when he comes back.

4. Steve Kennedy – The mishaps that led to a 104th-place finish at Erie are behind him and he's onto something pretty good. Anytime an angler of his caliber's prime concern is getting his bites into the boat, watch out.

5. Peter Thliveros – He won last year's Memorial Major and was 16th here in '06. He's 35th in the points (two spots above the Classic cut-off), so there's extra motivation for a good finish.

6. Dave Wolak – He grew up in this region and is always excited to come back – he picks up a big check and gets to watch Yankee games on TV every night. Should be in the hunt to fish on Sunday.

7. Jon Bondy – The Canadian knows smallmouths, knows this lake and found what he was looking for in practice. He's a longshot to make the Classic even with a victory, but a win would be a monstrous career-booster.

8. Mike Iaconelli – Had a rough three-tournament stretch in May and June, but he's on a roll now with a 9th and a 5th in the last two events. He's nails on northern smallmouth impoundments.

9. Edwin Evers – The Oklahoman has finished 13th or better in six of the last seven tournaments and always does well in this region. He's got three 3rd-place showings this year and would love to have one a couple notches higher.

10. Randy Howell – If scrambling turns out to be the way to go, he's as good at it as just about anybody. He's quietly put together a very strong season and would like to cap it off with his second Top 12 in three events.

Launch/Weigh-In Info

Anglers will launch at 8 a.m. ET from Oneida Shores County Park (9400 Bartell Road, Brewerton, N.Y.) today, Friday and Saturday. Weigh-ins start at 5 p.m. in the same location.

Sunday's launch will occur at 10 a.m., with the weigh-in set to start at 7:30.

BASS’ outdoors expo Saturday and Sunday will include performances by national recording artist Heartland and local musical group The Custom Taylor Band. At the conclusion of the final weigh-in Sunday night, BASS will host a fireworks display at Oneida Shores, set for approximately 8:40 p.m.

Weather Forecast

Here's the forecast for the tournament days. For more weather information, including satellite and radar imagery, visit OutdoorsFanWeather.com.

> Thurs, August 7 – Scattered T-Storms – 74°/59°
- Wind: From the W/NW at 8 mph

> Fri, August 8 – T-Showers – 69°/57°
- Wind: From the W at 12 mph

> Sat, August 9 – T-Showers – 69°/58°
- Wind: From the W at 8 mph

> Sun, August 10 – Isolated T-Storms – 76°/59°
- Wind: From the W at 7 mph

Notable

> Coming off his 4th-place finish at Erie, John Murray caught quite a few keepers during a shortened practice, but there wasn't a lot of size to them. He's not too discouraged, though, because he thinks he has a chance to get some quality bites during the tournament. To read his report, click here to go On Tour With the BassFan Big Sticks.