FLW-BFL St. Lawrence River Clayton

I fished the FLW-BFL out of Clayton, NY on the St. Lawrence River September 6&7, 2014. 119 boaters and 119 co-anglers participated. Day 1: The weather was warm, overcast and rainy most of the day. I left clayton and made a decent run downriver while many guys were heading to the lake. My goal was to get a decent bag and make the day 2 cut and hopefully make my decision on what to do on day 2 if I made it later that night. I spent most of my day working shoals and rock piles anywhere from 8 - 45 ft of water. They were biting reasonably well and I had a few decent fish in the livewell early, and my limit in the boat is less than 45 minutes. The smallmouth were just chewing on the XZone mini-slammers. It really didn't seem to matter what color I threw as I cycled through my favorites trying to entice that big one. As the day progressed the wind picked up quite strong by mid afternoon and I ran over to some shallow water areas looking for fish that had moved up to feed in the churned up water. I began tossing a terminator spinnerbait and caught a few but there were in the 2 lb range. I swung by one island I normally fish the breakline on and spinnerbaited the shoreline and on back to back casts got one over 5 lbs and one really close to 4 lbs. At this point in time I had a decent bag started but really wanted to get rid of the 2lber I had. I ran back to my original spot from the morning and began throwing a Rapala DT-16 craw color and hooked up on a beauty, well over 4, I got a good look at her as she jumped 3 times right near the boat but before my co-angler could get a shot at her, out came the trebles. A bit later I hooked into another big one and also lost this crankbait fish near the boat. Heart breaker. Figured at this point in time I had a bit over 18 lbs and lost my chance for that 20 lb bag I wanted for day 1. Would It be enough? I had to make the run back (1 hr maybe? I figured with the traffic through the American Narrows and the speed limit). I weighed in 18-04 lbs. Figuring it probably wasn't enough but may be close, I was disappointed in my missed opportunities. Luckily in the end I just shave by and make the cut, albeit with a daunting task of trying to gain ground on Grae Buck, the 1st place boater that weighed in 5 smallmouth for 26-10 lbs!!!!! Day 2: Only 23 boaters and 23 co-anglers made the cut out of the 119 on each side to fish day 2. The weather at take off was significantly different. A cold front had came behind the storms from the day before, with no wind, dead calm high baby blue skies, and cold air. Figuring how I had the chance for 20+ the previous day I decided to head back and run the same plan as day 1. Much to my displeasure when I got there the area had several fishing vessels on it. The bite was dead. I threw everything I owned. I moved deep, I moved shallow, I downsized I upsized....you name it I threw it and I had 1 fish in the boat after 3 hrs. I shot out to a buoy drag where I knew there were always keeper fish just to try to get a few in the boat and made 3 drags, caught 5 fish between my co-angler and I but only 1 that I caught was even over 12 inches, and little over a 1 lb in weight. It's at this point where I made a decision that I had nothing to lose, I couldn't drop anymore than 1 spot from where I was the day before even if I caught nothing else, I couldn't waste time trying for 2-3lbers I had to head back to my big fish areas and just hammer away hoping for the best. Looking back I don't know if that was necessarily the best strategy because there was a bunch of guys who struggled and 3 lbs would have moved me up but at the time I was semi-panicking and made the decision to swing for the fences, all or nothing. Unfortunately I missed. I caught one fish over 4 lbs at around 12:30 pm and a few small 2 lbers over the next hour. At 1:30 I had to make the hour long run back which I figured with the sunny day may take even longer with boat traiffic. I got back to the weigh in area with about 15 minutes to go. Stopped in front of the bouy in front of Clayton and dragged, fish on....another small 1 lber but over 12 inches for my 5th fish. My Co-angler had one 3 lber. I meet my family at the launch with hopeful looks on their faces only to weigh in my lowest total I can remember weighing in on the river. A complete implode at 12 lbs 11 oz. In the end I realized a few mistakes I made and hope to use this experience to help me as I move forward in my next 2 day event that I make the cut at. Hind sight is 20-20 and I should have ran to the lake on Day 2 especially considering the weather but it is what it is and in the end I can't complain...I finished 22nd out of 119 anglers and cashed a check. Until next time. Tight lines! Full results: http://www.flwoutdoors.com/bassfishing/bfl/tournament/2014/7218/1000-islands-boater-results/