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Pete Garnier
2015-08-20 15:52:10

Top-12 at Oneida ... I liked it!!


Thanks for all the congratulatory notes and personal messages following a great week while competing at the second stop of the Bassmasters Northern Open this year on Oneida Lake. My research indicated this could be one of the "funnest" events of the year and a real slug-fest as the lake boasts good populations of both smallmouth and largemouth; however, per usual conditions leading into the event threw the majority of the field a curve ball. The season high temps coupled with a full moon phase the weekend before the event put the fish in a real funk according to local experts. These "tough bite" conditions were really frustrating for anglers like me who had never seen Oneida before. I took it to heart though and cherished whatever bites I had in practice, setting the hook sparingly, and only once did I ever catch more than fish from a given area. I spent at least 60% of my practice trying to get a consistent largemouth bite going (all indications showed winning weights on Oneida are typically largies), and in 5-days of practice I only came up with one area that might even come close to having enough fish to contribute for three days of competition, and was pretty sure a large portion of the field would have stumbled across these fish as well. One thing I realised early on during my first few hours of practice was the sheer volume of baitfish seemingly throughout the lake. I didn't realise just how significant that would become as the week progressed. The other 40% of my practice time I spent looking for smallies, not really my strong suit - but in order to be successful you've got to be versatile. Practice included hours of combing lots of structural breaklines, points, humps and off-shore shoals with side imaging and I simply wasn't able to find any big schools of smallmouth on what I would call typical mid-summer structures. My focus shifted to near-shore areas and mid-lake flats where I was running into massive schools of what turned out to be "YOY" (young of the year) perch. Still hung up on the typical mindset of smallies relating to some sort of edge I slowly started putting "a few" quality fish in the boat albeit I never got more than one bite following these weedline/breaklines and wasn't confident at just how many of these fish I'd be able to 'bump into' during the tournament. My other concern was a growing number of competitors getting in on the breakline band-wagon throughout practice. During the second last day of practice is when I really started to study and understand the significance of those YOY perch. The smallies I was keying in on during the event were practically in the middle of nowhere structurally speaking, and almost appeared to be 'farming' or herding these massive schools of baitfish keeping them on mid-lake flats anywhere from 14 to 12 feet of water. In the end, paying more attention to these 2.25" baitfish and what they looked like on my electronics proved to be the key to some of the most consistent smallmouth action I've had in years! The perch were parked over dark-coloured bottom that varied in depth but often had short "moss" growing up anywhere from 4 to 14 inches on it; and for the most part, the perch would hover over this grass in tight schools numbering in the tens of thousands. I envisioned dozens smaller 'wolf-packs" of smallies working the flats on all four sides of these huge perch schools essentially circling them to keep the meat market in place. I made the assumption that the smallies were doing everything in their power to keep these baitfish in place rather than pushing them up and down the lake. There was very little bird activity over these mid-lake areas and not a lot of surface feeding going on during the week. The bait appeared to maintain a constant depth, closer to the bottom which further indicated to me that bass were not actively ripping into the main schools of perch. Knowing where the moss stopped and met with harder bottom sand proved to be the key to catching these fish for me. I fished very sparingly but quickly got bit by better than average fish knowing where the "food store" was in relation to hard bottom areas. By playing the wind, I fished mainly the hard bottom areas downwind of the Perch schools; and without exception caught fish everywhere I went. In most cases I fish areas about 1/4 of a football field in size allowing both small 'break away' groups of perch to float through which in short order were typically being intercepted by hungry over-stuffed smallmouth! Drop-shotting turned out to be the deal this week; in truth I never got a single bite on a tube or any other bottom hugging presentation. I grew extremely confident that I had the right bait and presentation to do fairly well, but I caught so few fish in practice (setting the hook on very few fish) I really didn't realise just how many fish I had and boated a conservative 80 or so smallmouth throughout the three days of competition. When the wind laid down, it was apparent that the perch almost instantly responded by lifting higher in the water column and made for some pretty exciting top-water action. I had a SPRO Hydra-Pop tied on during day three; when the wind laid down, I put a real hurtin' on them pretty good as they were smashing that popper with 100% reckless abandon! Some of the most fun I've had catching smallmouth during competition in an awfully long time! It was a great week, and one I won't soon forget. The field was star-studded and filled with past Classic Champs and FLW winners, sharing the top-12 finals was a primary goal this season. I know there are a ton of competitive anglers wondering if they have what it takes and hoping to one day make the jump and compete at that level. I am hoping at the very least, that with my 5th place finish, that I am proof to at least some of you that "YES!" indeed you can...
3 anglers like this post
Aug 25, 2015 25/08/15
Daniel Miguel
Great recap and way to put it together down there!
Aug 22, 2015 22/08/15
Jeremy Baird
What a cool Experience and story. Keep up the great work Pete, congrats on the great finish.
Aug 21, 2015 21/08/15
Cooper Gallant
Booyaaaaa! Congrats Pete
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