Kevin VanDam

Fierce storms batter Oneida but catches remain strong

August 07, 2008
(bassmaster.com, August 7, 2008)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — As waves of rain, bolts of lightning and the occasional burst of hail battered Oneida Lake, some of the Elite Series anglers decided discretion was the better part of valor and took cover from the elements on day one of the Champion’s Choice Presented by Ramada Worldwide. Others, like Denny Brauer, chose to tempt Mother Nature by sticking it out on the water.

The weather didn’t seem to bother either the smallmouths or the largemouths which inhabit this shallow grassy lake in central New York. All but 10 pros weighed in limits and it took over 14 pounds to eke into the top 20 and 12 pounds to make the top 50.

One or two big bites could help an angler jump 30 or more places in the standings and most of the leaders focused primarily on largemouths, which are generally considered more likely to produce a kicker fish. In fact, of the top four — Steve Kennedy, Britt Myers, Terry Butcher and Dean Rojas — only one of them brought any brown fish to the scales at all.

A week after suffering a harrowing mechanical failure on Lake Erie that caused him to forfeit his entire Day One catch, Steve Kennedy made it to the scales on time today with a limit of largemouths that weighed 17-10 and finished in first place.

“I haven’t caught a smallmouth since we’ve been here,” he reported. “I’m not sure that (the largemouths) will hold out all week, but on this lake, you have to catch what you can. I’m really concerned that I’ve used up all of my fish. I’m fishing for individual fish. It’s almost like hunting.”

He’s catching most of his fish in water that wouldn’t cover the back of his Jack Russell terrier, Louie, but he’s using multiple techniques to lure them into biting. He even caught one on a swimbait.

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/tournaments/elite/news/story?id=3524576

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