Kevin VanDam

SO MUCH ON THE LINE AT ONEIDA

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

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.

http://www.basszone.com/2008eliteseries/oneida/preview/story.htm

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