Bass Fishing Oct - Nov 2016 | Page 107

condItIonS fishery type : st . lawrence river and lake ontario air temperature : mid-80s Water temperature : upper 60s to low 70s Wind : stout west winds on day one , building stronger on day two ; calmer on day three Precipitation / cloud cover : mostly clear to partly cloudy skies moon Phase : waning gibbous Water clarity : 15 to 20 feet Predominant Lake features : boulders , islands , grass and large flats keys to victory

No doubt , being able to piece together a pattern that was easy to replicate was a huge plus for Dobson . He was the only angler to bring in more than 21 pounds each day , making fishing seem easy compared to the rest of the field .

A lot of the field overlooked the shallow fish , writing them off due to water temperature and the amount of moss on the rocks . Dobson leaned on his strengths as a sight-fisherman , but not for bedding bass – for bass lurking the shallows looking for an easy meal .

“ I think the biggest key to my win was my eyes ,” Dobson explains . “ I saw almost every fish that I caught , and my experience fishing shallow back home on Lake St . Clair taught me that bait presentation is everything . If you cast too close , you ’ ll spook them . If you cast too far away , they can ’ t see it . It had to be very precise to get them to bite .”

PreSentatIon keYS keeping the bait in one place was vital for getting cruising smallmouths to eat – especially when fishing a drop-shot . varying his weights from 1 / 4- to 1 / 2- ounce helped to keep the rig on the key spots depending on the amount of current and wind .

“ Getting the bait on a clean spot and keeping it there without blowing off was very important ,” adds dobson . “ I ’ d hold the boat in place , cast in and just dead-stick it . once the fish saw the bait they would just swim over and eat it .” the drop-shot scored the majority of his big bites , but the ultra-finesse Ned rig also pulled through later in the event . because of how small and subtle the Ned rig is , bigger fish that were more lethargic and wary had no issue with snatching up that easy meal . as the tournament wore on he fished more of the areas between clean spots , and that is when he worked in a Megabass vision 110 + 1 and duo realis spinbait 90 . even if fish wouldn ’ t commit to those baits they would still show themselves , giving dobson a chance to pitch a drop-shot or Ned rig at them .

The other big factor for him on a the vast body of water that connects the St . Lawrence River to Lake Ontario was having the right equipment . The wind forced the hand of a lot of the anglers – and forced tournament directors to limit the field to the river on day two – but Dobson was running a rig designed to handle big water thanks to Bryan Doyle , his buddy and co-angler practice partner for the event , who lent his boat to Dobson .

“ I can ’ t thank Bryan enough for loaning me his Ranger 620 Fisherman ,” Dobson adds . “ It is rigged to handle rough water , and it made a big difference .”

Dobson won the tournament with a variety of baits , but a drop-shot rigged with a 1 / 4- , 3 / 8- or 1 / 2-ounce weight ( depending on the conditions ) helped pluck smallmouths from the shallows . He paired it with one of three soft baits : a Berkley PowerBait Twitchtail Minnow , Gulp ! Fry Worm or Gulp ! Minnow .

co-anGLer cHamP

Joe tHomPSon cLaYton , Ga . total Weight : 43-07 ( 15 fish ) Winning Program : thompson ’ s prowess with a drop-shot earned him the win at 1000 Islands with three bags of smallmouths . the Georgia angler kept it simple with a 1 / 4-ounce weight for his drop-shot and a berkley powerbait twitchtail Minnow as his only bait .

october-november 2016 I fLWfISHInG . com 105