Well this trip to Maryland's Chesapeake Bay was much less productive for me than in 2009. The tidal fishery whooped my butt this time around. Once again I fished for smallmouth in the Susquehanna River however it was a different time of year than last year and those big fish just weren't around. After practice I knew this was going to be a brutal event and just catching a limit each day would probably be enough to get into the money. I found some fish way up the river around some shallow water current breaks and also around specific bridge pilings. I felt that I was on enough to catch a small limit each day but I would have to go through a pile of shorts in order to accomplish this. I also had a small largemouth area in front of the launch ramp that I was hoping to fish during the event but it was getting a lot of pressure during practice.

First day of the tournament I get to my first spot and Former Elite Series Pro Frank Scalish is right on it. So I fished around the area for a couple minutes before retreating to bridge pilings. I was only able to catch one lil cutie of the bridges which was far less than I expected. But the current wasn't running like it had been during practice. These fish like all river fish feed with the current and day one there was very little water released from the dam just above where I was fishing. I ended day one with only 2 fish for a whopping 3lbs even and a tie for 76th with Frank Scalish who also had 2 fish. Day two was even worse I only landed a single keeper that weighed in at 1lb even giving me a total of 4lbs for two days of fishing and an 88th place finish. Tournaments like this make me realize just how lucky I am that I live in Ontario!!!! This place is beyond tough, I only caught three keepers in 2 days and I still finished higher than some big name pros like Ish Monroe, Kevin Short and Frank Scalish. It goes to show you just how tough this event really was. 16lbs for two days was all it took to make the top 30 cut to fish the final day and only 11lbs over two days was enough to get paid.

The eventual winner was Nate Wellman who brilliantly fished literally yards outside the off-limits area in front of the launch site for release fish. He was able to find slightly deeper cover that the fish would funnel to at low tide and blew away the field winning by 15lbs. During high tide he would fish closer to the bank. Wellman and Elite Series Pro Pat Golden (who finished 3rd) were the only two in the entire field to catch a limit each day.



Foreground- Me getting ready to run back to the river, Background- Eventual winner Nate Wellman
Photo Courtesy of B.A.S.S.