1000 Islands Top 5 Patterns Day 2
Plan B worked for many of the top pros
Strong winds limited competition to only the St. Lawrence River on day two of the Costa FLW Series Northern Division event presented by Mercury at 1000 Islands, but that was no problem for the majority of the top 10. Even though most of them fished Lake Ontario on day one, they were able to adjust and stay on the fish today.
Scott Dobson maintained his lead thanks to another big bag of smallmouths that weighed 22 pounds, 3 ounces.
Below are the details on how the rest of the top five adjusted in the second round.
2. Cal Climpson – Sharon, Ontario – 41-12
Ontario’s Cal Climpson rode an hour and 20 minutes out into Lake Ontario yesterday to catch 23 pounds, 1 ounce. Fishing a little outside his comfort zone in the river today, Climpson still caught a respectable 18-11.
Though smallmouths were Climpson’s primary target, today he decided to go a different direction.
“I went after some largemouths to start the day,” he says. “I caught one, and then I started running spots I had fished in the past for smallmouths. I eventually hit a place that we got on them pretty good, and my co-angler and I caught most of our good ones pretty quick.”
Climpson ran about 10 spots today and caught the bulk of his fish shallower than 15 feet, with the exception of one. He is also using the same bait (he’s not revealing what it is) that sacked up his day-one weight.
Tomorrow Climpson plans on making the run back out to his primary area on Lake Ontario.
“I know there are some big ones out on my main spot,” he notes. “I have another deep spot nearby that area I may check tomorrow. They weren’t on it Thursday, but they may be there tomorrow. We’ll just see how it goes tomorrow.”
3. Chris Johnston – Peterborough, Ontario – 41-4
Climbing up one spot is Walmart FLW Tour Rookie of the Year Chris Johnston, who caught 20 pounds, 7 ounces on day two to push his weight up to 41-4 for the event.
Johnston knew that he had to start the day off on the right foot, and for him that was trying to pluck one bedding smallmouth that he found a few days ago.
“Luckily, it was still there, and I caught it pretty quick,” he says. “It was about a 3 3/4-pounder. Then I went out deep and caught a few and wound up with close to 18 pounds by 9 a.m. It was a really good start.
“I would have been happy with 16 or 17 pounds today, so to catch what I did took a lot of pressure off.”
The deep fish that Johnston caught today were actually off a spot that his brother, Cory, found in practice. Chris caught two good ones off it before he moved on to a shallow area where he saw some cruising in practice. All in all he caught roughly a dozen fish today.
Saturday’s plan of action calls for going for the win, not points or place.
“I’m going to definitely start out on the lake,” Chris explains. “You have to go to the lake for a chance at a 25-pound bag. It is the best shot at winning it.”
4. Cory Johnston – Cavan, Ontario – 37-13
Cory Johnston was as reluctant about fishing the river on day two as was his brother, Chris, but instead of targeting brown ones Cory opted to go after the river’s population of largemouths. He brought 18 pounds, 1 ounce to the scale – all largemouths – to slide up the rankings into fourth.
“I wasn’t really looking forward to today at all,” Cory says. “My girlfriend and mom drove up here last night, and I told them to throw a few largemouth rods in since I didn’t pack any.
“Today I put a jig rod with a black Punisher jig in my hand, found some reeds and went to work,” he continues. “I just went fishing, and it turned out a lot better than expected.”
All of his big ones came out of one area, which he has found to be a common trait on this river. In total he boated a dozen keepers today.
Cory has the same mentality as his brother for Saturday’s final competition day: Win or bust.
“I have nothing to lose, so I’m going to try and catch 27 pounds tomorrow. It sounds ridiculous, but it is actually pretty common out on the lake,” he says. “The warm weather we’ve had should do nothing but benefit us. I’m going to hit water in both the U.S. and Canada tomorrow and burn a lot of gas.”
5. Andrew Slegona – Walker Valley, N.Y. – 37-11
Andrew Slegona of Walker Valley, N.Y., had a solid day one with an 18-pound, 1-ounce limit and backed it up with a 19-10 catch on day two to move him all the way up to fifth.
While the rest of the top five have been banking on the lake for their success, Slegona has been a river guy since the beginning.
“I’m fishing for smallmouths in the river and have been on one spot basically the entire event,” he says. “I’ve just been catching them throughout the day and averaging around 10 to 15 fish each day.
“There is a quick bite in the morning,” Slegona adds. “I have to capitalize on every bite because it slows down as the day goes on.”
His main weapons are a Carolina rig and a drop-shot. He doesn’t have a specific bait that is working best for either rig, but has benefitted from changing baits often to show the fish something new.
“This is my first time here. I’m usually a largemouth guy who likes flipping, so I thought I’d try something new,” Slegona says.
The plan for tomorrow is to target smallies on his “juice” and potentially go after a kicker largemouth later in the day.