1000 Islands Top 5 Patterns Day 1
Lake Ontario kicking out most of the big bags
Past experience on this fishery seems to be a big advantage for the top pros through one day of the Costa FLW Series Northern Division event presented by Mercury at 1000 Islands. Scott Dobson leads the way with 24 pounds, 9 ounces, yet there are some serious hammers right on his heels. Dobson fished both the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario for his limit, while others went straight to the lake and stayed there.
Here’s how the rest of the top five sacked ’em up.
2. Cal Climpson – Sharon, Ontario – 23-1 (5)
Cal Climpson of Sharon, Ontario, is no stranger to fishing Lake Ontario, and it showed with his day-one catch of 23 pounds, 1 ounce. Preparation is king in tournaments of this nature, and Climpson definitely put his time in.
“I’ve been out on the lake since the beginning of July basically,” says Climpson. “I’ve really followed the fish as they’ve moved. About a week ago the shallow fish completely emptied out. I just started looking at places where they could slide off into deeper water, and that’s where I found them.”
The Ontario pro found two primary areas relatively close together, making it easy to cover them throughout the day. Though, getting to them is the most daunting task of fishing them.
“I ran about an hour and 20 minutes to my main areas,” Climpson says. “I had everything I weighed by 9 a.m. I caught a few later in the day that didn’t help me, and I lost one close to 5 pounds.”
Climpson has three rods rigged up, though all with the same bait. That makes it easier when he needs to retie or loses a bait.
The weather is on his mind just like it is for many of the other pros. He has experience on the river but still doesn’t feel too great about his opportunities if he is forced to stay in the river because wind makes the lake too treacherous to fish.
3. Chris O’Brien – Rochester, N.Y. – 22-0 (5)
Fishing just his second FLW event is Chris O’Brien of Rochester, N.Y., who pulled in 22 pounds worth of brown bass to settle in third place.
Like Climpson, O’Brien got off to a quick start.
“I had a limit by 8 a.m.,” he says. “I’m fishing a fairly long stretch with a decent school on it. Once I catch a few I have to let it rest before I can go back on it.”
While 22 pounds is a solid start to any tournament, it could have been a lot better for the New York pro.
“I had three big ones jump off, and it hurt,” recalls O’Brien. “They are deep fish, and they are so vicious that it takes a good five minutes just to get them to the boat.”
O’Brien fished the lake today and burned a lot of gas getting to his areas, but he did manage to cull once from the river on his way back.
4. Chris Johnston – Peterborough, Ontario – 20-13 (5)
After a fantastic AOY runner-up performance during his rookie season on the Walmart FLW Tour, Chris Johnston got a chance to flex his muscles once again on a fishery he is more than familiar with. For Johnston, it might not have been his best day at 1000 Islands, but a 20-pound, 13-ounce limit was enough to put him in fourth.
“I ran out to the lake this morning and started catching them pretty quick,” Johnston says. “They are acting really weird though, and I have never seen them like this. Normally when you mark one and drop down they bite right away, but you really need to work at it, and that is hard to do in big waves.”
After catching a solid limit of close to 18 pounds, Johnston wanted to make a long run farther out into the lake, but the wind began picking up and he opted not to push his luck.
“The fish aren’t grouped up, and you need to idle around a lot looking for small groups – like two or three fish,” Johnston says. “I have two or three baits I’m throwing at them, and if they won’t eat that then I’m just wasting my time.”
Once he decided to head back toward the weigh-in Johnston made one last stop in the river to cull up with just 45 minutes to go.
“I hope the wind isn’t as bad as they are saying [tomorrow],” Johnston adds. “I don’t have a lot of experience on the river. If I have to fish it I’ll probably try to get a limit of largemouths and then cull with some smallmouths.
“I do have a 3 3/4-pounder [smallmouth] on a bed in the river, so it would be great to start on that. I don’t know what it is doing on a bed right now, but I’m not going to argue with it.”
5. Jason Putman – Cicero, N.Y. – 20-5 (5)
Rounding out the top five is Jason Putman from Cicero, N.Y., who caught the fifth and final limit of more than 20 pounds. Putman has two previous top-10 finishes at 1000 Islands with FLW. The first came as a co-angler back in 2002, and the second was as a pro in 2011. Putman put himself in solid contention to expand his 1000 Islands resume this time around with a good start to day one.