St. Lawrence Midday Update – Day 3
Dobson making his final push for AOY
Today’s weigh-in is going to be interesting, to say the least.
Weights were already tight going into the final day of the Costa FLW Series Northern Division finale on the St. Lawrence River, which is presented by Gajo Baits. Little more than a pound separated leader Jonathan Kelley from Casey Smith in fifth place.
Unless Kelley makes a late-day rally, though, he’s left the door wide open for everyone else.
We found Kelley down near Clayton, N.Y., bouncing between deep shoals just south of the bridge. He caught a 3-pounder while our on-the-water crew was watching him. The only problem is, that was his first fish of the day, as his early morning shallow bite never got going.
The same could not be said for Scott Dobson. Trying to double up and win the tournament and Angler of the Year in the Northern Division, he got off to the best start possible when he stuck one over 6 pounds right off the bat fishing a flat near Wolfe Island.
“Did that just really happen,” Dobson exclaimed when he got her in the net. It’s hard to think of a better way for his day to start.
We left Dobson around 9:30 a.m. and he had three fish for more than 12 pounds at the time. Assuming the shallow bite stayed hot (and he gets back in time – he’s making an hour-and-40-minute run), he could very well be the man to beat.
Between Kelley and Dobson coming into the final day was Wayne Vaughan. He had a limit for 10 pounds around 10:30 a.m., so he’s had plenty of time to upgrade. The same goes for Smith, who had little more than 12 pounds around 11 a.m.
Ken Golub was having a rough morning, unfortunately, as he had zero fish when we saw him. Jay Burger had two for about 5 pounds, and Bryan Thrift had three small fish.
The question now becomes this: Who will capitalize on the afternoon bite? The bite has typically been hot early and then it slows down until after 1 p.m. or so. The problem is, though, that the current is much less prevalent than in previous days, and anglers will be due in earlier, as weigh-in starts at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Still, there’s plenty of time left to determine between the winner of the event and AOY. We’ll find out both in just a few hours.
Be sure to tune in to the live weigh-in on flwfishing.com at 2:30 p.m. ET.