At the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Northern Open, New York pro Jim Bianchi hit his largemouth bass spots hard on Day 1 to amass a catch of 15 pounds, 12 ounces. He thought he may have burned them up, but on Day 2, he had more than 19 pounds of Oneida Lake green fish in the livewell by 9:30 a.m. and was able to relax the rest of the day.
On the strength of his big limit, Bianchi vaulted into the lead, slightly more than 2 pounds ahead of second-place angler Mike Morrin, also from New York. Moving down one spot was North Carolina pro Tracy Adams, who is tied with Virginian Jacob Powroznik for third at 32-07, just a half pound behind Morin. The first day leader Chris Daves fell to sixth place.
The rest of the Top 12 group is tightly packed, with 12th place angler James Niggemeyer less than 5 pounds out of the lead, and less than 3 pounds out of second. Any of them could make a move on the victory tomorrow, but on a close scoreboard, Bianchi’s lead looks huge.
“I laid off them big time today,” Bianchi said. “I let them rest a lot. For 65 percent of the day, I sat and ate sandwiches.” One was egg salad, one was chicken salad, but by his own description both were “gas station specials.” Tomorrow he likely won’t have the luxury of stopping to eat as he looks to fend off the other 11 members of a strong Top 12.
Bianchi started with a limit of smallmouth this morning, quickly culled all of them with largemouth, and then sat near his best spot the rest of the day to ensure that no other competitor stumbled onto it. He said that he has saved several areas, but the one he has relied upon so far clearly has the best quality.
“I should have the area alone tomorrow,” Bianchi said.
Morrin caught a mix of smallmouth and largemouth, the five best of which weighed 16-08, just an ounce better than his first day catch. He said that his “brown fish kind of fizzled out a bit after three hours,” so he turned to the largemouth bite. Two members of his five-fish limit were largemouth. This is the first Bassmaster Opens that he’s fished, but he’s certainly not an Oneida rookie. He’s notched numerous Top 10 spots here on other circuits, and in 2008, he spent “every weekend here from June through October.”
Like Bianchi, Adams weighed in five largemouth today, but he wasn’t necessarily happy about it. Yesterday his key area produced a mix of both species, and he believes that the resident smallmouths were just a little bit fatter, “4 or 5 ounces more on average,” he said. He’s not sure what he’ll do tomorrow to generate the type of bag he’ll need to make a run at the victory. “I just haven’t had any real big bites — nothing over about 4 pounds — and I’m only getting one of those each day.”
Adams professed to be astounded by the 19-04 that Bianchi weighed in: “I didn’t know there were five that big in here that if you put them all together they’d weigh 19 pounds,” he said. In order to add a second Bassmaster Opens trophy to his mantle, he said he’ll have to get lucky and the two pros ahead of him will have to stumble.
Powroznik was the only member of the Top 4 who didn’t bring a largemouth to the weigh-in. He’s primarily chasing schooling smallmouth, and said that the decision to look for brown over green seemed elementary.
“I’ve researched the last couple of big tournaments up here, and it seems that smallmouths are the dominant fish most of the time,” he said. “I also thought that they’d be more consistent.” Powroznik is rotating among six schools of bronzebacks that he pinned down by careful idling and use of his electronics, and he said that once he gets them fired up, the fishing is relatively easy.
“This morning I had 14 or 15 pounds in about 10 minutes,” he recalled. “It was fast and furious. I’m catching them on a dropshot, a tube and a swimbait, but the truth is that if you get it in front of them, they’re going to bite.
For leading the field after the second day of competition, Bianchi received the $250 Livingston Lures Leader Award.
Kenny Woods of Oneida, Ky., leads the co-angler side of the tournament with two three-bass limits that totaled 19-07 and received a Livingston Lures gift pack valued at $250 for being in first place after Day 2. He fished with veteran pro Gary Yamamoto yesterday and Elite Series rookie Chip Porche today. Brian Kelly, who won a Southern Open on Lake Toho six months ago, trails Woods by a mere 2 ounces.
Pennsylvania pro Kenny Garippa weighed in a 5 pound, 6 ounce largemouth today, the Carhartt Big Bass on the pro side of the tournament so far. After struggling with Oneida’s smallmouth over the last month, including yesterday when he weighed in only two for 4-1, Garippa turned his attention to largemouth today and caught a 19-03 limit on a Texas rigged Senko
If Garippa’s big largemouth holds up as the Carhartt Big Bass of the tournament after tomorrow’s weigh-in, he will receive an additional $500. If the 4-11 bass weighed in by co-angler Tom Hill of Lexington, Ky., withstands the attempts of tomorrow’s Top 12 co-anglers to topple it, he too will bank $500 for the Carhartt Big Bass award.
Anglers will launch on Saturday at 5:45 a.m. ET from Oneida Shores Park at 9400 Bartell Road, Brewerton, NY 13029. The final day weigh-in will be held at 3:15 p.m. ET at Bass Pro Shops, 1579 Clark St. Rd., Auburn, NY 13022.
2013 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Opens Series Title Sponsor: Bass Pro Shops
2013 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Opens Series Official Sponsors: Toyota, Berkley, Evan Williams Bourbon, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Skeeter Boats, Triton Boats, Yamaha
2013 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Opens Series Supporting Sponsors: Boat U.S., Carhartt, Diet Mountain Dew, Livingston Lures, Lowrance, Luck-E-Strike, Power-Pole, Shimano
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