The Oneida Lake Open will start in a couple of days. I spent last week packing and repacking. Normally it wouldn’t take me as long as it did but with several tournaments in a row facing me I had to find a place for lots and lots of different stuff. There’s no way I can go back home between events. Things are going along pretty well as far as practice is concerned — I’m finding fish and working through patterns — but there’s one issue that I can’t control no matter how hard I try. That’s boat order. On this lake it can be critical, especially in an Open.
At first you think this is a good-sized lake. It’s 22 miles long and about 5 miles wide at its widest point. It covers about 80 square miles. But it can fish surprisingly small. We’ll have something like 180 boats launching on it come Thursday morning. Most everyone will have found the same spots and the same stuff. That’ll shrink the lake very quickly.
The thing about those 180 boats is that most of them can fish. You have several Elite guys along with plenty of really good club anglers, and most of them know the lake. So, you can see what I’m talking about. There aren’t going to be very many secrets in a day or two. That’s for sure. (Photo courtesy of Bassmasters.com) Read more….