Finally, a weekend that I had zero plans for. No club tournies, no Federation tournies, a weekend to myself! What better thing to do than to go fishing? Avon Anglers were hosting an open tournament on Cayuga Lake, and after a couple phone calls I couldn't seem to come up with a partner. I then decided this would be a perfect time to get out and fish by myself. I do still enjoy that once and awhile.

After the one hour and forty-five minute drive to the ramp, and getting there at 4:30, I was surprised to see many oher teams starting to roll in. By the time the 6:00 blast off occurred, there were 51 teams signed up for the day. WOW! Excellent turnout! Because I had to foot the entire entry myself, I elected not to pay the optional $10 lunker pot. Besides, I don't catch lunker bass on Cayuga anyway.

I was third from the last boat to take off, and off to my spot I went, about 10 1/2 miles south. I was greeted with several other boats in that area when I got there, but plenty of room for me to sneak in.

I was hoping to get a good early morning crankbait bite going, but the long stringy deep weeds prevented this from happening. The hooks would barely touch this stuff, and get all fouled up, and no chance of ripping it through the weeds. So out came the topwater. After a 1/2 hour, my first keeper 1.5 smallie came into the boat. About this same time, the bright sun came out in full force, putting an end to the topwater action.

The water was pretty calm for Cayuga, so I decided to throw a Senko (surprise surprise). After another 1/2 hour, I nabbed a nice 3 pound largemouth out of the deeper weeds. After going back and forth in my area for another hour, I hooked another 3 pounder in that same spot I caught the other one, but lost it halfway back to the boat. I spent the next hour or more working that smaller spot hard, switching up baits quite abit, but it didn't give up any more fish for me. I needed a change, the day is almost halfway done, and I have 2 fish to show for it.

I fired up, and went to an area a couple miles further south. Once there, I started fishing the same depth of weeds I was earlier, but noticed dark rock bottom in shallower. I also noticed a large dark fish between these rocks and a small patch of weeds. This area was loaded with carp, but decided to throw to this fish anyway, it just looked different. The Senko sank about 6 feet then a "thump!". I set the hook and up came a pig largemouth splashing around on the surface. I quickly got her in the net, and estimating the weight at mid to upper 4's. I was feeling better about the day, and was starting to think about that 3 pounder I lost earlier.

I continued to work the 100 yard stretch of shoreline, and picked up a 2 pound largemouth at the end of a dock. After that I turned and went back into the deep weeds where I hooked , AND LOST, another 3 pound largemouth on a Senko. That one really bummed me out, but I knew I just needed one more good fish to fullfill a decent bag, and I had a couple hours to do it in.

I made another pass where I caught that big largemouth, and saw a 2 pound smallie cruising shallow. He actually looked like he was still protecting an area, but didn't see a nest anywhere. I casted just beyond him, hoping to intersect his travel. He turned and swam the opposite direction, but when I began reeling in to try again, I had a fish on. Another 2 pound smallie I didn't see! There it was, a limit for about 13+ pounds.

I had an hour to go, so I stayed in that stretch for the remaining time. With 15 minutes to go, before the 12 mile run back north, I caught another 3 pound largemouth in the same general area I lost the second one earlier. I don't think it was the same fish, but I worked that area feverishly for the next several minutes, hoping for that one last cull fish. Not happening!!

Going through the weigh-in, the weighmaster asked me to weigh the big fish I had for lunker. I said I didn't pay for the lunker pot, and we never "officially" weighed that fish. I ended up with 15.08 pounds for my bag however. The tournament lunker ended up being 4.87 pounds and worth $500 (I was the ONLY team that didn't pay for lunker pot) I'm kinda glad I didn't weigh it though, I really didn't want to know

Winners had upper 17's, 2nd was mid 17's, 3rd was upper 16's, 4th was mid 16's, and 5th was mid 15's. I ended up in 6th place, not to shabby for only having 8 bites all day, and only putting 6 of them in the boat.

I would like to make mention that Avon Anglers put on a heck of a show. Every year they get better and better, and really try to cater to the tournament angler. They have a nice PA system with an entertaining MC throughout the entire weigh-in, a large digital readout for the scale, a large leader board with everyone's name/weight on it. They also reduce the weigh-in lines by limiting us to using their weigh bags only. This is nice on hot days where you don't want to see long lines at the scales. They do an awesome job promoting their sponsors at the weigh-in, and on their recently purchased tx trailer. I think the anglers are seeing this also, because they keep getting big turnouts every weekend.