Cayuga is no Oneida
Like sleeping in? Don’t fish bass tournaments. Daybreak at Lake Cayuga on Monday before the tournament.
I’m writing this one from the Days Inn motel in Auburn, New York. It’s Monday evening. For the past two days, I’ve been pre-fishing Cayuga Lake for the third and final Bass Pro Shops Northern Open for 2012
I’ve been fishing with Ryan Rex. I brought him with me from Ohio. He’s the 19-year-old son of Mike Rex, a good friend and neighbor I’ve known for 25 years or more.
Ryan is fishing the tournament as a non-boater. It’s his first major tournament. He’s pumped.
I’ve introduced him to Gary Klein and Stephen Browning, who are also fishing this event. It’s pretty heady stuff for Ryan. He’s got the bass fishing bug bad and has already learned a great deal on his own.
Mike Rex is one of the best whitetail hunters I know. He hunts with bow only and has taken more than 20 Ohio Pope & Young class bucks in consecutive years. His best buck is a nontypical that nets 218 6/8.
Ryan is following in his father’s footsteps. He tagged his first Pope & Young buck with he was 12 years old, and he has killed one with a bow every year since. The biggest of his seven trophy bucks was a nontypical that scored 181 5/8.
Before I came to Cayuga, I’d heard that it was similar to Lake Oneida. I beg to differ.
Oneida is loaded with smallmouth bass. I’ve caught three brown ones over the past two days. The big one measured about 8 inches.
