I spent the past week at Chautauqua Lake Ny fishing the PA Bass Federation Mr. Bass West tournament. I know, I know, it's not PA but it's close to PA and if you have never experienced Chautauqua you owe it to yourself to give it a try. From smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, walleye, musky, perch, this lake has it all.

In a nutshell, practice was tough. I was only getting 4-6 bites a day and keeping my head in the game was tough with temps near 90. I did find a few small areas of weeds so I decided to go with it.

Day one I started in my first weedy area. Within 1.5 hours I had a limit including a 3.5 lb largie. My Co-Angler had 3 and was off to a good start as was I. At about 8 AM we moved to my second area, another weedy spot. We commenced to putting on a clinic and both boated another 15-20 largemouth. I upgraded several times including a 4.3 lb largemouth. Once that bite faded we headed to some docks and upgraded further. I ended day one with 15.22 lbs, good enough for 3rd place. My Co-Angler had a little over 11 lbs and was in 2nd on his side. The bad thing about day one was the afternoon storms that blew in. Anyone that knows me knows I don't like lightning on the water. We had to head in at a little before weigh in so we could stay safe.

Day 2 dawned clear but with pretty stout Northwest winds. My day 2 Co-Angler was in first place on his side so the pressure was on me. I returned to the same starting weeds and we both had zero bites. I ran to my second weed spot and scratched out 2 small keepers. We decided to hit some docks and my Co landed 2. My bonus fish was a 4.3 lb largemouth from under a boat lift, talk about a battle on a spinning rod and 20 lb braid! At noon I had 3 fish and returned to my weed spot. I was rewarded with a 4.4 lb largemouth, and get this, it came from the exact same patch of milfoil weeds as my 4.3 on day one!
With weigh in at 2 PM, it was now 1 PM and we hit a few more docks. My Co landed his third fish, a nice 2.7 lb largemouth. With only 15 minutes to weigh in, I ran to a weed patch near the launch and one I didn't have any bites in practice in, but it had all the right stuff. The lord answered my prayers and at 1:50 PM I landed a 2.5 lb largemouth to round out my limit. I ran to weigh in and ended up having 14.33 lbs. My total for both days was 29.55 lbs and moved me up to second place and a check for just over $600. I also received a berth to the PA Bass Federation Championship but that was secondary since I already got one through the Western Regional.

Remember my day one Co-Angler? He ended up winning the Co-Angler side. My day 2 Co-Angler ended up 4th, they both were rewarded with berths to the PA Bass Federation Championship. That made me feel really good and was happy to have these guys be successful out of the back of my boat.

I have a few more events at Chautauqua this year and can't wait to go back. It's a beautiful place and loaded with big fish.