Randy Howell Wins BASS Northern Open Oneida Lake
Howell was fresh off a 44th-place finish at the St. Lawrence River when he arrived in Brewerton, N.Y., to start practice for the Open. He initially wanted to tap into a smallmouth pattern, then figure out how to catch better largemouth later on. "I thought I could figure out how to catch 15 or 16 pounds of smallmouth in a day," he said. "When I got there, the smallmouth bite was as tough as nails. I had no clue, at that point, that I could have a great tournament, let alone win." He discovered what would prove to be his best spot in the fading daylight of last Tuesday. "It was about 8:30 and I was one of the last ones on the water," he said. "I was throwing a Livingston Walking Boss with the hooks cut off and covering water on some flats. I had one big one blow up on it and then a bunch of other fish blew up around it so I knew that spot had some fish. You never know if they're there permanently or just chasing bait."
Competition:
Howell was in the later flight on day 1 and caught a nice fish on his second spot with a walking bait. "The morning bite had pretty much quit, though," he said. "My co-angler then caught one on a dropshot so I stayed there. I was getting ready to leave it again and he caught another one. If I had not had a co-angler with me, I might've left that spot. His catching those two made me slow down and figure it out." He mixed a dropshot and Carolina rig to coax a flurry of bites that resulted in catching three fish between 3 1/2 and 4 pounds on almost consecutive casts. "It was one little spot about the size of my boat," he said. "I knew it was a good school and I milked out three more bites. I didn't want to catch much more because I didn't know what all was there. Once I caught my fifth, my smallest was a 3-pounder. I stuck around a little bit longer and caught a 3 3/4." Howell initially thought his stringer was in the 17-pound range, so it was a nice surprise when it weighed 18-09 and put him in 2nd behind Kettlekamp. He returned to the same area on day 2 and was able to capitalize on the early-morning topwater action. He caught three on walking baits and finished his limit with two fish caught on plastics. He had six bites all day, one fewer than day 1. "They shut down early again," he added. His 16-00 stringer on day 2 (all smallmouth again) was still good enough to hold onto 2nd behind Kettlekamp. Howell had high hopes for the morning of day 3. He figured with the field reduced to 12 boats, he'd had have carte blanche on the flats where the smallies roamed. It went his way, but only for a short while. "I get out there and on my first cast across the school, it was like the whole school blows up on my bait," he said. "As I was snapping the line to get it untangled, the smallest fish in the school gets it." He threw back over and over again, but could only coax one other bite. "I fished them four or five times with every bait I had," he said. "That was so frustrating. They were the same fish I caught the first 2 days. That east wind is the worst wind when smallmouth fishing on that lake. There's something about that wind that shuts down those fish on the flats."
One other cue that told him something was different - the birds that had virtually led him to the key areas on the first 2 days were nowhere to be found. He flipped a 1 1/2-pound largemouth out of some grass for his second fish, but was firmly in scramble mode at that point. "My partner was a local guy and he said the point on the island we were near was usually good so we pulled in there and it was pretty slick," Howell said. "Right as we put down, one blows up off the bow. I make one throw and the first fish missed it, but a 4-pound largemouth sucked it under." He had four fish in his livewell for the next few hours. He started doing the weight scenarios in his mind about what he'd need to unseat Kettlekamp. That last thing he wanted to do was to come in without a limit. "The last 2 hours were coming to an end and I still only had four fish," he said. "I scrambled all over. With 15 minutes left, I was running around looking for birds diving. We were almost back to the ramp. It was like a perfect storm. I saw fish breaking and there were already some other guys there. I thought this was going to be it." He fished for a few minutes, but couldn't get a bite, then he caught a 3-pound smallmouth on a 3-inch Bass Pro Shops Speed Shad rigged on a 1/4-ounce jighead. That gave him a limit, but he wanted to get rid of that 1 1/2-pounder. "I knew I needed one more to win and I kept seeing 3s and 4s jumping," he said. "Everyone was leaving to head in. I had everything strapped down, but then saw two birds diving about 75 feet out in front of me. I stood up and made one last cast. I let it sink and felt the tick and set the hook. I winched him in as fast as I could. It was another 3-pounder. "I threw back the little one and ran as hard as I could back to check-in. The clock on my electronics said 2:00:15 when I came off plane so I had 45 seconds to spare. That was the most dramatic finish I've ever had in my career. To win by 8 ounces because of that cull was amazing. Had I looked at the clock and been nervous about time and not made that cast, I wouldn't have won."
Winning Pattern:
Howell said the vast majority of the fish he caught came out of 10 to 15 feet of water and he spent time on a lot of old waypoints. "I have so many waypoints there," he said. "We spent 4 days there fun-fishing last summer in between events and I just love the way it fishes. It can be tough and finicky, but there's something I like about it that suits my strengths. I don't know why I've done better there than anywhere else. There's something about it I love - the way fish move and change. It makes for a fun challenge." He also noted that the fish keying on shad were a little easier to catch than those feeding on perch.
Winning Gear:
Topwater gear: 7'4" extra-heavy Daiwa Steez casting rod, Daiwa Tatula casting reel (8:1 gear ratio), 70-pound Daiwa Samurai braided line, Livingston Lures Walking Boss (pure bone shad and XXX shad), Heddon Super Spook (bone and chrome). Howell says he also uses the same rod for frogging and big worms and heavy jigs. The Walking Boss has a more subtle action and he used that in calmer conditions. He switched to the heavier Super Spook when the wave action picked up.
Dropshot gear: 7'3" medium-action Daiwa Zillion spinning rod, Daiwa Ballistic 3000 spinning reel, 20-pound Daiwa J-Braid braided line (main), 12-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon line (12" leader), No. 1 Daiichi dropshot hook, Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits Shad-Shaped Worm (watermelon green-pumpkin laminate), 3/8-oz. Do-It Molds dropshot weight. Howell also mixed in a wacky-rigged Senko and caught a few of his day-1 fish on a Carolina rig, using a small-profile crawfish and a goby imitator, the latter of which fooled a 4-pounder.
Main factor: "My faith and determination and perseverance and will to win. I had the strongest will and desire that I've ever had. I don't know why, but it was just a memorable deal from 2012 when I lost there."
Performance edge: "My Lowrance HDS 12 was really a big key. I had to spend a couple hours on the phone with them in practice trying to get waypoints sorted out from old files. Everything was cluttered up, but they helped me get them sorted by colors to make those little sweet spots stand out. On a lake like that, it's the little, subtle stuff that makes the big difference. There's no telling how many people fish over these spots."
