Oneida Lake is one of those special lakes that has everyone drooling over the possibilities that it offers.  Yes indeed this is one of those lakes you can load your live-well up with bass, especially smallmouth.  Yes sir if there is one thing you can count on for sure on beautiful Oneida Lake it is the weather. You can count on it to be lousy.  On the positive side, no one lost a lower unit on this trip. High five yourself, that's quite an achievement.

As I mentioned above, we have been here before.  Some of the teams would be nostalgia fishing and banking heavily on those areas while other teams would be exploring waters they had found by 'internet exploration' and the age old 'friend of a friend' information.   Practice as usual in these events was what one might consider a walk in the park.  Everyone was on fish and talking whimsically of that elusive 20 pound bag of smallmouth and how they were going to light up the rest of the field, just you wait and see.

Well, see we did.  We saw 25 mile and hour winds with three feet waves that were building at first light on day one of the Classic.  Safety comes first and I was glad to see that the field was taking the conditions seriously. It was time to throw everything out the window and just go fishing. There were plenty of fish to be had, it was just going to be harder to put a pattern together given the conditions.  It shouldn't be too difficult right?  Not exactly....

After a rough day and with conditions getting rougher by the second the 11 teams made their way back carefully to the Oneida Shores State Park and the Classic weigh-in site.  John Reilly and John Tsaousis took the lead with a respectable sack of bass weighing 13 lbs.,03 ozs. Their limit was anchored by a 4 lb.,6 oz. largemouth that had fallen victim to a 'spook' fished close to heavy matted vegetation at the mouth of Big Bay.  This lead was tenuous at best.

Joe Petrozza and partner Nancy Fernandez held down the second spot weighing in a five fish limit that tipped the scales to the tune of 13 lbs.,01 oz.  Their bag included the first day and tournament lunker a beautiful 5 lb.,8 oz. largemouth that Nancy (Lunker Lil) caught using her trusted senko.  Rumor has it they were Texas rigging this hot bait.  When the fish are on the senko this team is dangerous.  That's the second 5+ largemouth Nancy has landed this year in one of the clubs Major tournaments.

Pat Xiques and Chris Loraine, paired together for the first time had made the most of their pre-fishing and had located fish that were out of the wind & waves. They had two areas that were productive and they made the most of their opportunities.  They came to the scales with 12 lbs.,12 ounces including a nice 4 lb.,10 oz. largemouth that ate Pat's 'Sweet Beaver'.  This last minute entry had seized the moment and stood firmly in third place just ounces out of the lead.

The expected AOY 'race to the finish' between the leader Dave McLaughlin and defending AOY Kenny Sullivan was still too close to call.  Neither had been able to put space between the other and it was apparent this race would go down to the wire.  Tomorrow...tomorrow.

DAY TWO.....30+ mile per hour winds and 4 foot seas at day break.  The outlook was bleak indeed.  Once you passed the islands, it looked like a scene right out of the movie the 'Perfect Storm'.  A few  of the anglers somehow found their way to their 'honey holes' in spite of the weather difficulties and returned safely at days end with their catch.  A local told us it was the worst weather of the season so far.  Of course, what else would it be.

As the 11 teams began to make their way to the scales the results bore out the obvious; the bite was very tough.  Seven of the teams had returned without their limit and were virtually eliminated from the competition.  The 'day one' leaders, Reilly and Tsaousis weighed in a five fish limit that totaled   11 lbs., and 7 ozs. which was just shy of the weight they needed.  They had to settle for a third place finish with 24 lbs.,10 ozs.

Petrozza and Fernandez had stumbled, but Joe weighed in a nice largemouth that proved to be the second day lunker of  4 lb.,3 oz.  Next to the scales was Kelly and Scully who were in fourth place after day one.  They weighed in a five fish limit of 13 lbs., 06 oz.s a nice bag that was anchored by a 3 lb.,13 oz smallmouth. Their two day total of 25 lbs.,8 oz. put them into the lead with just one team remaining...Xiques and Loraine.

Well moment of truth had arrived.  Pat and Chris watched the scales as the numbers settled in.  Their five fish totaled 13 lbs.,6 ozs., the same as Kelly and Scully.  You could see the wheels turning as the numbers danced through their heads and as they held their collective breaths the results were read. The final results were close.  Xiques and Loraine had weighed in a two day total of 26 lbs., 2 ozs. YES!!! they were the 2006 'Classic Champions' A great finish to a spectacular regular season.  Congratulations Pat and Chris.

The AOY race was over.  Both men had poor performances and even let a third angler in to the race, Ray Scully.  When the dust had cleared Kenny Sullivan on the strength of establishing a new club 'Total Weight' record took his second AOY title in a row.  Had Ray weighed in two more ounces during the ENTIRE season he would have won an unprecedented 10th AOY crown.  Dave Mclaughlin who had won the 'Total Points' title, finished in second place.  Congrats King Kenny, Long live the King....at least until next year.