Bassmasters to cast on Lake Erie

Tag : Metal Cast

Some of the country's top fishermen will be converging on Buffaloand Lake Erie next week for the Bassmasters Elite Series ' "Empire Chase."
An estimated 212 anglers including 106 professional fishermen and106 amateur Bassmasters members will be competing in the four-dayseries, set to begin on July 31. The fishermen will leave dailyfrom the NFTA's Small Boat Harbor.
The competition is being filmed by ESPN and will be shown on the Aug. 9 airing of "TheBassmasters" on ESPN2. "The Bassmasters" is shown at9 a.m.
The Buffalo competition is the second to last of the 2008 EmpireChase series with a $100,000 first place prize at stake. The serieswraps up in August during the "Champion's Choice" fishingderby on Oneida Lake near Syracuse.
Buffalo was selected for two primary reasons. The Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau put together an impressive bid package and the Lake Erie'sreputation as one of the top smallmouth bass fisheries.
"The fishery is in excellent shape," said Matthew Sphar,a Pavilion resident and an elite Bassmaster pro who will besponsored by Metal Locking Service Inc. , of South Buffalo.
Sphar, who finished 13th a year ago, said he expects to catch atleast 15 pounds per day, but estimates the top anglers may behauling in 20 pounds worth of smallmouth bass each day.
Weather will be a factor. Last year, one of the competition dayswas dropped because of high winds and waves on Lake Erie.
"It's rare to have four days in a row where you don't havesome kind of weather here," Sphar said. "It doesn't takemuch wind to get the lake cranking. If the wind comes out of thenorth, sometimes it's not that bad. But if it's out of the west orthe southwest, then it can get pretty nasty. We'll be poundingthrough four-footers at least one day, I'd expect that."
Boats will be launching from the Small Boat Harbor, beginning at 8a.m. each day. Weigh-ins begin at 5 p.m.
A Bass outdoor expo will run on Aug. 2 and Aug. 3.
All events are free and open to the public.