New Jersey pro Adrian Avena finished up a two-day big-smallmouth-catching clinic on Saturday, June 11 with 28 pounds 10 ounces, just 24 hours after bagging a massive five-fish limit of 29-6. Avena’s two-day haul of smallmouth rang up to 58-0 which was 2 pounds better than Bass Pro Tour rookie Spencer Shuffield and more than enough to secure the Vineland native’s first-ever Bass Pro Tour win at Favorite Fishing Stage Five Presented ATG by Wrangler on New York’s Cayuga Lake
Avena committed to fishing spawning smallmouth all week on Cayuga’s southern end. It was the same tactic that all of the Top 10 committed to in both the Knockout and Championship Rounds – Avena just did it better. The Berkley pro’s biggest difference-maker was a handful of 6-pounders that he weighed the final two days – three in the Knockout Round, two on the final day. Avena’s last two bags were the best weights each day, and his four-day aggregate was an impressive 105 pounds.
With all 10 of the Championship Round pros running the same pattern, Avena searched for less-pressured fish. That translated into fishing deeper water and employing a flogger to see bedding smallmouth that others missed. “I was fishing a little deeper than everyone else and finding fish the other guys didn’t see,” Avena later told MajorLeagueFishing.com, adding “This $150 ‘traffic cone’ was the difference and won me $100,000.”
Avena used various finesse presentations to catch his fish, but the drop-shot was his primary tool. “I was using a Berkley Gulp! Minnow in chartreuse shad,” he said. “The chartreuse back was a big player, especially when the water got stirred up so I could see it better. I was fishing it with a short leader, trying to imitate a perch attacking the beds.”
This win marks the New Jersey pro’s first tour-level victory in his 11-year professional career. Avena’s last victory was also his first major event as a professional, a Toyota Series triumph when he was just 20 years old on Lake Champlain. “I haven’t won since then. I’ve been close so many times,” he said, while adding “This is so awesome, and I have so many people to thank, because so many people believed in me.”
The final five pros from the Favorite Fishing Stage Five at Cayuga Lake Presented by ATG by Wrangler finished:
1st: Adrian Avena, Vineland, NJ 58-0, $100,000
2nd: Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, AR 56-0, $45,000
3rd: Dakota Ebare, Brookeland, TX 55-2, $38,000
4th: Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, TN 54-0, $32,000
5th: Alton Jones Jr., Waco, TX 53-8, $30,000
For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the Bass Pro Tour, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.
