Visiting upstate New York in July is such a nice relief from the Illinois summer.  This was the third time I had competed on the St. Lawrence River.  During the first half of practice I spent much of my time fishing high spots on the main river.  These typically topped out around 25’.  Basically they had large boulders on them and the fish would set up against these in the heavy current.  On these areas I was throwing a drop shot with a half-ounce sinker.  This pattern caught me plenty of fish however I was lacking the size.  The later part of practice I switched to a shallower approach.  Still concentrating on the main river areas, but this time throwing a crankbait in water 6’-12’ deep.  Same scenario the smallmouth were using the boulders to break the current and when the crankbait would deflect off the rock the fish would aggressively attack it.  This pattern didn’t yield me near the bites as the drop shot however the quality was much better.  This would be the pattern that I decided to commit to in the event.  Day one of the tournament went fairly well catching plenty of quality keepers just not enough fish over four pounds.  The St. Lawrence River is so strong now you need over 20 pounds per day to do well.  That day’s limit with 18-10 had me sitting in the low 50’s.  The next day I went out and fished the same way expanding some of my areas.  I received less bites and lost a few key fish.  After day two and another limit, but too small to do well with it dropped me to 67th place with a two day total of 34 pounds.  The St. Lawrence is a very special place with lots of quality 4 pound plus smallmouth and I can’t wait to fish there again someday.