Connell Conquers Cayuga Smallmouth to Win Second Event in 2022
by Mason Prince
BASS PRO TOUR PRESS RELEASE
UNION SPRING, N.Y. – For the second time in the 2022 Bass Pro Tour season, Dustin Connell is a champion. Connell is the winner of the Fox Rent A Car Stage Six Presented by Googan Baits on Cayuga Lake after catching 25 bass for 96 pounds, 12 ounces on Thursday to claim his second silver-and-red BPT trophy in six months.
Connell was clutch from start to finish on Cayuga, leading nearly the entirety of the finaly day and never surrendering his commanding lead. The only angler to really threaten Connell all day was second-place Jacob Wheeler, and he was only able to get within 16-3 of Connell when all was said and done.
Once again, it was all about smallmouth for Connell on Cayuga, this time for $100,000. All of his 25 scorable bass were of the brown variety. The Alabama pro knew that if he wanted to win his second event of the year, he was going to have to fish off the beaten path.
“I’m not a good grass fisherman, so I knew I was going to have to do something different,” Connell admitted. “I caught my first smallmouth of this tournament on a Googan Baits Drag N Drop and thought, ‘Oh wow.’ I decided then I was fully committed to smallmouth. To win the tournament on all smallmouth up here is just nuts.”
