King of the North!
by Jody White
FLW PRESS RELEASE
One of only three pros to bring limits to the stage on the final day of the
Costa FLW Series presented by Ranger Boats on Oneida Lake, Cory Johnston earned
the win by more than 4 pounds. In total, the Cavan, Ontario, pro toted 14
pounds, 1 ounce to the scale on the final day for a 50-4 total that earned him
$32,778 and a new Ranger Z518. In addition to winning the tournament, Johnston
also finished off his third Northern Division Strike King Angler of the Year
title, earning a Strike King tackle pack and the deposits in the division of
his choice for 2017.
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| Cory is " King of the North" in New York! (Photo: FLW) |
“We’ve never been here before and its fun to go out and learn a
new lake,” says Cory Johnston of his and Chris’s first time on Oneida. “When
you’re somewhere you haven’t been before you’re not going into the lake with a
preconceived notion of what the fish were doing last time here. You can really
figure it out and zone in on them real good.”
Zone in they did. Combined, the brothers rustled exactly 95 pounds
of Oneida bass over three days of fishing with Cory taking the win and Chris
settling for fourth place.
All week, Johnston followed a strict shallow game plan that
separated him from other pros grouped up on shoals or slinging umbrella rigs on
points and flats.
“The whole thing that I was fishing was isolated rock piles off
the shore,” says Johnston. “When it was calm and clear like in practice you
should see all these rock piles and that’s how I found all my fish. The first
two days when I got here I put my trolling motor on 100 and just went looking
for stuff and right away I caught a 4-pounder and a 3-pounder on topwater so I
knew the big fish would be shallow and I could key in on what they were on.”
