Feb. 18, 2010
When I’m offering a blog, one of the goals I have is to give stories and information that are either interesting or new or both. Well, I hope this is interesting, but I certainly don’t think that what’s on my mind is new. What I’m thinking about this week, Bassmaster Classic week, is what every angler here in Birmingham is talking about — weather.

It’s cold. Really cold.

Cold air temperature is nothing new for anglers. This time of year we hit cold weather all the time. When you put a boat in the water about the time the sun comes up you can’t run from freezing weather, even in the South.

Cold water, though, is a different story. I’m talking about water in the thirties, and that’s what we’ve got.

So what does it mean?

For one thing it means that even if the weather warms up later in the week as it’s supposed to do, it probably won’t change what’s going on with the fish. It’s too late. The fish are sluggish, and it works on your mind trying to figure what they’re going to do.

A lot of people are saying it’s going to be a spotted bass tournament because of this, and that might be true. But it’s a gamble to line up a game plan based on catching spotted bass, because those of us who want the largemouth bite would be giving up time fishing for that big bite if we spend all day chasing spotted bass.

Funny thing. The anglers are generally saying the same thing: It’s a tough bite this week. But we’ve also got some rumors floating around. We’re hearing that that a few folks have found spots where they’re biting and they’re hauling them in. But no one’s actually owning up to whether it’s true or not.

Generally, the anglers at the Classic get along real well. We respect one another, we believe in the abilities of other anglers, we respect boundaries, we help each other out when a competitor is short of lures — we do those types of things.

But we’re also trying to win. So if, for example, my friend Kelly Jordon tells me he heard Iaconelli caught 30 in practice today, I would say, “Man, Ike must be on them.” But then in my head I would say, “Um-hmm. Maybe. I wonder if he really did get 30.” This is, after all, water chess. It’s a mind game.

But back to the weather. The general approach many anglers take at any tournament is to catch a limit as early as possible — then go after the big fish. It’s logical that the earlier you get your limit, the better off you are, because catching the limit is important. But the colder the water is, the longer it could take to catch a limit. Even if you’ve got a fish that only weighs a pound, you might need that pound on the third day. When I won the Classic the last time it was at Lay Lake, I won by 6 ounces. What if I had missed a limit one day because I didn’t pull in a 1-pounder?

All I know at this point is that I still plan to fish the whole lake, dam to dam. I’m hoping to run mats, to find a place where I can get a big one. But I know for certain I’ll be all over the lake, and I hope I can duplicate what happened in practice a couple of days ago. As sluggish as the fish are, I caught a 10-pounder. It was the biggest fish I’ve ever caught at Lay Lake. It was a fluke, but I wouldn’t mind running into another fluke like that.

Because of the conditions, several writers have suggested during interviews with me that this could be anybody’s tournament. They’re suggesting that maybe the top-level guys could get knocked off.

Well, I guess that’s possible, but I wouldn’t say it’s probable. I believe that when the final day rolls around you’re going to see KVD, Skeet Reese, Ike, Alton Jones, folks like that right in the thick of it. I certainly hope I’m there with them.

I also think Aaron Martens will be a player in this. He’s good on this lake, and he’s good with spotted bass.

But, then again, who knows?

It’s water chess. We’ll see.