Bassmaster Classic - Three Rivers

I zeroed again. I feel fine. I haven't caught a keeper here in 5 days of fishing. This is the first time I've ever fished a body of water for 5 days and never caught a 12-inch fish. That's just hard to imagine.

I don't know what happened to the bite. I fished the Allegheny, and the water came back up today, so it wasn't the water level. For 2 days in a row, we had a guaranteed locking time at the end of the day. So everyone was in the lock, and nobody had fish, except Chris Baumgardner, who caught one each day. So there were only two fish caught in the Allegheny all Classic.

That's unusual. I don't know if it's pollution, but very rarely do you have an area with that much water that's just null and void. There's nothing there to be caught.

Today was lousy. I didn't catch a keeper. I was in the Allegheny and nobody caught anything there. I was coming back through the lock, and there were six boats in there. One guy had one, all the other five had zero.

The water dropped 4 to 6 inches in there. On practice day, I was getting keeper bites. The water fell and it just wasn't right in there today. I'll probably go someplace different tomorrow.

I'm disappointed, but that's the way it goes in this thing. But I'm probably still not out of it since the weights are so low. If I can catch 10 pounds, I can get back in this thing.

I'll change tomorrow. I'd be crazy not to. The water I fished today was the best water I found. One thing that might save me is I put all my eggs in one basket on the Allegheny. If something changes, and a little more current starts moving, I might catch some up there.

It's disappointing, but not the end of the world. This tournament is so hard to win, I'm just glad I won it that one year. It makes you appreciate that one win so much more when you stumble along like this.

This is the first time I ever blanked on the first day of the Classic.

Practice was just about the same as pre-practice. Nothing changed a whole lot. It seems like the river has a little more color. The level's about the same, and the flow's about the same.

I had a few bites, but I didn't set the hook on them. I don't know how many of those are keepers. I talked to (George) Cochran about the year he won. He had 6 pounds the first day, 7 the next, 2 the next. He could have blanked the last day and won it, there were so few bass.

The first day, guys might catch one up around cover – they're easier to catch – but by the third day it's just a nightmare.

I fished areas with not that many guys around – maybe three to four guys.

I brought up a bunch of (small) tackle, but I'm not going to throw it. I'll throw jigs and spinnerbaits mostly and try to catch them that way. I don't want to catch five 12-inchers a day. I want to catch three 2-pounders a day and win that way.

I found a spot today that had some fish. You can find a good stretch here, but it'll probably only last a day.

I think it'll be won the first day or two. The last day might not even count, it'll be so tough by then. I'm thinking it'll be won earlier, rather than somebody coming from way back.

You have to land every keeper that bites, and the execution of that could be the difference.

I think 14 to 17 pounds will win.