The Bassmaster Classic has no entry fee, but Virginia pro Jacob Powroznik spent $395 to improve his chances at its $300,000 top prize. No, he didn’t spend it on fishing tackle; he spent it trying to stay warm.
Precipitation that was nearly frozen was falling in the Classic boat yard as Powroznik unpacked from a shopping trip to a local outdoor retailer. His haul included a portable propane heater, wool neck gaiter, wool socks, three pairs of gloves, a pile of peel n’ stick body warmers and six bottles of propane.
“The heater alone was $154, but I figure it’ll be well worth it, not just in the tournament, but out here working on tackle in the boat yard, too,” he said.
If meteorologists are right, Powroznik is going to need all the propane he can get. This will likely be the coldest Classic in history. Forecasted sunrise temperatures for day 1 on Friday are for around 10 degrees, and the high temp that day is supposed to be well … freezing … 32 degrees.
While weather will be as much the headline as the fishing this week, Powroznik doesn’t seem fazed by it.
“I duck hunt 60 days each winter around the Rappahannock River in Virginia, so I’m extremely used to cold weather,” he said. “The key is to keep your hands warm and your neck warm, and that neck gaiter is a really key deal.
“I think the thing that worries me most about this Classic is not the weather, but instead, somebody randomly finding the mother lode school of potentially winning fish,” he added, citing that on reservoirs like Hartwell, where blueback herring are the predominant baitfish, that unpredictable feeding and schooling occurs.
As far as lures he thinks will dominate this cold-weather derby, he's thinking football.
“I’m not saying it’s going to be the winning lure, but if I had to pick three or four lures that nearly everybody in this tournament will have tied on, I’d say a football jig, a football jig, a football jig, and a football jig,” joked Powroznik, who actually had one Quantum EXO reel rigged with a vertical jigging spoon for Hartwell’s 47-degree water.
“It’s gonna keep getting colder this week, but I don’t really see that affecting these bass too much,” said Powroznik.
After his $395 shopping trip Monday afternoon, Powroznik isn’t looking to be affected much either.
