Alton Jones (bottom) finished 94th in the Bassmaster Elite Series event at Virginia's Smith Mountain Lake 2 years ago, and he can't wait to get back up there next week. Casey Ashley (top) won that 2007 derby, but he's not all that fired up about the return trip.
What's going on here?
It can be summed up in two words: spawn phase. The '07 tournament was a post-spawn affair held in early June, whereas this one could hit the reproductive ritual right at its peak. Ashley hates sight-fishing, while Jones loves it and excels at it.
"We'll see what happens," Ashley said. "I hope it's going to be pre-spawn, but I have a feeling it's going to be a bed-fishing blowout. I can catch them that way, but I just don't like it. There's a lot more of a luck factor.
"I always go out in practice and try to find some fish by just fishing, then I end up getting beat by guys who just troll around looking and don't cast a rod. I can't put all my marbles in one bag like that."
Jones, the leader in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year (AOY) race, said lost fish were his big issue at Smith Mountain last time. The finish was his worst on the Elite Series since its inception in 2006 with the exception of the Santee Cooper event that same year, in which he Kevin VanDam and Randy Howell were all disqualified for having someone else drive the boat during practice while they looked for spawners.
"I don't have any mental blocks with Smith Mountain and I really enjoyed being there," he said. "But at a place like that you have to catch your bites and I had two 5-pounders get off.
"This is one I'm champing at the bit for because it being pre-spawn and spawn, it should play to my strengths. You won't have to catch them sight-fishing, but if you want to, you can. It's a whole different phase of the spawn and I'm really looking forward to it."
If nothing else, Ashley (who's 12th on the AOY list) is fired up about buying some ice cream from the vendor boat that travels around the lake.
"I didn't see it until the last day when we were up there before, and my mind was totally occupied by trying to catch fish. I'm going to get me one this time – just something simple, like maybe one scoop of vanilla on a cone or an orange push-up."
