Much has changed in the world of professional bass fishing since the summer of 2005. The Bassmaster Classic is now a wintertime event, anglers are no longer able to compete on both major circuits on a full-time basis and the great Roland Martin has switched his primary focus to saltwater.
If the Three Rivers that meet up in Pittsburgh, Pa. have changed much as a bass fishery in that time, they seem to have reverted back to what they were 4 years ago. Keeper bites are few and far between.
The Ohio, Monongahela and Allegheny rivers will host a tour-level championship event for the second time beginning Thursday when the Forrest Wood Cup opens its 4-day run. The handful of anglers in the field who were here for the first one (the last summertime Classic in '05) have found things to be pretty similar to what they remembered. The bigger group making their first visit has discovered
a bite that's about as tough as most have ever seen.
The rivers are home to lots of bass, but the vast majority of them don't stretch from one end of a schoolkid's ruler to the other, and thus have no chance of getting any spotlight time during the weigh-ins at the Mellon Center. Any competitor who manages to catch five 12-inchers a day stands a good chance of pocketing a million bucks, so long as he's a Ranger owner. If he runs another brand of boat, he'll have to settle for half that amount.
Patience, persistence, luck – they'll all play a role here. Which factor will dominate remains to be seen.
Before getting into more bite info, here's the lowdown on the fishery itself.
BassFan Three Rivers Profile
> Lake Name: Three Rivers (Allegheny, Ohio and Monongahela)
> Type of Water: Industrial river
> Surface acres: Unavailable
> Primary structure/cover: Rockpiles, isolated rocks, occasional wood, bridge pilings, barge tieups, wing dams, some grass
> Primary forage: Gizzard shad, some crayfish in the rocks, minnows, insect larvae
> Species: Mostly smallmouths, some spots and very few largemouths
> Average depth: About 18 feet
> Length limit: 12 inches
> Reputation: Few fish, small fish
> Weather: A mix of sun and clouds with occasional thunderstorms. Relatively cool temperatures (high-70s to low-80s) and light winds
> Water temp: Mid-70s to low-80s, depending on location
> Water visibility/color: Mostly clear, which is surprising to some considering all of the recent rain in the region
> Water level: Slightly higher than normal
> Fish in: Shallow water (2 to 8 feet), but there's bound to be some deeper dwellers somewhere
> Fish phase: Summer
> Primary patterns: Small plastics (dropshot, splitshot, shakey), small spinners, jigs, small cranks, small jerkbaits, maybe topwaters
> Winning weight: 12 pounds (final 2 days)
> Cut weight: 8 pounds (first 2 days)
> Fishing quality (1=poor, 5=great): 2 for the Three Rivers
> Biggest factors: One hot bank or rockpile with multiple 2-pounders, lock times, patience, current flow
> Biggest decision: Whether to stay with a bank or go look for something better
> Wildcard: A 4-pound bite – it'll be nearly the equivalent of a limit of run-of-the-mill keepers
Better or Worse?
Kevin VanDam won the 2005 Classic with 11 fish that weighed a combined 12-15 – an average of just over 4 1/4 pounds a day. There was optimism from many corners that Cup weights would be considerably higher, but that's waned over the past week.
Here's a look at the Three Rivers layout. For reference, boundaries from the 2005 Classic are shows as red Xs. Green lines denote current Cup boundaries.
For one thing, these fish have seen a lot more pressure lately than their ancestors in '05. Classic competitors back then got just a single day of practice in the month leading up to the tournament, whereas the current generation of bass has been worked over good for the past 4 days.
"I don't see it being much different than that Classic was," said Ron Shuffield, who caught just one keeper in that derby and switched over to the FLW Tour after the ensuing first winter Classic. "There's more water and more current and I'm getting a few more bites, but they seem smaller. It's harder to catch keepers."
That current seems to be subsiding daily, however, despite recent heavy rains in the region.
"As the current goes away, it's getting closer and closer to being exactly the way it was," said Bassmaster Elite Series regular Greg Hackney, who earned his Cup berth via the 2008 Eastern FLW Series. "I don't think these fish here grow more than about 2 inches a year. At a place like Lake Erie where they've got gobies and smelt and everything else under the sun, they say a 5-pound smallmouth might be 5 years old. Here, a 12-incher might be 5 years old.
"The thing that makes this place different is you can't target 2-pounders – I tried it before and it didn't work," Hackney added. "You have to fish for bites and just hope you catch some keepers. This crowd (FLW) seems to like tough tournaments, and they've got themselves one."
Options Limited
Compounding matters, two of the best locales from '05 are off-limits for this event – most of Pool 2 and all of Pool 3 on the Monongahela (the "Mon"), where several Top 10 Classic finishers fished, along with much of the downtown Pittsburgh area, where VanDam won it and Aaron Martens made a strong bid for the title before settling for a runner-up finish. The fertile but rugged Youghiogheny River (the "Yok"), a tributary of the Monongahela, is also out except for the first couple of miles upstream from the mouth.
A lot more of the Allegheny is open for business, but most of the field would've preferred the '05 boundaries. Where this one will be won – and how – is anybody's guess right now.
All three species swim here, but it'll be predominantly smallmouths that come to the scales. Keeper spots are more rare and largemouths are true diamonds in this coal country.
There's a ton of visible cover that looks like it should hold quality fish, but catching more than one keeper from any single location was a chore in practice, and that task is likely to be tougher over the next 4 days. Patterns don't seem to hold up from one place to the next, either.
"There's a lot of stuff that looks good – milfoil, eel grass – but I haven't gotten a bite off of it, not even a little one," said Bryan Thrift. "There's got to be spots out there that have got fish – maybe some hideaway spots in the middle of the river. But I haven't found anything like that."
He's not alone.
Field Notes
Here are practice notes from some of the anglers who'll be fishing this week.
Terry Baksay
"It's going to be a very interesting tournament. I actually caught some keepers the last couple of days, but they were few and far between and miles apart. It's almost impossible to find a pattern. I thought I might be onto something, but that went straight into the toilet.
"There are so many things to throw at – wood, trees, walls, bridges, shoreline grass. It just seems that about 99% of the fish are 4 to 10 inches long. I'm just going to fish hard in areas where I think fish are living."
Bryan Thrift is sure there are concentrations of keeper-size fish somewhere on the Three Rivers, but like a lot of others, he's been unable to find them.
J.T. Kenney
"Each day has gotten a little slower for me, and for obvious reasons – I haven't gone back to the same stuff twice. I haven't found a whole lot of stuff to fish, so I'm probably going to have to hit it all four or five times a day.
"Hopefully I can catch them pretty decent on the first day and then hold on because I don't think there's a lot of fish to go around."
Brennan Bosley
"It's one of those things that's hit or miss. I've covered a bunch of water and caught one here and one there, but I can't seem to catch enough to get any kind of pattern established. I did catch one keeper largemouth that was 12 1/2 inches.
"I had a decent day (Monday) and it gave me quite a bit of confidence. It may not ever happen again, but at least it gives me something to start with. This is a tournament where the guy who wins is probably going to have to do something different every day."
Tom Mann Jr.
"I can't see any difference between this tournament and when the Classic was here. With all the locks and all the stuff we have to deal with, if somebody can catch five keepers, they're going to be in great shape.
"The thing about these rivers is everything you're going to fish is visible to the eye. You go down through there and see a place where it looks like a bass might live, and you pull over and fish it. Well, the guys ahead of you have already done that.
"I don't think it's possible to catch a limit every day, I don't care who it is. If they do, then they're fishing somewhere I haven't been. I just can't see it."
Larry Nixon
"It's every bit as tough as it was in '05. I've caught so few keepers that I can't even talk about it – one a day, two a day, and I'm subject to not catching one. I can't establish anything. I'll catch one up in the current, but then I can't get another bite.
"It'll be a good tournament, though, and somebody will win it with a low weight, just like the Classic I won (on the Ohio River in 1983). I just hope to grind out a few fish."
Ron Shuffield
"I'm just going to go fishing and hope to stumble into the right area and get lucky. I don't know if there is such a thing as developing a pattern here.
"I haven't caught nearly the amount of spotted bass on this trip – just five or six in 3 days. I caught one largemouth and it was a non-keeper. I caught one keeper total (in the '05 Classic), so it wouldn't take much to improve on that this time."
Kevin Vida
"I got into a little pattern (Monday) and I'm leaving it alone. You just can't take a chance on hooking these fish in practice – it almost makes you sick to your stomach to boat a 12-incher.
"I caught three keepers (on Sunday), including two within 15 feet of each other, and I never got another bite in the whole pool. I caught a 14-incher and that thing was dying. If they're 12-inchers, I'm thrilled."
Bryan Thrift
"I've been good for about two keepers in a 15-hour practice day. I caught one that might've been a meanmouth – a spot/smallmouth cross. I haven't even seen a largemouth.
"Right now I don't have a clue. In one place I caught one that was about a pound and a half and I had another one on, if it was a bass, it might've been 2 pounds. That's my best hole right now."
Smallmouth ace Kevin Vida found a pattern in practice that he hopes will produce, but he was afraid to test it too much.
Dave Lefebre
"My practice wasn't great. It's going to be a tough one and there's a lot of really good fishermen who aren't going to catch them. Maybe if you close one eye and cast 10 feet to the left of where you're aiming, you might catch more.
"I think we'll have good flow with all the rain that's fallen up north. That should at least make sure the water keeps moving."
Greg Hackney
"The bites I've gotten have been random – one doing this, one doing something else. Coming up here I didn't think it would take more than 3 pounds a day to make the Top 10. It might be a hair better than that, but not much.
"This place is full of fish from 6 to 8 inches, and you can catch 30 or 40 of them and never catch a keeper. I'm just going to try for a few keeper bites every day, but what I'm doing is so fragile that there's a chance I won't catch one."
Sean Hoernke
"This is my type of fishing – I'm a river rat. It's the same kind of current stuff that's down on the Red River, even though the fish are smaller. One good thing is with them being mostly smallmouths, if you can find them, they're usually pretty aggressive.
"I think a limit every day is possible – I've had days with that many keeper bites."
Weather Forecast
Here's the weather forecast for the tournament.
> Thurs., July 30 - Partly Cloudy - 81°/69°
- Wind: From the S/SW at 7 mph
> Fri., July 31 - Scattered T-Storms - 76°/62°
- Wind: From the W/SW at 9 mph
> Sat., Aug. 1 - Partly Cloudy - 81°/64°
- Wind: From the SW at 5 mph
> Sun., Aug. 2 - Isolated T-Storms - 79°/64°
- Wind: From the S/SW at 7 mph
Notable
> BassFan Big Stick Jay Yelas found the bite in practice to be "unbelievably difficult," but he did discover two areas that he has at least a modicum of confidence in. To read his full practice report, click here to go on tour with the BassFan Big Sticks.
> For a detailed schedule of events, see below.
> Of the Cup competitors who also fished the '05 Classic, Mike Iaconelli finished highest (5th), followed by David Walker (14th).
> Although his winning water is off-limits for the Cup, Kevin VanDam's Winning Pattern story from the Classic is worth a re-read, as is the 2–5 patterns story.
> BassFan's Top 10 To Watch story will be published tomorrow. Look throughout the week for BassFan's same-day onsite coverage of the Cup.
Event Info
Launch Site
Steelers Quay
North Shore Riverfront Park
Art Rooney Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Family Fun Zone
David L. Lawrence Convention Center
1000 Fort Duquesne Blvd.
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
412.565.6000; PittsburghCC.com
Weigh-Ins
Mellon Arena
66 Mario Lemieux Place
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
412.642.1800; MellonArena.com
Schedule
Thursday, July 30
Friday, July 31
Saturday, Aug. 1
Sunday, Aug. 2
