For a year now, Bassmaster Elite Series pros have planned and prepared to fish the Arkansas River out of Muskogee, Okla. for their regular-season finale.
The plan was still in place yesterday morning when they launched onto the river for day 2 of official practice. But immediately it became apparent that trouble was brewing. Intense rainfalls from slow-moving thunderstorms
created flash floods through large portions of the state – most notably in Oklahoma City, but also in Tulsa, which is immediately upstream from Muskogee.
The main river turned dangerous with thousands of logs and trees moving down the system. Although the backwaters were fishable, the main river was too hazardous to navigate, so yesterday afternoon BASS decided to move the event 18 miles north to Ft. Gibson Lake, with launches and two weigh-ins out of Wagoner.
On days 3 and 4, the pros will tote their fish back to Muskogee and weigh in there, in order to still capitalize on the country music festival held that weekend in Muskogee.
The pros have a short practice day today at Ft. Gibson, then begin the 4-day competition tomorrow.
Reactions
Every pro BassFan spoke to agreed there was a need to change the venue. However, at least one pro feels BASS could have made the event a 3-day competition and allowed one more practice day.
There will be a decided local advantage with the move to Ft. Gibson. The weigh-ins are near Tommy Biffle's hometown, and he's not even going to practice today. He'll stay off the water and work on tackle. Plus, Oklahoma pros like Jeff Kriet, Terry Butcher, Edwin Evers, Bradley Hallman, Kenyon Hill and Vince Fulks, or nearby Arkansas residents like Scott Rook, have varying degrees of experience on the waterbody. That'll at least give them a starting point for today's practice.
But whether an extended practice would further push a local advantage, or further level the playing field, remains a matter of debate. Kelly Jordon, though, is one pro who'd like an extra day of scouting. At 37th in the Toyota Tundra BASS Angler of the Year (AOY) race, Jordon's currently last man in the Bassmaster Classic. His Classic hopes thus hinge on a half-day of practice.
"I think it was a good call to move, although about 15 minutes before I got the message I found a place where I could catch one every cast, so I was pretty excited," Jordon said. "But then I saw the river and it looked like a succession of beaver dams floating downriver.
"I wish we had at least 2 days of practice though," Jordon added. "It's not springtime where you can just go down the bank and figure them out. I'd rather have it be a 2- or 3-day event, or like in other pro sports, extend it into next week. If they can make a drastic change and go to another lake, some other measures could certainly be taken that would also be very fair."
Biffle agreed with Jordon that a move was needed. Not only was the river a serious hazard, Biffle said, but the entire field would have been bunched in a few backwaters, since on-plane running and locking would have been minimal.
And of course, as a Wagoner resident who's fished Ft. Gibson for 40 years, the choice of venue didn't "hurt (his) feelings any."
Kelly Jordon, who's currently last man in the Bassmaster Classic, would have liked an extra day of practice.
"I started taking pictures of a water heater going downriver," Biffle said. "And it wasn't just a few logs – it was thousands of them. You couldn't run down the river without stopping and trying to idle through. They were everywhere.
"I see this is an opportunity – a good chance to get into the Top 12 (in the points)," Biffle added. "I was going to catch them in the river, but I'll probably catch them here better. A lot of other people will too. There'll be a lot more fish caught. It's a good lake and they're biting right now real good."
"This is as close as you're going to get to a no-info tournament," Butcher noted. "It's spur of the moment – no one's going to have time to gather anything. So that'll be good. We've been needing something like this."
Butcher also noted that aside from Biffle, he probably has more personal time on the lake than anyone else, although it's been 6 years since he fished it.
Factors to Keep in Mind
Notable
> The pre-tournament meeting begins today at 4:30. Watch for BassFan's scouting report, with more information about the lake, as well as practice reports, to be published soon.
> A map of Ft. Gibson is published below.
Launch/Weigh-In Information
Anglers launch daily at 6:30 p.m. from Sequoyah Bay Marina (6372 E. 101st St. N, Wagoner, OK). The day-1 and day-2 weigh-ins, held at the same location, begin at 3:30.
The Saturday and Sunday weigh-ins, as initially planned, will take place at Three Forks Harbor (5201 Three Forks Road in Fort Gibson, Okla.) at 3:30, coinciding with the Okie Country Music Fest.