By BassFan Staff
Fishing conditions were less than ideal for the first 3 of the 4 official practice days leading up to the 2012 Bassmaster Classic. The weather in the Shreveport, La. area was chilly, gloomy and extremely wet at times over the weekend, and the Red River ran a little bit high and considerably off-color.
The region is now in the midst of a warming trend that will see the daytime highs climb
into the early 70s over the next few days, and most competitors think that'll give the action a boost. The weather is predicted to cool down again by Friday (day 1 of the event), but it's highly unlikely that water temperatures will revert back to the low 50s, where they were a week ago.
If the anglers are to be believed (i.e. they're not "sandbagging"), bites were very difficult to come by and could be had in only select places spread along the three pools that will comprise the playing field for the 42nd edition of the sport's premier event. Then again, the quality of the fishing depended upon your perspective.
For instance, Jeff Kriet came in fresh off a 45th-place finish at the ultra-tough Lewisville Bassmaster Central Open in Texas, which was won by fellow Classic contestant Brent Chapman in a fish-off. Kriet finished in the top third of the field despite weighing just two fish – both on day 1.
"After that, this place felt like Falcon to me," he said.
Competitors will spend their second straight day off the water today, then get their final pre-event look at the fishery on Wednesday. With the changes that the warm spell is expected to bring, that day will be critical in the determination of many anglers' strategies, as a lot of them have not yet made the all-important decision as to which pool they'll begin the tournament in.
Here are comments from some of the anglers about what they encountered on the Red last Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Kevin VanDam
"The water's completely different than in was (in the 2009 Classic). It's a little higher, though not a lot, but it's a lot dirtier. The river was stable and low back then and it didn't have much blow to it, and the main river was fishable. It was about as good as it could possibly be here.
"That's not the case now – it'll definitely fish a lot smaller. We got a ton of rain on Saturday and the little feeder creeks are still flowing in, and they got it up north, too. We're actually lucky the whole thing isn't blown out.
"The warming conditions are a positive because if it was going to stay cold, it'd be real tough. The sun is really important to these fish right now."
Terry Scroggins
"I didn't have a very good practice at all – it was a lot of cold, muddy water for me. I found fish in two backwaters, but there was a ton of boats in both of them.
"I definitely think things are going to change a lot for the better and the winner will probably find something during the tournament itself. As for practice to this point, I think you can throw most of it out the window.
"That 1 last practice day is going to be more important than the other 3 days combined."
Dean Rojas
"I covered about 70 miles of river, just trying to find the right area that can help me win the event. I could catch one here and one there, but I'm still not sure where I'm going to start. I'm going to take it 1 day at a time and let the weather change, then I'll evaluate things from there.
Kevin VanDam said the conditions on the Red River aren't nearly as favorable as they were 3 years ago.
"On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say my confidence level is about a 7, or maybe more like a 6 1/2. So much could happen that I'm not quite sure about yet. Wednesday is going to be a very interesting day. Guys will be making runs to their best stuff and we'll find out where a lot of people will be fishing."
John Crews
"The best thing everybody can do right now is get a pulse on the river and where the key spots are going to be, because fishing conditions are obviously going to be a lot better by the end of the week. I'm hoping to figure out where it's going to go down so I can be there to partake in the action.
"The tournament could be won out of any of the three pools, but it's going to be a matter of getting dialed in quickly (on day 1). If that doesn't happen, you might not be able to recover."
Davy Hite
"Things were pretty nasty in practice, but if the weather man is right, they're going to get a lot better. I didn't get a whole lot of bites, but I'm not going to let that affect what I do in the tournament. I tried to look at as much as I could in the three different pools, and I'll use Wednesday's practice and some gut feelings to figure out what to go with.
"Pool 3 would be a run of close to 2 hours (one way), but that still gives you 4 hours to fish and if you're in an area down there that's not beat up, you can catch five fish in 4 hours. You want to fish 8 hours in a tournament like this, but sometimes fishing only 3 hours in water that's not pressured is better than 8 hours when a bunch of boats are playing merry-go-round.
"I'm not saying that's what I'll do, but it could happen."
Ott DeFoe
"If nothing else, I eliminated a lot of stuff during practice. I brought both boats with me (his regular tournament boat and an aluminum rig), but I don't see myself using the aluminum during the tournament. I wish I was – I wish I had somewhere to take it – but I didn't find anything that was good enough to make it worthwhile.
"I'd say my practice was very mediocre overall. I kind of felt before I came here that there were a couple of places I wanted to fish, and one of those is the best thing I've seen since I've been here.
Dean Rojas said that on a scale of 1 to 10, his confidence level for the Classic is about a 7.
"I'm going to stay in Pool 5. To lock down (to Pool 4) where the good fishing is would be a solid hour, and maybe a little more. I don't mind running for an hour, but I hate going that distance and having a lock, and then still not having anything to yourself."
Matt Reed
"Practice was very, very difficult for me, but things should change a ton this week with the 3 warm days. Hopefully you can take the areas where you got a couple of good bites and make them pay off. That's the kind of open mind you have to keep – you have to hope the few bites you've had will add up to what you're looking for.
"What's going to be so critical as to worry some people to death is the decision Friday morning about where you're going to go, because it's not like you can make a lot of adjustments. If 12 other people make the same decision you do, it's going to be very difficult.
"Wednesday will be very crucial – I'll swing through a few areas where I had a bite or two and kind of speed-fish them and see if I can get bit again."
Marty Robinson
"I think I figured out a little something, but I doubt it'll help me much because I think those fish are on the verge of moving into (the backwaters). The warm weather that's coming could push a lot of them onto spawning flats and stuff. Even though there might be very few fish on beds by the time the tournament rolls around, they'll be coming up and checking out the areas they'll be spawning in and starting to feed a little more.
"I've seen only two or three places where you could actually see a fish on a bed if one was there, but you can still fish for spawning fish by fishing to the cover. I do think the tournament will be won with pre-spawn fish, though."
