By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor


Don’t expect any free passes this week.

All eight of the competitors in the Bassmaster Classic Bracket at Minnesota’s Lake Pokegama have one thing on their mind – winning. Because short of a victory in one of the final two Bassmaster Opens, this likely represents their final opportunity to qualify for the 2018 Bassmaster Classic.

Unlike last year’s Classic Bracket, which was held during the Elite Series season and included seven anglers who ultimately qualified for the Classic via points anyway, this year’s version will be dripping with drama. There will be no individual agendas and no cakewalks this time around similar to the Jacob Powroznik-Koby Kreiger match in 2017 that saw Powroznik opt to not fish during the second half of their duel in an effort to help Kreiger advance in order improve his chances of winning the event and, in turn, qualify for the Classic.

The optics of the situation weren’t good and it prompted B.A.S.S. to smartly move the Bracket to the end of the season, creating a true eight-man, head-to-head wild-card tournament for a coveted Classic berth.

Once again, this event will not feature an on-land weigh-in (it’s a made-for-the-web production). Rather, all legal-sized bass caught will be weighed and recorded by an in-boat observer and the angler will be credited with weight of the best five.

The format will be the same as last year with the first round (quarterfinals) covering two days with each match getting a morning and afternoon slot lasting three hours apiece. The semifinals Thursday will be six-hour continuous matches, same as the final on Friday. Officials in each boat will give periodic updates to each angler about their competitor’s performance.

Lake Pokegama has never hosted a B.A.S.S. event, but it was part of Major League Fishing’s 2017 Summit Cup, which was filmed at lakes near Grand Rapids, Minn., in August 2016. Pokegama (pronounced Poh-keg-ahma) hosted two days of the competition, highlighted by Aaron Martens’ then-record 88-00 total (37 bass) in round one.

The lake, one of six Mississippi River Headwaters Reservoirs, was also the venue for the Classic Bass Champion’s Tour championship on Sept. 1. That tournament followed the MLF format and Andy Walls’ winning weight was 66-01.

It is a textbook northern glacial lake with an abundance of habitat and opportunities to catch quality largemouth and smallmouth. The seasonal transition is in full effect as fall’s presence has been marked by chilly mornings and the turning of the leaves.

Before getting into more about the bite, here's the lowdown on the lake itself.

BassFan Lake Profile

> Lake name: Lake Pokegama
> Type of water: Inland glacial lake
> Surface acres: 6,600 (not including connected lakes)
> Primary structure/cover: Humps, rock piles, islands, docks, grass, pads
> Primary forage: Perch, smelt, shiners, bluegills
> Average depth: N/A
> Species: Smallmouth and largemouth
> Minimum length: 12 inches
> Reputation: Sometimes overlooked lake in a state with more than 10,000 of them; has solid population/quality in both largemouth and smallmouth.
> Weather: Leaves are starting to turn in Minnesota and a cold front is coming through Wednesday, so that’ll be worth monitoring. Otherwise, it’s supposed to be pleasant, but breezy.
> Water temp: Mid 60s
> Water visibility/color: Clear (at least 5 feet visibility)
> Water level: Normal
> Fish in: Various depths
> Fish phase: Summer/fall transition
> Primary patterns: Jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, flipping, jigs, finesse, crankbaits, swimbaits, topwater
> Fishing quality (1=poor, 5=great): 4
> Biggest factors: Decision-making. A three-hour session isn’t a lot of time on a lake with so much diversity.
> Biggest decision: When to pull the plug and try something different.
> Wildcard: Finding a spot that’s loaded. Aaron Martens proved it’s possible at Pokegama.
> Closer look: Below is a detailed view of how Lake Pokegama lays out, courtesy of the Navionics Web App.




Pokegama a ‘Paradise’

Typically, Mark Courts can be found trolling spinner rigs and crankbaits or jigging for walleye in a National Walleye Tour tournament, but the decorated walleye pro also is well versed in the pursuit of bass.

He’s a frequent bass tournament competitor and finished 4th in the recent Classic Bass Champion’s Tour championship at Pokegama. The Harris, Minn., resident says the bracket competitors will have ample opportunities to target either largemouth or smallmouth.

“There’s a great population of largemouth and smallmouth there,” Courts said. “People drive by it to go to other areas. It’s not heavily pressured.”

Here are a few things he noted about his recent trip to Pokegama:

> “The smallmouth were off because we had just had a cold front. The morning of the tournament, the air temperature was 48 degrees. The fish were off during the first half of the day. It took until the sun got high and we got some wind for it to get going.”

> “The smallmouth had been a big factor in the morning. There are some giants in there, but they didn’t show themselves like they had during practice. I found the smallmouth weren’t schooled up like they are typically this time of year. There were just small pods – three or four fish – and then you had to move on.”

> Docks also came into play and the outer weed lines, too. The cabbage bite was key.”

Courts’ approach this week would be pretty simple.

“I’d spend some time in the morning on smallmouth and then flip vegetation for green ones,” he said. “It’s a smelt fishery, too, so the amount of bait is incredible. That played a huge role in the Classic Bass event. There’s so much forage. Swimbaits, flukes and dropshots worked in the morning, but in the afternoon, I’d pull out the big stick and flip.”

Rojas Been There, Done That

Four-time Bassmaster winner Dean Rojas was among the MLF anglers who competed at Pokegama last year when Martens lit up the live leaderboard. He also was one of the eight competitors in the first Classic Bracket last year on the Upper Niagara River. He thinks Pokegama will be a great venue for a one-on-one format. To view the results for the MLF Summit Cup held in Grand Rapid, Minn., last year, click here (Pokegama was the venue for Elimination Rounds 1 and 3).

“The lake has everything Minnesota has to offer,” Rojas said. “Slop, tules, grass lines, rock bars, rock islands, docks. There’s a multitude of different types of cover that you’d expect from a northern Minnesota Lake.”

He also said those who uncover areas with lots of baitfish will likely tangle with bass there, too. Seeing how many fish Martens caught and how well some of the other MLF anglers did there leads Rojas to believe there’s a chance for a couple close matches this week.

“No matter how fast I caught them, Aaron was catching them twice as fast,” he said. “I had a 3-pounder eat a frog right away and he missed it so I thought it’d be a frogging deal, but I only had one other bite and that was it.

“Then the leaderboard started to move and I ended up moving out to fish for smallmouth. It was a traditional thing, right along the breaks where it went from six or seven feet to 12 to 14. A jerkbait was key and so was a dropshot. I could see the spybait playing a factor there, too. The water is very clear.”

The one difference between the MLF competition and the Classic Bracket is the Bracket anglers will get one day of practice at Pokegama to get a lay of the water and formulate a strategy.

“They’re lucky because they get a practice round,” Rojas said. “We were going on the fly. Those guys will have a better idea on how to dial them in than we had the opportunity to.”

As far as the head-to-head format, Rojas said it made it much simpler versus competing against a much larger field.

“For me, it was Jordan Lee (in the first round),” he said. “The cool thing about it was the live leaderboard. With other things, fishing against the field, you never know what they’re doing. If you weren’t catching them and they weren’t either, you knew it’d be pretty tight. Knowing that helps your decision-making in what and where you can do things.

“That will play a role because you’re only focusing on yourself and the other guy.”

Matchups

Here’s a breakdown of the quarterfinal matchups and the how the schedule lays out:

Quarterfinals
Sept. 19
8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. EST
> 1) Steve Kennedy vs. 8) Jacob Powroznik: Redemption will be the theme of this matchup. Kennedy, a winner at Lake Dardanelle this year, had two top-30 finishes to move up to 37th in points prior to the AOY event, but a 41st at Mille Lacs pushed him below the Classic points cut line by 4 points. That stings and he’ll be itching to make amends starting Tuesday. Powroznik is back in the Bracket for the second straight year after having his worst Elite Series season since joining the circuit in 2014. His best finish was 18th (Toledo Bend) and with a trip to Lake Hartwell next March – he was 5th in the 2015 Classic there – hanging in the balance this week, rest assured he’ll compete hard from start to finish.

> 4) Kelley Jaye vs. 5) Dave Lefebre: Jaye had his best season (two top-12s) since coming to the Elite Series in 2013, but he needed a top-30 at Mille Lacs to secure a Classic berth. He wound up 39th and will square off against another former FLW Tour mainstay in Lefebre, who was as high as 4th in points this season (after Ross Barnett Reservoir). Four missed cuts in the last five full-field tournaments left him in a catch-‘em-or-else position at Mille Lacs, where he bagged 23-07 on day 1 (3rd place) before fading to 29th.

1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
> 3) Jonathon VanDam vs. 6) Ish Monroe: On a fishery that has good quality smallmouth and largemouth, this could be an intriguing match to see if both anglers look to get into their comfort zones – VanDam chasing smallmouth and Monroe targeting largemouth with a flipping (or frog) rod. VanDam built some momentum on the northern swing (three top-13s) so his confidence should be brimming. Meanwhile, Monroe was in the Classic via points prior to Mille Lacs, but had a dismal finish (49th out of 50) and needs a short memory this week. He competed at Pokegama last August in an MLF and caught all largemouth during his only round of competition.

> 2) Mike Iaconelli vs. 7) Adrian Avena: All eyes will be on the Battle of New Jersey as Iaconelli seeks to extend his streak of consecutive Classics made to 17. He’s no stranger to this format (he won the MLF Summit Cup in Grand Rapids last summer) and no stranger to this lake. He won his elimination round contested at Pokegama during the Summit Cup, catching 34 fish for 56-03. Avena, on the other hand, grew up idolizing Iaconelli and will be a big underdog in their matchup. He was the last angler to qualify for the AOY event and then worked his way up enough to extend his season a couple more days. He’ll have a nothing-to-lose mindset as he seeks his first Classic berth.

Sept. 20
8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. EST
> VanDam vs. Monroe
> Iaconelli vs. Avena

1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
> Kennedy vs. Powroznik
> Jaye vs. Lefebre

Semifinals
Sept. 21
8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
> Kennedy-Powroznik winner vs. Jaye-Lefebre winner
> VanDam-Monroe winner vs. Iaconelli-Avena winner

Finals
Sept. 22
8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
> Semifinal winners

Field Notes

Below are some comments from some of the anglers who will be competing in this event.

Steve Kennedy
“It wasn’t great, but it was fun at times. You can go a while without getting bit, but I figured out two or three things I can get bit on pretty easy. I probably got 30 to 40 bites, but a lot of those were not keepers. It’s a real narrow body of water with not a lot of rock. I think it’s a lot of sand and grass. I found a couple hard spots, but no boulders like at Mille Lacs. It’s a little lake, but it’s a bunch of ponds connected together.

“I haven’t fished in a match format, but I’ve done the hole format from the (Bassmaster) Majors. I’ve been thinking about (a strategy) but I don’t know yet what I’ll do. It’s hard to save fish and then get beat. You have to go catch everything. It’s not a huge place, but I don’t think you can go stick them all since we only get three hours each day. I’m going to go catch what I can and hope to keep going. I’m not excited that I’m having to do this, but I’m excited to have another opportunity.”

Kelley Jaye
“It’s going to fish small, I think. I never got on a good smallmouth bite so I had to pick one species with the short amount of time we had. It was tough to find a big fish. When Aaron won the MLF here, he 1-pounded them to death. With our limited practice, it was hard to figure out how to catch a big one. Tomorrow, I’ll just hope to catch five and then go practice to see how I can catch a big one.

“You can catch them however you want. There are a lot of fish in here, but it’s just a matter of getting those quality bites. If I could get to about 12 pounds in three hours (Tuesday), I’ll feel pretty good about it. Three hours goes by fast, especially when you’re fishing as hard as we are.

“I was messing with Dave, telling him I thought I could catch 10 pounds, but it didn’t matter if we were fishing 3 hours or 9 hours. I’m going to approach it like an Elite Series event. It’s not me against Dave. It’s me versus how much weight I can catch.”

Ish Monroe
“I have zero advantage because where I fished my round (in the MLF Summit Cup), it’s off limits this week. We’re all going to catch fish, but I’m calling it the ‘luck’ tournament because it’s the guy who gets the luck bite – that one 4-pound bite will put you ahead of the game. If you catch two, you’re really ahead. If you catch three, most likely it’s over and that’s over the course of two days. There are a lot of 1 1/2- to 2 1/2-pound fish and with only having three hours to fish, it’s about getting that one big bite.

“The lake has docks, grass and rock – typical stuff that’s here on every lake. There are some pads, but it’s either vegetation, docks or rock. Most of it is 10 feet or less. There is some 30-, 40- and 50-foot water and there are fish in that stuff, but we only had nine hours to look around so you can look around out there, but you’re keeping yourself from finding some decent fish.

“This will be a little different from MLF because that’s a numbers game and this is five fish each day. I’m putting the hammer down. I have nothing to hold back on. If I catch 20 pretty quick, that’s it. We have only 3 hours to fish so there’s no pacing myself.”

Adrian Avena
“There’s definitely no shortage of bait and definitely no shortage of grass in this place. This event can probably be won on either (species). I spent a lot of time looking for smallmouth, but never found what I liked so I’ll probably lean more toward largemouth.

“There’s a lot I didn’t see. I spent the majority of my time running around. I tried to graph everything I could. I wish I had more time to look around, but I plan to treat the first session like a little practice.

“Iaconelli was always someone I looked up to. He lives not far from where I’m from so to have this opportunity to fish against him, it’s intimidating, but it’s a cool opportunity. I know we compete against each other on the Elites, but to have this be a head-to-head is cool. I don’t have high hopes. My practice session wasn’t very productive. A few guys here have been on this pond before and I’m not one of them.”



Launch Info

> Anglers will launch each day from Pokegama Golf Course (3910 Golf Course Rd, Grand Rapids, MN 55744). There will be no daily weigh-in ceremony during this event.

Weather Forecast

> Tues., Sept. 19 – Partly Cloudy - 71°/61°
- Wind: From the SE at 10 to 20 mph

> Wed., Sept. 20 – Scattered thunderstorms, then cloudy - 67°/48°
- Wind: From the WSW at 10 to 15 mph

> Thurs., Sept. 21 – Mostly Sunny - 74°/62°
- Wind: From the SE at 10 to 15 mph

> Fri., Sept. 22 – Mix of Clouds, Sun - 79°/62°
- Wind: From the SSE at 10 to 15 mph

Notable

> The anglers will make their initial runs by boat to their chosen locations before the competition clock begins. Weights can be tracked on Bassmaster.com via the BASSTrakk feature that’s used during Elite Series tournaments.

> There is no additional payout for the Bracket this year as each participant will have already banked their AOY points bonus money. Last year, there was a $50,000 purse with the winner earning $10,000 in addition to the Classic berth.