Tournament Fishing Underway Again
Over the past two weeks, we’ve enjoyed great response from readers because of the timeliness of recent features offering tips on ice fishing. Personally, I’ve never been ice fishing. With my luck, I’d probably catch fish sticks. OK, bad joke.
Anyway, the majority of us are wondering about how we’re going to pass the either whited-out, freezing cold or gray and dismal days of January (it’s raining/sleeting/spitting snow here in Birmingham, Alabama and the ridgelines of the houses across the street have some strange white stuff in them).
BASS anglers, in the meantime, are firing up their motors –this morning-and heading out in search of tournament-quality fish.
Yep, the first BASS tournament of the 2008 season kicks off at Palatka, Florida on the St. John’s River this morning. The BASS Southern Open kicks off the 2008 race for prize money and those all-important points to qualify for the 2009 Bassmaster Classic and 2009 Bassmaster Elite Series. This is the first of three Southern Opens in 2008.
It’s barely more than a month before the 2008 Bassmaster Classic begins on South Carolina’s Lake Hartwell (February 22-24) and, frankly, that seems pretty durned early in the year to be bass fishing, even on a great big lake like Hartwell that’s known for big bass. The water will be cold, the wind will be raw and it doesn’t sound like much fun for the anglers, spectators or media on hand for the event. Of course, southern weather is subject to change approximately every fifteen minutes, so it may be 80 degrees and sunny for at least one of the days.
Meanwhile, back in Palatka, the anglers have been talking about how difficult it’s been to get on fish in the practice rounds. “It’s about 55 here, the wind’s blowing about 10-12 mph with a wind chill of about 40. Fishing is slow right now, I’m getting a few bites every day, but I’m not setting the hook to see what size they are,” said Preston Clark. He’s the hometown favorite and if the 2006 Elite event winner says it’s tough there, he probably has enough local knowledge to know. Clark blames the latest cold front for “knocking down” the bite and says that should it pass, the last day of the tournament may see some big fish.
Alan Bull of McRory, Arkansas isn’t so optimistic. “I have been here since Saturday, and they are few and far between,” he says, “they were on the beds really good, but the cold front shut them down. They’ve left the beds and everybody’s beating the banks and going deep now, trying to figure out what to do.”
So how’s he rate the fishing? “From 1 to 10, I’d give it a 3,” Bull says, “it is that tough.”
Sounds like a great time, doesn’t it?
Of course, you have to expect some of what football coaches call poor mouthing in advance of a tournament, but with the weather only in the fifties along the St. John’s, it may really be tough work to get weight on the scales, much less to land enough to win the event.
Is it too-soon in the season to start tournament fishing? I certainly don’t presume to have the answer to that. The thousands of people ice fishing certainly don’t think so. Having been standing in a trout stream with temperatures in the forties within the past week, I know the wind’s more biting than the fish. But I complained about the temperatures being too-warm earlier this week when hunting. It is, as the old sage once said, all relative.
We won’t know before Sunday evening if the fishing was good or not. But we’ll keep you posted.
Anyway, the majority of us are wondering about how we’re going to pass the either whited-out, freezing cold or gray and dismal days of January (it’s raining/sleeting/spitting snow here in Birmingham, Alabama and the ridgelines of the houses across the street have some strange white stuff in them).
BASS anglers, in the meantime, are firing up their motors –this morning-and heading out in search of tournament-quality fish.
Yep, the first BASS tournament of the 2008 season kicks off at Palatka, Florida on the St. John’s River this morning. The BASS Southern Open kicks off the 2008 race for prize money and those all-important points to qualify for the 2009 Bassmaster Classic and 2009 Bassmaster Elite Series. This is the first of three Southern Opens in 2008.
It’s barely more than a month before the 2008 Bassmaster Classic begins on South Carolina’s Lake Hartwell (February 22-24) and, frankly, that seems pretty durned early in the year to be bass fishing, even on a great big lake like Hartwell that’s known for big bass. The water will be cold, the wind will be raw and it doesn’t sound like much fun for the anglers, spectators or media on hand for the event. Of course, southern weather is subject to change approximately every fifteen minutes, so it may be 80 degrees and sunny for at least one of the days.
Meanwhile, back in Palatka, the anglers have been talking about how difficult it’s been to get on fish in the practice rounds. “It’s about 55 here, the wind’s blowing about 10-12 mph with a wind chill of about 40. Fishing is slow right now, I’m getting a few bites every day, but I’m not setting the hook to see what size they are,” said Preston Clark. He’s the hometown favorite and if the 2006 Elite event winner says it’s tough there, he probably has enough local knowledge to know. Clark blames the latest cold front for “knocking down” the bite and says that should it pass, the last day of the tournament may see some big fish.
Alan Bull of McRory, Arkansas isn’t so optimistic. “I have been here since Saturday, and they are few and far between,” he says, “they were on the beds really good, but the cold front shut them down. They’ve left the beds and everybody’s beating the banks and going deep now, trying to figure out what to do.”
So how’s he rate the fishing? “From 1 to 10, I’d give it a 3,” Bull says, “it is that tough.”
Sounds like a great time, doesn’t it?
Of course, you have to expect some of what football coaches call poor mouthing in advance of a tournament, but with the weather only in the fifties along the St. John’s, it may really be tough work to get weight on the scales, much less to land enough to win the event.
Is it too-soon in the season to start tournament fishing? I certainly don’t presume to have the answer to that. The thousands of people ice fishing certainly don’t think so. Having been standing in a trout stream with temperatures in the forties within the past week, I know the wind’s more biting than the fish. But I complained about the temperatures being too-warm earlier this week when hunting. It is, as the old sage once said, all relative.
We won’t know before Sunday evening if the fishing was good or not. But we’ll keep you posted.
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