One of the phrases you hear a lot in bass tournaments is “fishing history” – that means fishing spots you’ve fished before. Well, there won’t be much at this week’s Bassmaster Elite Series event on Winyah Bay because instead of fishing history, we’ll be making history.
This is our first time visiting this fishery near the South Carolina coast, and I’m excited about the opportunity for us fishermen and the fans.
This week will be interesting because it’s an unknown. There are always rumors floating around about where everybody thinks the tournament will be won and how much weight it’s going to take. But we really don’t know.
What we do know is that the Elite Series has proven over the years how the anglers can come into an area that none of us know, dissect the fishery and figure out ways to catch fish.
A lot of times, on these new bodies of water, something new will come out of an Elite event and even the locals are interested to learn some new techniques.
Even when I fish on my home waters, I’m not open-minded. I go fish a lot of the same areas I always have with the same baits because that’s the way I’ve caught them there for 20 years.
I think that’s just human nature to go back to what we know and fish what’s familiar. But whenever you put 109 of the nation’s best fishermen on a new body of water, there’s a good chance they’re going to figure out a few things that they can leave behind for the locals to explore.
Who knows, a lot may end up fishing the same areas with the same baits that the locals use. But I guarantee you that somebody is going to open up something unique on this river system.
In addition to opening up something new, we’re also expanding the message and the marketing presence of professional bass fishing to a new group of fans. Winyah Bay has a group of fishing fans that haven’t had an Elite event in their area. I think we’re going to gain a lot of fans this week because they’re going to get to see firsthand the weigh-ins, the boats and the trucks.
I’ve seen this a few times on the Elite Series, and it’s always a great experience for us and for the new fans we meet. I’ll use our first trip to the Sabine River event as an example. I would not have guessed we’d have that many people show up, but it was one of the biggest crowds we’ve ever had.
And then we come back the second year and it’s even bigger. That’s a testament to the Elite Series and the great job that B.A.S.S. does to promote the events.
It’s exciting to get to go to new places and open the eyes of people who don’t get to see this firsthand. A big part of that is expanding the exposure we create for our sponsors. There’s going to be a lot of new fans added to the sport when we leave Winyah Bay, and they’ll remember what they saw and heard, in terms of the equipment and baits that the Elite anglers were using on their waters.
I hope that the area fishes really big and everybody spreads out. At these types of events, I don’t know what to expect, so I just put the trolling motor down and look around a little bit.
Practice will be particularly important, and you hope you land in a productive area. We only have two and a half days and that’s not a lot of time when you’re talking about a fishery with as much water as Winyah Bay.
Considering that this is a tidal fishery, we’ll have to add a another level of calculation to our practice effort.
The first thing you want to do is find some fresh water, and then you want to locate the kind of habitat that might grow a bigger fish. I’ll look for some grass or some wood and try to figure out what the fish want.
Like I said, it’s really important to land in a productive area during practice, but also it’s important to land in that area at a productive time on a productive tide so you can catch those fish.
One of the biggest parts of this game is the mental aspect. If I’m not getting bit, I might start thinking, “I’m in saltwater and there’s not a bass within 5 miles of here.” But you can’t let that get in your head; you just have to keep fishing.
In these tidal waters, the fish live in little areas, and you just have to come across one of those little areas. If you locate that kind of spot, you might find yourself with an opportunity to put on a great show for all those new fans.