For years Bassmaster pros have talked about “the baby pattern.”
Produce a bouncing baby boy or girl and it seems like your next tournament result may be a win, or at least a top finish. It’s been so good to so many anglers that they may have had an extra kid or two just to keep the mojo going.
But I guarantee you that no one who knows how painful they can be will ever voluntarily undergo Ed Loughran’s kidney stone pattern. The Barrister weighed in a day’s best 22 pounds, 15 ounces of Lake Champlain largemouths to vault from 38th to 2nd after missing this season’s two Alabama Elite tournaments with a painful medical condition. Anyone who’s ever experienced a stone will tell you that in this case the juice would definitely not be worth the squeeze.
I’m not saying that childbirth isn’t painful. It’s just that it has a desirable outcome and, well, the Elite fathers get an ancillary benefit while cheering from the sidelines.
After a day off, the Elite Series pros got back to work on Lake Champlain. Here’s what I saw, thought and considered as I drank plenty of water.
Debby Does Diddly – There were 21 bags over 20 pounds on Day One, including 10 over 21 pounds, one over 22 and another over 23. While the catches did generally fall off today, as predicted by the doomsayers and sandbaggers, you wouldn’t necessarily know it by looking at the number of big bags weighed in. The field produced 17 bags over 20 pounds, five of which were over 21, including Ed Loughran who missed 23 by an ounce.
Debby Destroys Dreams – On Day 1 there was one bag under 10 pounds. There were also five under 15, 10 under 16 and 18 under 17. Today, likely due to the changed conditions, the smaller bags were much more in evidence. There were 33 bags under 17 pounds, including 11 under 15 pounds. Wes Logan (60th, 35-13), who had a tough day all around, was the only angler to weigh in 20 or more pounds on Day One and miss the cut. Tyler Rivet (57th, 36-0) was the only competitor to have 20 pounds today and miss the cut.
Small Differences – The delta between 1st place and 10th place is just a pound and a half. Ten more pros are within 3 pounds of the lead. The 50th place angler is less than 6 pounds behind leader Chris Zaldain, so while it’s not probable, it’s definitely possible that anyone fishing tomorrow could win the whole shooting match.
One Good Bite – Thirteen anglers are a pound or less above Jamie Hartman’s 36-10 cut weight. Thirteen more missed the cut by a pound or less. Hartman had a dead fish that almost cost him $10,000.
Cut Weight Math – The Day One cut (50th place) was 18-8. For two days, it took 36-10, which is 6 ounces less than doubling it. That marks the second consecutive year that the cut weight has gone down here.
Loughran Comes Alive – If Loughran can remain in the Top 10, it’ll mark his third final day appearance of the season (and, as noted above, he’s had limited opportunities). That will match his 2020 results, when he also had three Top 10s. It has to be killing him that in the midst of such a solid season he had to miss two tournaments, thus mostly killing his chances of making the 2025 Classic. He’s on pace to beat his previous best Elite finish – he was 6th here at Champlain in 2020 and 6th again later that season at Fork.
Jersey Strong — Greg DiPalma (5th, 41-10) is likewise on pace to have his best Elite finish. His previous best was 8th at the St. Lawrence in 2019. He has two 5th place finishes in Opens – one here at Champlain and one on the James River.
Ups and Downs — Four members of today’s Top 10 caught more today than they did yesterday. Five caught less. The iconoclastic Matt Robertson (6th, 41-10) weighed in 20-13 both days.
Rookies – Nine of ten rookies will fish tomorrow, including two currently in the Top 10 and a total of five in the top 20.
Party On, Wayne — “I find tournaments more fun when you’re in contention to win,” Dave Mercer said to Matt Robertson, who rose from 13th to 6th on the strength of back-to-back bags of 20-13. He’s 14 ounces and 6 places ahead of first-day leader, fellow blonde and close friend Seth Feider. Either one of them winning would likely produce an epic celebration, although the loss of a buffer day between the end of this tournament and the start of the next one might – I say might – temper some of the enthusiasm.
Always Something New – “The game has changed a bunch,” said a humble Rick Clunn (87th, 32-5), who of course was instrumental in many of those changes. He’s one of the few anglers in the field who was competing when BASS first visited Champlain in 1997. I recall that most of us expected it to be a smallmouth derby and we were shocked when Denny Brauer won by flipping with big string for largemouths. Today we saw Chris Zaldain rise from 7th to take the lead partially on the strength of a big glide bait, something that would’ve been even more unthinkable back in ’97. There truly are no limits, and when the Elite Series goes to Champlain 10 years hence I wouldn’t be surprised if it were to be won in some manner that is equally unfathomable today.
Fishing Imitates Art – When Clunn talked about the changing game, I was reminded of HBO’s The Wire, in which a career criminal named Cutty is released from jail, and after observing the state of the streets says, “The game done changed.” His colleague responds coldly, “The game’s the same, just got more fierce.” Someone who stopped following fishing in 2004 and resumed today would see the same basic format, a few new tools, and top-to-bottom weights that generally would have been inconceivable back then. More fierce, indeed.
How Much Has it Changed? — “I’m almost due for a midlife crisis,” said 24 year old Alex Redwine (39th, 37-8), commenting on how many even younger pros have joined the tour in recent years.
Seth Feider – “I’m gonna stay in big fish areas all day and do big fish stuff.”
Chris Zaldain – “It’s like all you can eat 3-pounders.”
Pat Schlapper (53rd, 36-7) – “This lake is really hard to come back from a bad day.” After weighing in 16-14 yesterday, he added 19-9 today and rose from 84th but missed the cut by the weight of one spit-up perch.
Steve Kennedy (73rd, 34-6) – “I wish we could get a do-over. Is that possible, because I really got it dialed in in the last hour and a half?” He weighed in 15-12 on Day One and 18-10 today.
Robert Gee (10th, 41-0) – “It is like a rodeo out here.”
Luke Palmer (81st, 33-5) — “I couldn’t hit sand if I fell off a camel.”
Kyle Patrick (23rd, 39-3) – “Be the ball.” Caddyshack was released in 1980. Patrick was born in 1997. He made the cut in 23rd, so he’s got that going for him, which is nice.
Kyle Patrick — “I can’t wait for tomorrow. I’m going to do some ignorant stuff.” He was one of several anglers with little or nothing to lose who suggested they’d make the long run to Ticonderoga tomorrow in search of an epic bag.
Ronnie Moore Randomness of the Day – Pogs.
Seth’s Color of the Day – Yoga Pants.
