What happens when two prohibitive favorites collide?
Apparently the news does not get to Palatka, Florida in a timely manner. When the Elites visited there in this year’s season-opener, an event that seems like it was decades ago, Cliff Prince was a pre-tournament top choice in Fantasy Fishing. Apparently, no one told the three-time Classic Qualifier, because instead of rising to the top of the leaderboard, he ended up finishing a disappointing 66th.
Today, however, several states to the west in Texas, Prince got his mojo working and went straight for the jugular of Lake Fork pre-tournament favorite, Lee Livesay. Last year’s Lake Fork champ didn’t back down, putting 32 pounds even on the scales, but Prince came through with just a little bit more, 32 pounds 5 ounces of Texas giants.
We have three more days of competition, and a lot can change, but here’s what stood out to me so far:
Compared to 2021: In Livesay’s win last year, there was only a single bag over 30 pounds on Day One, the 32-14 limit brought in by 2020 Texas Fest Champion Patrick Walters, who was last year’s runner up. Second place that day was 28-15, a margin of 3-15, which on Lake Fork is effectively no margin at all. There were 36 bags over 20 pounds, as compared to this year’s 33. Tenth place was 24-08. This year it’s 25-05. There were a total of four bags under 10 pounds – this year there were five. All in all, I’d call that a draw. Things seem to be progressing on a similar course, albeit in a different month
Wong Appears to Be Real: Despite a polished presence and a couple of quality finishes earlier this year, I’ll admit that I was still on the fence about Matty Wong. With only seven BASS events under his belt, how could he have the experience to compete with this field of hammers? Well, after finishing 21st at the St. Johns and 14th at Chickamauga, he finds himself in 5th today, with 27-11. That doesn’t happen by accident. It kind of reminds me of Taku Ito, who with no smallmouth experience cleaned up on northern waters. After a while you just have to say to yourself, “Imagine how good he’ll be when he has a little bit of experience.”
The Cut: Last Year’s Day Two cut weight (47th place) was 33-07, which meant that weights went down after 18-12 got an angler into that position on Day One. If we follow the old (2X+1) pattern, this year’s 17-04 Mendoza Line should turn into 35-08. Let’s see if last year’s downward trend was an exception to the general rule.
Flipping The Switch: Obviously, anyone in the field could catch 30, 40 or even 50 pounds tomorrow and jump out of relative obscurity into the lead. On a lake like Fork, the path from zero to hero can be remarkably short. Nevertheless, Day One could be a pretty good indicator of what’s to come. Last year, seven of the top ten from the first day of competition ended up in the top 10 when the scales were closed on Day Four. Livesay is the only member of this year’s top ten (so far) who was there on Day One and Day Four last year. Chris Johnston, currently 9th, was last year’s ninth place finisher.
Livesay the General: If Livesay wins this week – and of course that’s still a BIG if – he’ll have won back-to-back Elites on what may be the preeminent big fish tournament venue in the country. That would make it four Bassmaster wins (three Elites and an Open) in the past 19 months. Winning is of course hard, but winning twice on the same body of water (especially in the YouTube and Bass LIVE age) is even harder. Who is the last angler to win multiple times in the same place in BASS competition? Even with a win, Livesay will still have a long way to go to match Robert Lee’s record of four wins in four attempts on the California Delta.
Where is Ike? What is going on with Mike Iaconelli, currently tied for 85th place with a generally forgettable 11 pound limit? There’s no chance that his hiatus from tour level fishing led him to forget how to “ride a bike,” such as it is. He’s still in great shape, and judging from last year’s Opens campaign he’s also still highly motivated. Nevertheless, he’s already finished 93rd and 84th at the St. Johns and Santee Cooper, respectively, this year. If he doesn’t change course soon he may be digging himself a hole that prevents qualifying for his 21st Classic.
Forward Facing: John Cox is in 25th with 21-14. Last year he finished 20th with 58-00. Last year he caught slightly less, 21-05, on the first day at Fork. Maybe the 9 ounce difference is because he’s upped his technology game: “He has gone entire seasons without having a depthfinder on his steering wheel,” Mark Zona reported on Live.
A Puncher’s Chance: After a couple of tough seasons in the AOY race—he was 68th in 2020, 59th in 2021, and entered this event in 62nd – Greg DiPalma may be fighting for his Elite Series life right now. Fork wouldn’t seem to be a good place for the northeasterner to build some momentum, as he finished 91st here last year, but with 23-05 today he finds himself in 19th, right on the heels of a 16th place finish at Chickamauga. Those types of performances will help him stay in the field and perhaps qualify for a second Bassmaster Classic.
Great Marketing: Omnia’s real time sales of products being used by the pros was brilliant. I can’t believe that no one thought of it sooner, but hats off to whomever made it happen.
Nice Chapeau: The fact that the anglers removed their logo adorned hats and replaced them with something more Texan (and more evocative of Ray Scott’s legacy) onstage was a nice touch, just as it was at Ray Roberts last summer. I’d like to see this trend continue, perhaps with regional specialties to denote the location, like an Elmer Fudd hat up north. I’m sure Omnia could find a way to market the hat du jour – either sell them outright or package them up free with any order over a certain dollar amount.
Quote of the Day comes from John Cox: “I’ve caught three fish in my life on a jerkbait.”
