Today, of course is the final “official” practice day for the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods.
Last Friday, Saturday and Sunday the pros practiced on Lake Conroe. Monday and Tuesday were off days.
All that begs this question.
Is this a walk-through kind of rehearsal for the sake of smoothing out event logistics? Or do the pros really benefit from the short day of fishing?
Here’s what they had to say about it.
“Absolutely today matters,” said Chris Zaldain. “Conroe is a pattern lake and picking up as many clues as possible to make the next adjustment is key this week.”
“I also want to stick a few, see how they are biting, because that will tell me more about how to fish when we come back on Friday.”
Greg Hackney is known to take off a practice day to clear his mind. Not here and not this week.
“Since we arrived last week the weather has changed,” he said. “I’m going to run new water and try new things.”
Hackney added that building on his current strategy or eliminating unproductive tactics are part of the plan.
“It’s the Classic, so every practice day matters but more so here and this week,” said former champion Boyd Duckett. “We are here the time of year when things change quickly, every day.”
For Duckett, like Zaldain, that means continuing the push to stay ahead of the movement of the spawning-phase bass. Tracking their changes and moving with the waves of migrations is key to staying in the game.
Michael Iaconelli denied any idea that today is a walk-through to work out kinks in the event.
“Today is more important than any day we spent here in pre-practice.”
After two consecutive days with daytime high temperatures in the low 80s there are changes on the way. Iaconelli knows it and he’s preparing to keep track of those changes.
“The bass are constantly coming and going, and today is the day to refine, figure out movements and make adjustments,” said Iaconelli. “It’s a huge day.”
On the opposite side of the fence is Hank Cherry, sort of.
“I like to have my head already in the game and my mind set on what I’m going to do,” he said. “Here, it’s a little different being our first time.”
On the flip side is this comment from Tournament Director Trip Weldon.
“Today is important, it’s huge for us, because the practice day lets us get everything right and on schedule,” he said. “One of the most important days of the week, if not the most.”
Nowhere on Weldon’s priority list is keeping up with migration patterns of pre-spawn largemouth on Lake Conroe. That’s not his concern. He’ll leave that to the anglers. Everyone has a job to do and knows their role.
Will the bass cooperate? We shall see.