The baseball season is underway, as is the Masters, but one-track-mind Pete has nothing but bass fishing on the brain – from the comfort of a heated office. Unfortunately for most of the Elite Series anglers, the temperatures at Chickamauga dropped 20 degrees since yesterday and that mixed things up. Even the Great Canadian Snow Leopard, Jeff Gustafson, was cold: “I didn’t bring any long underwear,” he said. “I’d have it on if I brought it with me.”
To that, Dave Mercer responded that he would’ve worn pants if he’d brought some, and all of us were suddenly thankful that the weigh-in telecast was a waist-up affair. After the field weighed in seven bags over 20 pounds yesterday, there were six of them today, albeit by a totally different set of anglers.
We didn’t see a 20 pound bag until reigning Classic champ Jason Christie, the 27th angler to hit the stage, dropped 20-15 on the scales. That opened the floodgates, albeit briefly, as rookie Matt Wong followed with 25-13 and two anglers later Ed Loughran produced 20-1.
That spurt was an outlier, though. For the most part upper teens was the sign of a good day. Fishing legend Rick Clunn came through with 23-3 (including a 9-8 giant) and jumped up from 38th to 6th. Referring to his long-injured back, he made the following observation: “When you catch fish like that, it stops hurting.”
There was lots of hurt to go around today, with a few Clunn-like doses of joy along the way. Here’s what I think I thought about what I saw:
What do we know and when do we know it? – Now that we’re three and a half tournaments into the Elite Series season, many of us believe that we have a sense of what this year’s rookie class can do. However, as the Bass LIVE crew pointed out this morning, two of those events were in Florida, which may be a false indicator of sorts. “Florida is tough to tame even for guys who’ve gone there for years on the Elite Series,” Ronnie Moore said. After this week, the schedule is all over the map, including Texas, New York and South Dakota. The cream usually rises to the top over the long haul, and the Rookie of the Year race is still subject to some major overhauls.
Lost lure surcharge – Every angler loses fish, and every angler loses lures, and the increased LIVE coverage has made it abundantly clear that the pros do, too – and perhaps at a more painful level. We’ve seen plenty of struggles this year, including Scott Martin’s lost fish at the Harris Chain, but Carl Jocumsen suffered a particularly painful one today. As he went to boat flip a 5-pounder, the snap on his glider came open and both the fish and the lure disappeared into the drink. It might ultimately cost him not only thousands in tournament winnings, but also whatever the likely-not-inexpensive lure costs. Chris Zaldain similarly lost a $200+ swimbait last year at Fork. It can’t be fun, but I suppose it’s the cost of doing business.
From bad to worse – “This is what happens when things go the opposite.” Those were the words spoken by a despondent but remarkably calm Carl Jocumsen when he lost an estimated 7-pounder on the glider around 2:15pm. “I don’t know which one hurt more, that or the 5,” he added. If indeed it weighed 7, it would’ve brought him up to 3rd place, instead of his actual weight of 33-0, (11th place)
The Barrister bites back – At 1:32 Ed Loughran unofficially became the first angler to pass the 20-pound mark, despite Scott Martin’s earlier charge at that number. Loughran was inside the cut yesterday with 13-15, but the $10,000 check may not be as critical as what this event means for his season and his career. I spoke to him last week and after finishing 65th, 79th and 76th in the first three events he feared that he might not requalify to fish next year. It was particularly vexing, he said, because he was catching lots of fish just about every day, just not of the right caliber. Was today the day that saved his spot on tour?
Lost in translation – Daisuke Aoki (2nd place, 40-4) and Matt Robertson (1st, 40-5) were back-to-back in the weigh-in line. For a variety of reasons, I wonder what that conversation was like.
Life Goals – By the end of the year I hope to be able to pronounce “Przekurat” without thinking about it. I have a feeling he’s going to be around for a while, so the onus is on me.
Zona says the swimbait giveth, the swimbait taketh away – “Carl will take it into the ditch with this thing.”
Cut weight math – The classic 2X+1 formula would predict a need to weigh a minimum of 27 pounds for a Day 3 appearance. It took 25-10.
Bring it on – “I hope she blows.” Tournament leader Matt Robertson, hoping for more bad weather.
Back at you tomorrow. In the words of Matty Wong: “Much mahalo.”