HIAWASSEE, Ga. — Only two anglers have a chance to win Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship. Best friends Justin Lucas and Josh Bertrand are separated by only nine points in the year-long standings. But they enter this three-day event in opposite states of mind.
“My goal is top eight,” said Lucas, the AOY leader. “If I finish in the top eight, I can’t be beat. I don’t want it coming down to the wire.”
But wouldn’t it be cool if the two buddies were on the final day weigh-in stage, like they were at the St. Lawrence River last month, with the last numbers on the scale deciding the winner?
“No, no, no,” said Lucas. “I want to be way up there on the leaderboard where he doesn’t stand a chance.”
Bertrand, on the other hand, would enjoy that scenario, saying, “I think it would make it fun. Obviously, the guy who wins is not going to want to see his buddy crushed. But by the same token, I’ll be happy for him and he’ll be happy for me, no matter who wins.”
Bertrand admits his carefree attitude may have something to do with his particular circumstances. For one, the last three years he’s come into the AOY Championship on the Bassmaster Classic bubble, fighting for a berth. He’s made the top-35-anglers Classic cut twice and missed it once. For another, Bertrand and his wife, Chantel, are expecting their second child soon, maybe too soon. Chantel’s due date is Sept. 28th, but if she goes into labor early, Josh says he’s packing up and heading for the Atlanta airport. And it’s a long way flight from there to the Bertrands’ San Tan Valley, Ariz., home.
“I hope that doesn’t happen,” he said. “But I want to give myself any chance I possibly can to be there, if she goes into labor.
“I’m just in a good spot. I’m not on the Classic bubble this year, and I’ve got enough stress with the baby coming that fishing stress feels a lot lighter this week.”
There’s plenty of stress to go around – from the top of the 50-angler field to the bottom. In addition to the AOY Championship, which carries a $100,000 first-place check, there’s a Rookie of the Year race that’s even closer than the AOY battle and those top 35 Bassmaster Classic guaranteed spots.
In the rookie race, Roy Hawk leads Jake Whitaker by only four points. Whitaker, who is from Fairview, N.C., is the one angler in the field who has logged considerable hours on Lake Chatuge’s 7,200 acres nestled at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
But he doesn’t see that being much of an advantage, after three days of practice.
“I’ve fished here a lot,” Whitaker said, “but the lake is so small everything has been found, I’ve noticed. Everybody is going to be fishing on top of each other. After your first spot in the morning, everybody is going to be jumping around, trying to find fresh water. It’s just a hope and a prayer right now if you’re fishing shallow because they’re dropping the water so much.”
There’s an annual late summer drawdown on Lake Chatuge that has reduced a small lake even smaller. But the lake is known for having a considerable spotted bass population that produces a good number of 4- to 6-pounders as well as largemouth bass in the 6- to 10-pound range.
“A big bag here would be 18 to 20 pounds,” Whitaker said. “Will we see it? I don’t know that we will. This week, anything in the teens – 13 to 15 – is going to be a good bag. If you can do that for three days, you’ll have a shot to win. It’s just that time of year. It’s still hot. We haven’t had any cool weather, and they’re dropping the lake.”
Angler after angler mentioned how many bass are in this lake. And angler after angler mentioned how tough they can be to catch. For one thing, this is a blueback herring lake, and the spotted bass roam, looking for schools of bluebacks to prey upon.
“You don’t know where they’re going to show up,” said Skeet Reese, who enters this tournament 30th in the AOY standings, trying to maintain his spot in the top 35. “That’s the hard part. They can show up, literally, in two feet of water or blow up over 60 feet of water.”
Bertrand explained it this way: “There are a lot of fish in here. But they’re some of the hardest fish to catch, at least this time of year, that you’ll ever see. I can’t tell you the last time my bait has been in front of that many fish without getting gobbled down consistently.
“You know your bait is almost bouncing off the fish, and they are extremely smart. It’s going to make for a challenging playing field, for sure.”
Takeoffs will begin at 7:10 a.m. and weigh-ins at 3:10 p.m. at Hiawassee’s Georgia Mountains Fairgrounds on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. There will be seminars and opportunities to meet the anglers on Saturday. The entire 50-angler field will compete all three days for a total of $1 million in prize money.