W2F Blog

We met up with the folks at PRADCO, the parent company for popular brands like Bomber, Yum, Heddon, Rebel, Smithwick and XCalibur, while at the Bassmaster Classic. We got a look at the new EEratic Shad (EE4) jerkbait. From a first glance it looks like an ordinary jerkbait but there are a lot of cool features wrapped into one bait with this one.

It started out as an idea, a way to provide fishing in a lot of different mediums to a lot of different types of anglers in a positive way. After all it is just fishing when it's said and done. But it's something we love.

One of our Wired2Fish fans, Cliff Soward, sent us this photo of VanDam patiently waiting to enter the arena on the last day of the Classic. That's some serious VooDoo he's put on the Classic the last two years. Looks like the other competitors might need some supernatural help in the next one.

Are you Wired2Fish? Enough to brand yourself as so? Well one angler, Cody Burdine, at the Classic Expo was. We asked him what compelled him to get this tattoo.

"Both, the website and the fact that it's just part of my DNA just suited me and is what I’m all about,” he said.

We came across this in our travels at the Bassmaster Classic Expo. Pretty wild looking craw. It has a shad body glued into its claw. They say its a dynamite bedfishing bait. Pretty cool looking nonetheless. Crazy! It's made by Whopper Baits and it's called the "Packin' Craw."

Ryan McMurtury, South Carolina, 43rd Place 14-14

Ryan McMurtury fished his first Bassmaster Classic this weekend. He qualified for the event by winning the Weekend Series championship, arguably one of the hardest roads to get to a championship of this caliber.

Here are our morning photos from takeoff this morning at the Bassmaster Classic in New Orleans from Signette State Park.

Not a lot of words. We'll let the photos do the speaking for us. Hope this at least makes you feel like you were kind of there with us.

Cliff Pace, Louisiana -- 7th place, 15-7

Cliff Pace is a very matter-of-fact personality. He comes across to some folks as standoffish I think, but I know him pretty well after talking to him a bunch over the past few years and through mutual friends. He's extremely analytical about tackle, technique, patterns, etc. But he's also extremely no nonsense. You combine that with an overabundant love for just fishing and doing this for a living and you get a guy who is straight to the point.

Dale Hightower, Oklahoma - 6th Place, 15-9

The only Federation Nation angler to crack the top 10 and mix it up with the big dogs on day one of the Bassmaster Classic on the Louisiana Delta was Dale Hightower. And he did it in a big way with 15-9 pounds of bass that he caught almost literally out of the "same hole."

More on that in a minute. Last night over dinner, Todd and I were discussing the field and Todd kept saying he thought Hightower was going to do something in this one. He was supremely confident for first-time Classic angler and Todd liked what he said.

The 2011 Bassmaster Classic didn’t exactly start with a bang. In fact it didn’t start at all for about an hour. A dense fog settled over the Louisiana Delta overnight with rapidly warming temperatures and the brought the launch to a stand still at 7 am this morning. However, it probably increased the angler anticipation as about half the field reported they would be making long runs.

With the fog delay, several pros were getting anxious knowing they already had a shortened day of fishing. Most had ventured to guess they’d have 3 to 4 hours of fishing after their run down there before they had to head back before a fog delay. This morning’s 70 minute delay cut about 25 percent of their fishing time.

However several pros like Andy Montgomery, Greg Hackney, Dean Rojas, Ryan Said and a few others were happy when they saw the fog this morning. And some that we didn’t know about their runs proved they could catch them close. As we loaded back on to our bus after launch, we got a report VanDam had already boated a 3-pounder from the BASSTrakk site.

There is no doubt the fog delay really “spun out” some of the pros this morning, but as good as fishing seems to be getting here in the last couple of days, most pros figured it would be fast and furious when they did get to their spots.

Oddly enough, early reports show Aaron Martens and Derek Remitz doing well to start the day. Remitz told us point blank he had nothing and had little confidence in being able to go out and just catch fish with his limited knowledge of the fishery. We asked him if not finding anything in practice actually relaxes him because then he knows he can just go fishing and not worry with it because you’re just going fishing and don’t have to worry with a plan fell through.


“I would be a lot more relaxed if I knew the fishery well enough,” Remitz said. “However, I’ve flipped some beautiful stuff this week that I’m not sure a bass has ever swam near in the history of the Delta. So I have no idea if I’m flipping the right stuff. I had four bites the last day of practice and missed on all four, so I have no idea if they were even bass.”

Jeff Kriet looked as anxious as anyone.

“I’m trying to keep a smile on my face,” Kriet said. “I’m all spun out at this point. I mean I’m a professional fisherman. I want to go fish not sit here and think about it. Either let’s get this thing going or let’s call it off and we’ll go sit over at Harrah’s and play poker. If this fog delay lasts much longer, you might find me over at Harrah’s pretty quick. I’ve got a long run, and I don’t have anything else, so I have to go.”

The sun is out and it’s very warm in New Orleans. The fog probably dissipated quickly after a while but it was still thick when we crossed the bridge coming back into town and reports were Venice had thick fog banks after launch.

The other big factor in this tournament were some guys were running huge Lowrance radar units on their boats to be able to see obstacles in front of them if they did run into dense fog banks. Iaconelli, Klein, Evers and Butcher were all running the big Radar units on their boats.

Here’s what a few other pros said about the delays this morning

Here are what a few other pros had to say this morning during the fog delay:

Tommy Biffle, Oklahoma - I’m not real happy about this delay. I’m making a big run but I can catch them pretty quick once I get to my areas. I haven’t seen another boat around me all practice so I should be able to catch them when I get there. I’m flipping in some key areas.






Skeet Reese, California - My dad is from this area and my grandparents live here so I’ve been coming down here since I was a little kid. I love having the Classic in this state. Winning in Shreveport was great, but probably the first Classic I ever fished was the most exciting and memorable for me. Now once that fog lifts, it’s all game face and I’m only thinking about getting bit and capitalizing on what I found.




Brent Chapman, Kansas - Practice went really good for me. I just need to get going. I think I can catch them. It started for me back in October. I came down and fished for bass and redfish. Even when it got cold the fish bit really well down here. Back home when it gets down in the 40 degree water temps like it was here to start practice, the bass just don’t bite. But down here I was surprised at how they bit.




Mike McClelland, Arkansas - Well it’s the same for everyone that is making the big runs. I only fished up here one day and that just confirmed my decision to make the run. So I’ve got to go down there. But I feel like I can catch them when I get down there. I’m just anxious to get going.






Gary Klein, Texas - It's out of my hands now (referring to fog delay). I sure hope we don't dissappoint those folks who are pulling for us to win or do well at this one.


As of our latest check in with the BASS Blog and the BASSTrakk, Aaron Martens has a limit for 14 pounds and Ike does too, if not real close. Derek Remitz has 13 pounds and VanDam has 8 ½ with just three bass. We’ll try to post updates as we get them to our Facebook and Twitter pages. We’re heading to the show shortly and will report on any new products we see as well as talk to some of the pros over there for tips and techniques for the upcoming season. Stay tuned!

We spent several hours on Thursday with the 50 Bassmaster Classic competitors. There was a lot of energy in the Media room as most of the competitors are extremely anxious to get the event started to see how much or how little their homework will bear success.

We tried to get around to several of the pros that maybe haven't gotten as much press over the last several weeks while also talking to some of the favorites. We'll have more throughout the week and weekend. The story of this Classic will be weather and whether or not to stay or go.

About half the field if not more look to make big runs to Venice and Bayou Black. That will be as much about racing to fishing spots as well as racing to gas pumps. Then there is the shallow water aspect and getting stuck in some of the places on the Delta can be an all-day affair.

Those that do run might be held up due to fog. The water and air temps have warmed considerably, and with the warming air temp and not quite as warm water temps, there is the potential for fog. It's in the forecast and could shorten an already short day after a long run considerably. The other weather factor is that the water temperatures have risen since practice started from 41 in some areas to 62 in other areas. So it has the fish moving and brought a lot more baits into the mix.

Several of the pros who are staying close actually said they hope it is real foggy because they are going to put their heads down and fish hard and keep a bait wet while a guy who runs to Venice or Bayou Black might only have 3 to 3 1/2 hours to fish without the fog delay. Factor in a fog and that might only be an hour or two of fishing time.

Here are some quotes from several of the guys who are chomping at the bit to get this thing started.

Keith Combs, Texas - "I might be a little more nervous if I had a great practice. I made some big runs in practice but finally decided my best bet is to stay close and keep a bait wet. My best day I had a few good bites close. I had a hard time settling down in one area. But I feel like I can catch a few."

 

Berkley has long been a company prided on it's innovations with scent, especially in scent dispersant. Well a new line of baits out of the Berkley camp hopes to take action and color to the next level like they did originally with scent. Their new HAVOC line of soft plastics were designed by several top competing professional tournament anglers and fills a void they've had until now with their PowerBait and Gulp! 

When you read about grass fishing it’s always power fishing techniques. Big heavy line, punch bombs and wrecking sticks. Braided line, big EWG Super Line hooks, and thick plastics are the norm. Early in the year, however, when the grass is just starting to emerge or the grass is dormant and the live stalks might only be 3 to 6 inches tall, several savvy pros have found that a “hunker-down-and-finesse” approach often pays bigger dividends.