Grand Lake Classic offers some unusual scenarios
TULSA, Okla. — It’s not that conditions are ideal for a slugfest Friday when the 2016 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro begins. It has more to do with the fact that Grand Lake is full of bass. Even in the cold, muddy water that dominates the lake now, somebody – and maybe several somebodies – will probably catch a 20-pound bag all three days of the tournament.
“This place has got ‘em,” said Jason Christie, who lives in nearby Park Hill, Okla., and has probably more experience on Grand Lake O’ The Cherokees than any other Classic competitor. “Somebody is going to catch a high 7-pounder or an 8-pounder, maybe a 9. You’re not going to see a bunch of those.
“But you’re going to see a lot of 4s and 5s, and somebody is going to have a bag full of them three days in a row.
“I’m not saying it’s going to be me. I’m talking about the lake. I know what lives here. This is one of the best lakes in the country – bar none. It’s near the top of the lakes in the country that don’t have grass.”
Matt Herren has gained a lot of confidence in the pattern he’s put together over three days of pre-practice and Wednesday’s official practice day. But he thinks this is still Christie’s tournament, if the spectator boats don’t affect one of the local favorites too much.
“When someone has that much intimate knowledge of a body of water, it’s hard to deal with,” Herren said of Christie. “Jason has got too many what I call one-fish-holes on this lake. He can survive a bad day.
“He should have won it the last time we were here (in 2013), but the crowds affected him.”
Herren believes strongly that the ultimate winner of the 2016 Classic will rise from fourth or fifth place on the last day, simply because of one factor.
“Spectator boats will determine who wins this tournament,” Herren said.
Chris Zaldain is well aware of that. He agrees with Herren that you need to fly just under the radar the first two days of the tournament, so you don’t attract an inordinate amount of attention. But the crowds may affect you on the water even if you’re back in the pack, if you happen to be fishing the same areas as Christie or Edwin Evers or the other typical spectator boat magnets like Kevin VanDam, Aaron Martens or Mike Iaconelli.
It’s no secret that getting to the very backs of the long coves and cuts in Grand Lake, where the water is significantly warmer than the main lake, is a big key to success now. Zaldain fears what he called “getting snow-coned.” That’s when the spectator boats follow you into a deep cove, then you’ve got to motor back through them in order to move on to the next one. You’re at the bottom of the snow cone and the spectator boats come piling in behind you in that V-shape of a Grand Lake cove or cut.
“They’re going to snow-cone you,” Zaldain said. “At the end of the day, you’ve lost 45 minutes (of fishing time). Hopefully they won’t be following me until the last day.”
Mark Davis says Grand Lake, more than any other lake he’s fished in his long career, has the potential to produce unpredictable surprises. He points to a 1992 Bassmaster Invitational here that Jim Morton won in an unlikely spot.
“It was 9 degrees at blast off,” Davis recalled. “The lake was falling fast. He won it on a dadgum buzzbait on just an old rock flat in less than five feet of water. It was half-a-mile from any water that was 10-feet deep.
“I’ve seen it time after time after time on this lake, where guys did really well in an area where you’re just like, ‘Why were the fish there?’ They do it a lot here, where they just get out in an area that you normally would completely disregard.”
Maybe the most confident competitor going into the tournament is a guy who could fly under the radar – Bill Lowen, the self-described “river rat” from Brookville, Ind. Lowen had put together a good pattern during pre-practice, but he hadn’t tested it in the muddiest water near the dam until Wednesday.
“I’ve got a feeling that everybody is going to try to run from the mud,” Lowen said. “I intentionally waited until the last day, so it could get as warm as it could get. The first bite was a 4-pounder. The second bite was a 6-pounder. The third bite was a 3 ½-pounder. The fourth bite was a 6.
“It was like, okay, I like what I see in the mud.
“To say my confidence is high is an understatement. I just want to go.”
Let’s go.