Veteran pros Terry Scroggins and Gerald Swindle, along with Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Champion Matt Lee, share their post-practice thoughts on Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees.
Q: How many GPS waypoints do you think you’ll actually rely on in the Bassmaster Classic?
Scroggins: I’d say as few as 5.
Swindle: 10
Lee: 15
Q: If we imagine the Shangri-La Marina area to be Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees’ 50-yard line, what percentage of your time will you spend south of there?
Scroggins: I’ll spend about 90% of my time to the south of the mid-lake region.
Swindle: I’ll spend about 80% of the tournament from Horse Creek to probably no farther south than Drowning Creek.
Lee: I’ll fish most of this tournament right around the actual mid-lake region.
Q: What’s the best meal you’ve had at Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees?
Scroggins: A 22-ounce rib eye at Broclee’s PourHouse near Sailboat Bridge.
Swindle: I was with Scroggins, and that rib eye was so dang big, I thought I was chewin’ on a horse’s leg.
Lee: I had real good tacos and burritos with Jason Quinn and Greg Hackney at a new Mexican restaurant called Las Palmeras on Monkey Island by the Grand Lake Regional Airport.
Q: Weather is the most discussed topic of this Classic. Would you prefer it be sunny and mild or snowy, cold and nasty?
Scroggins: I’ll say nasty because they bit way better when it was cold, cloudy and nasty on Saturday’s practice day than they did when it was 55 and sunny on Sunday.
Swindle: I don’t care either way.
Lee: I think guys will catch ‘em better if it’s cloudy and nasty, but personally, I’d rather fish in warmer weather
Q: In one short sentence, please give us your best personal description of Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees.
Scroggins: It’s an awesome fishery that is slam-full of fish, but weather and time of year can make it challenging.
Swindle: The ol’ lady can be a little moody. She’s extremely weather-temperamental. Strangely, the nicer the weather – the tougher she gets. She sorta reminds me of some of the girls I used to date.
Lee: It’s a phenomenal ‘pattern lake.’ Once you figure out the top pattern on this lake, it seems to really hold up. And there’s no doubt, this fishery is filled with 3- to 5-pound bass from one end to the other. You just have to figure out where they are on tournament day.