GREENVILLE, S.C. — Bassmaster tournaments rarely turn out as the pundits predict. It’s not necessarily because we’re uninformed, but rather because the anglers are great from top to bottom, the information superhighway has leveled the field, and conditions are typically unpredictable.
Occasionally things go according to the script, as when Mike Iaconelli earned a hometown win at the Delaware River last summer, but more often than not the surprises outnumber the certainties. If Day 1 of this year’s GEICO Bassmaster Classic is any indication, everything’s skewing toward the norm this week.
Here are five of the biggest surprises from the first day of competition.
Power came to play — Historically frigid weather led many to believe that finesse would play a major role in the outcome of this tournament. Quite to the contrary, at least today, as noted power fishermen Dean Rojas, Skeet Reese and Keith Combs are leading the event. Westerner Brett Hite, a fantastic deep-water angler who’s better known for his skills with a Chatterbait, is in fourth; and 2014 champion Randy Howell is in fifth. That’s not to say that they weren’t doodling weenie worms in 60 feet of water, but the top five are not typically considered finesse-first pros.
One short — Greg Hackney and Mike Iaconelli are two of the most accomplished and consistent anglers on tour. On a day when 24 of the anglers brought limits to the scales, you’d expect them to be two of them, but each only managed to weigh in four bass. Fortunately for them, their weights of 14-15 and 14-07, respectively, still have them in the hunt. With even an average fifth keeper, either of them would’ve been in great position. As it stands, they’ll need a big bite tomorrow, or for others to falter, to be closer to the top heading into Sunday.
Super spectators — No one who’s followed the sport for any amount of time should be surprised that there were spectator boats on the water, even though take-off temperatures of 10 degrees made some of us question their sanity. What did surprise us is how consistently courteous they were. We know that most fishing fans understand how much is on the line, and act accordingly, but there are usually one or two bad apples who impact the outcome. We saw none of that today. They gave everyone a lot of room. With warming temperatures tomorrow, we expect that even more of them will be floating on the big pond.
Twenty-one — BassTrakk indicated that Skeet Reese was leading with 17 pounds, so when Dean Rojas brought 21-02 to the scales to claim the lead, it caught some of us off guard. He had a big fish of 5-11, but other than that they were all just solid fish. He told us that he had his water all to himself. Can he repeat it tomorrow, that’s the big question. Perhaps notably, Rojas weighed in just an ounce more than Charlie Hartley weighed to take the Day 1 lead here in 2008. Eventual winner Alton Jones never hit the 20-pound mark. While Hartwell is no Guntersville, it does hold some big fish. If Rojas tags one, he could create an insurmountable lead. If someone else does, they could leapfrog him and create a true horse race.
Where's the Nation? — It seems that in every Classic one of the five B.A.S.S. Nation competitors makes a charge at the lead, attempting to match Bryan Kerchal’s 1994 feat. This year, none of them cracked the top 10 on Day 1. Of course Paul Mueller, known for his Day 2 comebacks, weighed 13-12, but that puts him more than 7 pounds out of the lead, and that may be insurmountable this year, especially since there are 12 anglers ahead of him.
Stay tuned for more surprises tomorrow. If we learn that Dean Rojas sacked his big limit on a frog in water temperatures barely over 40 degrees, we may have to reassess everything we think we know about the sport.