Event: 2013 Bassmaster Classic at Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees
Scenario: When Pace arrived at this Oklahoma powerhouse, he found the lake experiencing a seasonal period presenting the generally accepted “kiss of death” scenario — cold, muddy water. The turbidity part didn’t extend everywhere, but there was no dodging the low temperatures.
“That year, we had a really cold winter and the tournament set up right on top of a major cold front,” Pace said. “The water temperature fell a bunch, and a lot of the lake had a pretty good amount of stain.
“I think that’s a scenario that happens most years, depending on the amount of rainfall, and we definitely hit it during that brief period of time. Even though it’s not what I’d call unique for that part of the country, it’s very unique in that it’s not normal for the lake.”
With water temperatures in the upper-30s to low-40s, Pace knew he had to find fish-friendly refuges.
“I stayed out of the back half of the major tributary creeks; I chose the front section of major creeks or pockets off of the main lake that were in the lower end of the lake,” Pace said. “I felt like that was going be the clearest, most stable water conditions. We knew we had that cold weather was coming, so I wanted to find the fish that were most stable.”
Locating the more sensible areas was pretty textbook for Pace, but with only three days to climb the sport’s highest mountain, he knew success required discipline — and a dose of moderation.
“The biggest challenge in a situation like that is just making yourself mentally slow down enough to get the fish to bite,” Pace said. “That’s a period of time where fish are not in a good mood; they’re kind of in a state of shock. You have to find those little high-percentage areas and really pick them apart.”
For Pace, that mostly comprised of pockets with gravel and rock. His ideal scenario was a short main lake pocket with no creeks. This kept the fish shielded from chilly main lake water, as well as cold inflows.
“Those fish don’t want to be in current when the water’s that cold,” Pace said. “The high-percentage areas I was fishing were just inside the main lake in those dead-end pockets.”
The decision: The way Pace’s 2013 Classic began, his victory might draw a retrospective “makes sense” summation. Not entirely inaccurate, but Pace will be the first to note that his achievement required a fourth-quarter strategy shift.
The opening day saw Pace employ dragging and reaction bait techniques to catch 21 pounds, 8 ounces and tie Mike Iaconelli for first place. Repeating the game plan on Day 2 yielded a limit of 21-12 that kept Pace in the solo lead and sent him into Championship Sunday with a lead of 4-14 over Brandon Palaniuk.
A stingy final round would see Pace’s productivity nearly halved, but he still managed to close out the deal and secure bass fishing’s most coveted title. Doing so required Pace to walk a long, lean road that often seemed to be headed for heartbreak.
“The first two days, we still had a lot of weather; it was cloudy, overcast, the wind was blowing and I caught a bunch of my fish (those days),” Pace said. “I started early in the morning fishing a football head jig, and as the day warmed up, I would switch to a jerkbait.
“The main problem on the third day was there was zero wind,” Pace said. “The lake was slick flat and I knew when we took off there was a good chance I’d never catch a bass on a jerkbait — and I never did. I ended up having to stick with that jig all day.”
That final day of the 2013 Classic was a real gut check for Pace, as he tempted only four bites. Catching each of them, Pace brought 11-8 to the scales and edged Palaniuk by 3-4.
“I took advantage of the weather conditions, and the first two days were what enabled me to win that tournament,” Pace said. “It was all conditions-based and when those conditions went away, I had to make an adjustment.”
After boxing a couple of keepers in the third day’s early goings, Pace spent more than half his day searching for another bite. He tried fishing his best spots with the jerkbait but eventually returned to the football head late in the day and added two more.
“I felt like the jig was the thing to throw; it’s a bait that I’m very comfortable with, especially in those conditions,” Pace said. “I had no choice. I couldn’t make that jerkbait work anymore.
“If I would’ve kept throwing that jerkbait, I wouldn’t have won that tournament.”
Game changer: At surface level, Pace’s story proved impressive enough, but factoring in a Day 1 tragedy, the tale grows even more engaging.
“The first day, I lost a bass bigger than any I weighed in — it was about 7 to 8 pounds,” Pace said. “It’s hard to lose a fish like that, especially in the Bassmaster Classic, but losing that fish was a gift from God.
“Had I caught that fish, I would have been in the lead by myself, and it would’ve put too many spectator boats on me the second day. I was tied with Iaconelli on Day 1, so a lot of boats followed him on Day 2, but I was able to move around.”
Confirming his assessment, the 250-boat flotilla that followed Pace on Day 3 was encouraging, but also clearly limiting. Once that many vessels move through an area, it’s difficult for an angler to return to any previous spot.
Takeaway: Viewing his Classic win as a divinely enabled occurrence, Pace reflected on what was, then, his best Classic performance — second place at Lake Hartwell, 2008.
“Yes, I have matured as a fisherman, but I feel like the way everything in that tournament lined up, it was meant for me to win — it was my turn,” he said. “I’ve compared those two tournaments several times, and the maturity that I had in 2013 to make the changes that I made on Day 3, I didn’t have that in 2008.
“That’s why I lost in 2008, but I ended up winning in 2013 — I was able to make those adjustments. By not being stubborn and not beating myself, I continued to give myself a chance.”
