Winning the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Norfork Lake presented by SEVIIN has finally started to sink in for me. It was a little different way to win, but I am super excited to fish in my second Bassmaster Classic and have already started preparing for that event next March.
Prior to the Bassmaster Open I had fished Norfork only twice before. Once in the early 2000s in a team championship and then when I was on the Elite Series in 2016. Being from central Missouri, I didn’t realize how close the lake was to my house at Lake of the Ozarks. Whether it was the bass clubs I fished growing up or team tournaments I fished before moving to the professional ranks, we just never went there much for tournaments.
I obviously have a lot of experience on Ozark Lakes, and they all translate to one another in some way. So, when strong and severe storms brought several inches of rain to the region the week of the Open, I wasn’t too worried. I have been in the exact same conditions before on Table Rock Lake, Bull Shoals and other lakes in the area. I’ve fished these lakes when they were 20 feet high. It’s been a while since we have seen those conditions, but I prepared and practiced for them at Norfork.
Typically the bass, especially if they are prespawn, really like the runoff scenario created by heavy rain. The incoming water and current created from the incoming water attract bait and create a prime feeding opportunity for bass preparing to spawn. The backs of the major creeks ended up playing the most for me.
I located some bass in short pockets with direct inflow. That was what I was planning on doing throughout the tournament, but I caught all my biggest fish in the backs of major creeks during practice. With all of the water coming in the backs of the major creeks, I knew they would only be good for a couple days, and if we got the rain that was forecasted, they would be more susceptible to dirty water and debris. With that in mind, I decided to focus on the backs of the major creeks on Day 1 and make the most of them before they were blown out by the rain.
I wasn’t looking at the tournament as if it was going to be cancelled or shortened. I was preparing for the water to change and come up. I knew the bite was going to change, so I fished it almost like a one-day tournament. Wherever I was fishing and catching them, I was going to try and maximize the area because with the water rising that fast, who knows what the next day is going to bring. I treated our one tournament day as if it were the one and only tournament day.
I didn’t know how many days I would get out of the area I was fishing before it ultimately changed. I knew I could probably get a couple days out of the backs of creeks, but they would be rapidly changing.
I started out trying to work a spinnerbait, which I had some success with in practice. I ended up catching a couple with it, and one that made it to weigh-in, but it wasn’t the main player I expected it to be. I went down a stretch that was really good in practice, and I didn’t generate any bites with the spinnerbait. I put it down and started flipping the Bass Pro Shops flipping tube.
With the dirty water, I selected a Texas-rigged tube thinking it would out-produce a jig, which many anglers were throwing. I went to the next bank and immediately got some feedback. I caught a nice 2 3/4-pounder. The line was frayed, so I sat down to retie and the boat drifted back 5 or 10 yards. I got back up and made the exact same flip I made a few minutes earlier and caught a 5-9. Once I caught that fish, I settled in and tried to maximize that area.
There were a series of boulders there, and when I fished them in practice, I got the feeling that when the creek started running the bass would duck in behind those boulders. They were further off the bank than the rest of the rock in the area. I caught my two biggest bass there and most of my weight for the tournament. The creek made a little turn just before the boulders, and it swept the water away from the bank a little. The bank stayed clean of debris, so it was a little more fishable and the bass liked that.
I ended the first day with the lead, and during the day I could tell the water was coming up slowly. As I was watching from my hotel room the next two days, the water rose very quickly. At the start of what would have been the third day, the water rose over the walkways on the docks to the point where it would have been impossible to bring a bag of fish to the stage from the docks.
Sitting around in the hotel room is never fun, but especially when you have the lead and conditions are changing. I was trying to focus on the next tournament day and developing a game plan to win the event as much as I could. I know how precious these situations are, and when you are leading, you want to capitalize. I wanted to make sure all the controllable elements were taken care of so I could go out and focus on winning the tournament.
Waiting around the hotel for two days was really kind of torturous. The final morning, I was preparing to go launch the boat, and I’m wondering what is going to happen. It was storming outside, it hadn’t stopped raining all night, and I could see the lake had come up substantially. It was past the time when tournament officials sent the cancellation text on Day 2, so I went outside and uncovered the boat. I went back to the hotel room to get my phone before I drove off and that’s when I got the text that the tournament day was canceled. Followed by a phone call from the tournament director declaring me the winner.
It was definitely a different way to win, but I’ll take them anyway I can get them. It feels great to be going back to the Classic. I learned a lot from my first Classic experience, and it has always been a goal of mine to get back there. It was a great week in Arkansas, and I can’t wait to represent my sponsors on the Classic stage next March in Knoxville!
