RIDGELAND, Miss. — You are late to work. To make up as much time as possible, you take a shortcut to the office and save a few precious minutes. You claim a traffic jam as your excuse for being late.
In B.A.S.S. competition there are no excuses for being late. In fact, the official rules call for a one-pound-per-minute deduction in the angler’s total weight. Make it fifteen minutes or more and you lose the entire day’s catch.
Day 2 on Ross Barnett Reservoir was the perfect storm for being late to the weigh-in. Winds gusting to 30 mph across the open waters were the reason. Getting back to Old Trace Park meant a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel, skillful, safe, rough water boat handling.
Most of all, getting back at the designated check-in time meant carefully calculating how long it would take, factoring in the wind. That is not easy when there are no mapped routes between destinations. Wind velocities vary according to the layout of the lake.
Randy Howell has lots of experience in that task. He explains how he did that Friday – and keep in mind this was his first visit to Ross Barnett:
“That was the biggest factor because normally I build in running time in rough water to know how rough it really gets on a given lake.”
On a new lake he divides a comfortable high-end running speed of 65 mph by one-half. Then he takes the sum, or about 32 mph and calculates that against the benchmark of making a full throttle run from his area back to the weigh-in site.
At Ross Barnett that was about 18 minutes. As a result, he figured 35 minutes as a worse case scenario. He will always err on the side of caution, just in case the water is rougher than anticipated.
Howell made it back with 9 minutes to spare. For him, that is atypical. Normally, he judges the time back with a minute or even less.
Next time you run late consider what the pros face under the same scenario. There are no shortcuts, and certainly no excuses for being late.
Leveled playing field
This Ross Barnett Reservoir event marks a turning point in this season for the Bassmaster Elite Series.
The previous two tournaments were held with the bass in all spawning phases at Toledo Bend and Lake Okeechobee. The spawn—with exception of the shad spawn—will unlikely be a factor for the winner here.
“The playing field is leveled,” declared Aaron Martens.
Indeed. Sight fishing is out. The Rez is fishing small and being stingy. The weather will be a contributing factor. The forecast calls for winds gusting up to 30 mph on Friday and Saturday. Heavy rain follows on Championship Sunday.
Brainstorm in a rainstorm
With nothing better to do, Ray Scott went back to his motel room after getting rained out of a weekend bass fishing trip to Ross Barnett Reservoir. He turned on the TV, lay down in bed, and began watching a golf tournament.
Scott’s mind began clicking with ideas. He thought out loud.
“Why weren’t the bass fishermen of America united?”
“Why didn’t someone form an organization to bring them together?”
Why, he wondered, couldn’t bass fishing literally be on par with golf as a professional sport?
In case you haven’t figured it out, Scott, at the time an insurance salesman from Montgomery, Ala., was on to something. All of the above happened in 1967 and in Jackson, Miss. Months later he organized the All-American bass tournament. Not long after he formed the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society, or B.A.S.S. for short.
And there you have it. The little known trivia that the idea behind B.A.S.S. originated on the shoreline of Ross Barnett Reservoir.
Long live the Rez
Ross Barnett Reservoir, also known as The Rez, has a long history with B.A.S.S., and beyond the famous moment when Scott came up with his crazy idea.
Bill Dance won the first event held there in 1968. The next year Pete Henson won the tournament with a whopping 124 pounds, 8 ounces. Keep in mind that was a three-day event and 10-bass limit.
B.A.S.S. held tournament on Ross Barnett each year, from 1968-73. The tournament trail returned in 1978, when Bobby Murray won his second Bassmaster Classic.
Before the current event, the last time B.A.S.S. came to Ross Barnett was 2013.
AOY watch
Here’s what to watch for based on current trends with Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year. Brandon Card stands to gain a lot of ground should he continue his success this week.
Card was 43rd in the standings going into this tournament. Another riser will be Bobby Lane, 10th in the AOY points. Just behind him is Dustin Connell, 11th place and Dave Lefebre, 7th in the point standings. Keith Poche will move up too, since he is 13th in the AOY standings.
Other top anglers in the AOY standings stand to keep their position. Todd Faircloth, Jason Christie, Seth Feider and Fletcher Shyrock are in the AOY top 10 and also fairing well in this tournament.
Ott DeFoe, the leader will likely retain his lead with second place angler Jason Williamson currently 93rd in the tournament standings.