Thursday was a fantastic start to the Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River presented by Dick Cepek Tires & Wheels. The legendary fishery did not disappoint as 109 anglers weighed a limit of bass. Only Paul Mueller did not, but he’s excused because of the reason. He weighed in two fish early then made an emergency flight home to his wife, who suddenly went into labor with their first child. Good for him!
Not too often does the entire field weigh limits, but they did — and with authority.
The bulk of the field caught their fish sight fishing as large numbers of bass were sitting on spawning beds. During the afternoon, thunderstorm cells moved in, including wind and rain that made that nearly impossible. Much of the same is expected Friday, according to Weather.com. However, the chance of rain is greater, and expected to occur earlier in the day.
What does that mean for the anglers? The 2014 St. Johns River champion Alton Jones of Lorena, Texas, thinks it will impact overall weights.
“I think on average, you’ll see weights go down tomorrow,” said Jones, who weighed 19-2 for 21st place. “It’s supposed to be cloudy in the morning, but calm, and I expect that to make sight fishing a little more difficult. The calm conditions earlier in the day will make it more manageable, but I’d expect to see more of the field using a slow, horizontal approach with the likely limited visibility.”
Jones has been very consistent on this fishery, but he knows how hard it can be to depend on a sight-fishing bite. “All to often, by the final day of competition, the fish on beds have been pretty beat up, and it can prove to be difficult to win a four-day tournament on sight fishing alone. The anglers who have a few other patterns to lean on will end up on top.”
There were a lot of anglers clumped together Thursday on several parts of Lake George, and the amount of limits illustrates the reason — the fish are in spawning mode and relatively easy to catch. With groups of anglers sharing water — very professionally, I might add — it becomes a slugfest.
However, the fisherman who finds a smaller area with four limits of bass and has it all to himself is likely to be a final contender.
“I had a great day, but I need to make up some ground tomorrow,” said Chad Pipkins of Holt, Mich., who is in 28th place with 18-4. “I know the right fish are in the area I’m focusing on, I saw them during practice and today, and I know they’ll still be there tomorrow. But there’s 30 other boats fishing the same water, and we all know the same thing. When sight fishing like we are here, it often comes down to the anglers who hit the right fish at the right time.
“With tomorrow’s conditions likely to make sight fishing more challenging, I think fan casting a slow-moving horizontal presentation might work well. I hope to take advantage of what sight fishing is available in the morning, but I’ll be making adjustments as the conditions evolve. If I can catch a few good ones early, I’ll be right back in this thing. This is a fun way to catch bass, no doubt about it.”
The full field will return to the St. Johns River Friday, vying for a Top 50 cut and the chance to fish Saturday. As it always does, the weather will strongly impact how well patterns hold up. The anglers who have more than one, or even two, patterns working right now will be in contention to move up the leaderboard.
As in most tournaments across the nation, the anglers who adapt the quickest typically win these things. That’s exactly how I expect this event will shape up.