Not that these type of stats ever get recorded, but if they do and it matters to anyone besides the angler, the first bag weighed in for the 2024 season on the St. Croix Bassmaster Opens presented by Sevin, was placed on the scales by James Niggemeyer.
Niggemeyer is a former Elite Angler trying to fight his way back into the Elites through the Tackle Warehouse Elite Qualifier. Niggemeyer’s weight of 10 pounds, 1 ounce didn’t stay in the lead for long. But as they say, it’s a start.
Too soon to tell if 10 pounds a day will be enough in the year-long race.
Undoubtedly the oldest angler in this event on the professional side is Guy Eaker of Cherryville, NC. Eaker is competing at the age of 84.
The Bass Fishing Hall of Fame inductee has fished 315 BASS events since starting in 1979, winning one and qualifying for 10 Classics, while finishing in the top 30 in almost a third of the events he’s fished.
He started day one with 4 pounds, 11 ounces. He started the day as boat 2 in the take-off order; a position he said was the first time ever he had started that high.
Brett Hite is one of the 17 former Elite anglers hoping to get back to the Elites through the Tackle Warehouse Elite Qualifier. He got off to what he expects is a slow start for this event at 12 pounds, 7 ounces.
Early chatter had him as one to watch in this event. Known as a bladed-jig specialist, the Chatterbait figured to be an important piece of the equation. High water has kept the vegetation at bay, so there was some expectation a bladed jig would be a factor, thus Hite was in the mix.
“I stumbled a bit,” Hite said. “But there are lakes where you stumble and you never have a chance to recover. This isn’t one of those lakes. I’ve caught 35 pounds here, so it’s possible.”
Randall Tharp is also one of those 17 former Elites and he fared much better. He finished the day with 21 pounds, 13 ounces, ironically most of them caught on Hite’s signature Chatterbait. That heavy sack was anchored by the only double digit bass caught on Day 1, a 10 pound, 3 ounce giant.
It ranks as Tharp’s heaviest career bass in competition. Years ago, on Okeechobee during an FLW event he caught a 9-15.
“Today I beat my record,’’ he said.
When asked if the fish jumped and stopped his heart, he said, “Shoot, she was too big to jump.”
Tharp was one of the few anglers in the field who didn’t fish around a crowd. But he was around boats. He said the fish bit at 3:30 p.m., about the time official weigh-in started.
“As long as I’ve been coming here, it’s always better late in the day, especially when it’s slick and calm. These fish love sun and slick water.”
The photo that accompanies this is shot of the BassTrakk map that Bassmaster uses to find anglers during a course of the event.
If it were possible you could zoom in almost every boat would multiply by a factor of about 10. These boats are representative of the whole field scattered throughout the largest lake in Florida.
Currently they are centered from top to bottom in areas known as Tin House, Moonshine and South Bay.
Many anglers are testifying the lake is fishing “really small.” It obviously is. At least from the map’s standpoint.
It has to be noted a few of the anglers did find hidey hole type of fishing holes.
Two of those were Tucker Smith who weighed in 27 pounds, 6 ounces and Paul Marks who posted 26 pounds, 7 ounces. The two were fishing within sight of each other and according to Marks there were few boats around. Marks estimated that there were about eight boats in the area.
As to where that is on the map, that info is being kept secret until the final day.
Marks did say, “It’s really, really far. So far I worried if I had enough gas to get back.”
Technology is a hot topic in the bass fishing world even though it’s not come up much in this event at least from the water side of things.
It seems technology that we are all accustomed to, though, has been throwing wrinkles and wrenches at this event from the get go.
Yesterday during the final quarter of the angler registration the internet and cell service went down across the region in Florida. Fishing is considered an old-school pastime but it doesn’t mean those kind of shut downs don’t have an impact.
Those final few anglers had to be registered old school with a paper and pencil. The pairings, though, suffered. All of that is sent out to the competing anglers with their boat number and partners for the next day.
Without adequate service that was a tough bill to fill. The only place with internet service in the area was McDonald’s. By end of the evening the parking lot and fast food restaurant was filled with locals and anglers checking emails and getting texts they couldn’t get any where else.
It was in the wee hours of the morning before service was restored. Many anglers showed up not knowing when they would take off or who with.
It all worked out and the event started without a hitch. It stayed that way until mid way through the weigh-in, when once again everything shut down. Thankfully it didn’t last long.
But as many anglers have been arguing for more than a year; technology ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Another stat that doesn’t mean anything, because it’s probably not recorded anywhere.
The weigh-in for Day 1 of the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Lake Okeechobee presented by SEVIIN, lasted precisely three hours and 22 minutes, making it the longest weigh-in of the season obviously. Surely it ranks somewhere in the top 10 of something.
It sported 213 professionals (130-plus of whom caught limits) and 102 co-anglers weighing in a fish.
