EUFAULA, Ala. — The St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Lake Eufaula is now shortened by one day, with the anglers having fished on Thursday, will now sit out Friday, with the full field competing on Saturday, also the final day of the tournament.
Given the start-stop-start timeframe, how will the Opens EQ anglers compensate for the lost fishing time, given the open gap between the initial start and delayed finish?
The anglers were advised about the possibility of a Day 2 cancellation prior to the start of the tournament. Here are some questions worthy of consideration, given the circumstances.
Did they fish more aggressively on Day 1, maximizing the potential of their best areas with awareness of the cancellation?
How will they compensate for the significant change in the weather forecasted for Saturday’s final day?
What key adjustments will they make? Will they revert back to secondary patterns discovered during practice?
First, weather is always the dominant factor for any springtime bass fishing scenario. The reason for the cancellation was a nasty weather system with forecasted thunderstorms and winds of 15 to 25 mph, with gusts to 50 mph. Earlier in the week, daytime temperatures were in the low 80s, with nighttime lows in the high 60s. Come Saturday morning the low will be 53 with the high of 74 with sunny skies.
We set out to find out how the Opens EQ anglers will adjust to all of the above. The good news for bass anglers is gaining knowledge of how to make adjustments when foul weather interrupts best made plans for a fishing trip. Here’s what they had to say.
Blake Smith, Lakeland, Fla.
“Normally, this would be a three-day event and you would want to pace yourself, making it more of a marathon than a sprint,” Blake said. “But now with the cancelled day, instead of pacing through multiple days, we are looking at trying to catch the biggest bass we can, striving for quality over an average limit.”
Dale Hightower, Mannford, Okla.
“I swung for the fences and just didn’t let up on them,” Hightower said. “The first day you need to set a solid weight to move into contention, catch the biggest you can catch.
“The front that came through on Thursday afternoon triggered the bite, and it’s when I caught most of my weight,” he said. “The bass up shallow are committed to spawning, they aren’t going to move due to the changing weather at this point, so that’s where I will begin on Saturday.”
Cody Stahl, Eufaula, Ala.
“I did think about the cancellation, and caught some bass that normally I would save for the next day; I saw what I caught,” Stahl said. “Recently, this lake has been under a lot of angling pressure, so I didn’t waste time on a specific patter and went junk fishing.
“I’m fishing high percentage areas, so I’m going back and fish history,” he said. “I think in this situation that it gives me an advantage with the unknowns after the cancelled day.”
Robert Gee, Knoxville, Tenn.
“I did fish more aggressively and then laid off of some of my key fish knowing Friday might get cancelled,” Gee said “It’s a milk run and this will give those areas a chance to rest and replenish with bass.
“I had all my weight in the first two hours catching transitionary fish moving to spawning areas, and I also have a few spawners marked on GPS and will try and go back and catch them.”
Jack York, Emory, Texas
“I tried to save as many fish as I could for Saturday if it got cancelled, but then I did find some new bass,” York said “So I’m at an advantage of having the chance to go practice for new fish.”
Chris Kingree, Inverness, Fla.
“I found some prespawn females that were moving toward the beds with the males, so I’m on a staging fish pattern,” Kingree said. “There still are a lot of prespawn bass moving up, so I’m hopeful that giving them a day off will replenish my key areas.”
Ben Milliken, Omaha, Neb.
“The biggest challenge for me is boat pressure,” he said. “Today I had an early boat number and caught my fish in the first hour, so being there early paid off.
“Saturday is the opposite and I’ll have a later boat number, so if the spot is too crowded then I’ll have to go find new fish.”
