RICHMOND, Va– The perfect storm that anglers predicted might happen before the start of the St. Croix Bassmaster Northern Open on the James River appeared to happen on Day 1, as several bags over 20 pounds hit the scales and a multitude of anglers weighed-in five bass limits between 15 and 19 pounds.
185 anglers secured limits as well on the boater side.
The majority of the field was targeting a variety of shallow cover in warming water temperatures, signaling the bass are moving up quickly to start spawning. Anglers have tackled the spring movement in a couple ways. Several anglers reported they were focusing on either prespawn largemouth or spawning largemouth while others have a two pronged approach.
A couple anglers said they are catching both around the same areas, with no real distinction between the stages.
Day 1 leader Alex Wetherell was one of the anglers who had two separate programs for prespawn and spawning bass on his way to 25 pounds, 9 ounces.
“I caught them both ways,” the Connecticut native said. “They are 20 yards away from each other. I’m fishing stuff right near the areas where they are spawning and I caught some of my bigger fish doing that whereas there are a lot of 2 to 4-pound bass that seem to be on bed.”
His two biggest bass, one of which weighed 7-0 even, were both prespawners, giving him the confidence even more may be heading his way in the next two competition days.
“I have a couple different areas and two different things happening and there are definitely some more fish around,” Wetherall said. “It scared me (in practice) that we had all this warm weather and all these fish were going to move up to spawn, because I didn’t feel like I had areas I knew they spawned. Today, I figured it out, just the way they would hit. The deal I found was prespawn and the spawn deal was a bonus.”
Meanwhile, third-place angler Joey Murphy, who weighed in 22-3, wasn’t sure how many of his bass were prespawn or actually spawning, but he guessed it was a mixture of both. His bite revolved more around hitting the tide correctly.
“Some fish were pale white and other fish had a little bit of a bloody tail, but I can’t see any beds with the water clarity,” he said.
In any event that revolves around the spawn, Garrett Paquette prefers to target prespawn bass and cover as much water as possible. While he did target prespawners on his way to a 17-2 bag, he also utilized a two pronged approach and has two distinct patterns, one for the prespawners and one for spawners.
“It is about half and half for me,” the Michigan native said. “When I feel like the tide is right to fish fast and fish for prespawn fish I do it. When I feel like that feeding window has closed I’ll slow down for the bass that are spawning.”
As a tidal water aficionado, when Mike “Ike” Iaconelli woke up and saw a bright orange moon hanging over the James River before takeoff, he knew the bass would be pushing up in waves with water temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees. He landed 50 keepers today, most of which were spawners with some prespawners mixed in. While he isn’t specifically targeting either stage, Iaconelli said finding hard bottom areas where the bass are moving in to spawn are the most productive.
“I cut through a lot of numbers,” Ike said. “They are coming. It was a good day and everything was right, but especially the timing with the tide.”
The New Jersey pro said about 90 percent of the bass he caught today were spawning based on how they acted. When he would pitch to a target, the bass would race away with his bait, but when he set the hook he would come up empty. It would then take a couple more pitches to catch that bass.
“At the lowest part of the tide, I could actually see some spawning, which in tidal water and dirty water is hard to do,” he said. “Their backs were almost out of the water.”
Other anglers, meanwhile, focused their attention on one stage of the spawn only on the first day of competition and have excelled.
Brad Leuthner anchored his 22-4 second-place bag with a largemouth that eclipsed the 7-pound mark and lost one that was even bigger than that. The Minnesota angler arrived at the James River early since the final day of the Southern Open on Cherokee Lake and has been catching prespawners since he arrived, while also shaking plenty off.
He caught all prespawn bass on Day 1 around sandy gravel. He added he did find bass already on bed during practice and will have those as an option moving forward, as well as any other bass that decide to spawn close to the full moon.
“What I’m targeting right now, they are all prespawn,” he said. “I actually saved about 20 beds today. So if I need to, I do have a Plan B. They aren’t huge, probably 3 to 3 ½-pounders. (The bass) are close to getting to the spawn. Hopefully (the prespawners) hold out one more day. Saturday, if I make it that far, will be a complete spawn deal.
Oklahoma angler John Soukup said one stage in particular produced all of his 21-9 fourth-place bag, but was guarded with the specific details.
“There are fish in every stage, but one of those stages was very important to me,” he said.
Alabama native Fifth-place angler Tj Milton said he is only focusing on prespawn bass, but added his biggest bass of the day might have been spawning because of how shallow it was.
“I was targeting ones that were ready to spawn,” Milton said. “They were in less than 2 foot of water. Incoming tide on reaction baits. I didn’t fish for them and I didn’t see them. I’m assuming my biggest one was because he was really shallow. But I wasn’t fishing for spawners. I don’t think you can win (fishing only for spawners).”
Although slightly cooler temperatures are expected on Friday and Saturday, the bass movement will likely be unaffected and anglers will be able to continue evaluating which stage they think sets up best for their areas.
You can catch the live Day 2 weigh-in on Bassmaster.com starting at 2:30 p.m. ET.
