2005 BasssMaster Classic day 1

It seems fitting. Today is day 1 of the BassMasters Classic in New Orleans so I will post the following timeline of John Crews’ 1^st appearance in the Classic in Pittsburgh, PA.

7/29/2005

Boat #35, second flight

7:00am throttle down here we go

Allegheny

7:12am first cast to rock shoreline with a wiggle wart/ backlash

7:23am hung on underwater branch (retie)

7:31am hung in tree (retie)

Worked blowdowns real good

7:34am switched to a worm on a jighead

John seems very calm and confident

7:35am switched to a tube

7:39am swing and a miss on the tube

7:40am back to the crank bait /left 8:00am

8:03am up river to small island with a small hump next to it, crank bait

8:15am caught some braided line off the bottom with a wiggle wart/ Insert story here

John asked me to gather the line so he could keep fishing. As I was pulling the line in I felt some weird movements and then it began to pull back. A huge swirl appeared just behind the boat; John looked nervous and shocked as well as me. I was finally able to get the fish to the boat and to our surprise it was a 10lb cat fish. John was very happy it was not a bass so that is my story of how I caught a fish in the BassMasters Classic.

8:25am moved to inside of the island, switched to topwater bait

Moved into marina fished docks with senko type bait

8:40am out of marina back to the island with a worm

8:46am jumped across river to rocky shore with stream coming in, just below the lock /left 8:48am

8:59am down river to marina, fished shoreline just below bridge with Rapala

Worked up shore to bridge abutment, fish abutment with worm

9:09am back to crank bait/ left 9:12

9:14am moved down river to steel wall/ worked wall with crank bait and worm

Worked up rocky shore with crank bait/ left 9:49am

9:50am pulled into a small back channel, flippin and shallow crank bait

Stopped and thoroughly fished some brush/ left 10:35am

Mongahila River

10:37am stopped and fished a bridge piling near a small stream flowing in with the worm/ left 10:47am

10:48am moved to boat launch, crank baited rocky shore and bridge piling

10:59am 11 ½ inch spotted bass on wiggle wart at the bridge piling

11:04am 11 inch spotted bass on wiggle wart at the bridge piling/ left 11:13am

11:13am moved across river to other piling, Rapala and a wiggle wart

11:26am continued up rocky shore/ left 11:43am

11:44am jumped up to next bridge

11:45am hung and broke off wiggle wart

11:49am hung Rapala and broke off in same spot, tied on a Bomber/ left 11:58am

11:59am moved up to an old barge fished with worm/ left 12:13pm

12:14pm moved up river to old pier pilings, fished with worm

12:17pm 11 ½ incher on a worm off a wooden piling, gnawed down a sandwich, continued working upriver/ left 12:57pm

1:02pm ran up river to barges worked with a worm/ left 1:08pm

1:09pm bumped up river to more barges and a pier/ left 1:19pm

1:22pm down river to bridge, crank bait

1:28pm broke off crank bait/ left 1:31pm

1:33pm down to next bridge with a corrugated wall, fished with a crank bait/ left 1:36pm

1:40pm down river to another bridge, again a crank bait/ moved 1:45pm

1:45 moved to other side of river

1:48pm change hooks, retie/ left 1:55pm

1:56pm revisited barges down river, worm

2:09pm fished breaks in surface with topwater/ left 2:05pm

2:08pm back to abutment near ramp where he caught the 2 shorts

2:09pm broke off another crank bait

2:12pm back to work/ another short on a crank bait

2:16pm lost a short at the boat

2:19pm hung lure on some fishing line, pulled up original lure plus one he had previously lost

2:22pm switched to worm/ left 2:33pm

2:36pm back to bridge piling with stream

2:37pm another short/ left 2:39

2:41pm down to Station Square Bridge, worked pilings with crank bait

2:47pm white bass/ left 2:50pm

Last Minute Effort

2:51pm up river to bridge piling/ crank bait/ left 2:53pm

2:55pm up one more bridge and barges, crank bait/ left 2:58pm

3:01pm up to pilings, crank bait/ left 3:06pm

3:08pm couple of quick casts at last bridge with a worm

3:15pm check in

Off to Mellon Arena for weigh in

Believe it or not at the weigh in they wash every tow vehicle and boat before moving into the arena.

Myself and John fell asleep for about 10 minutes in line for the weigh in.

John’s song to come into the arena was actually a song I suggested to him as they could not find his original pick. This was a really cool experience for me as I can say I caught a fish in the classic and we rolled through the weigh in to the song I would pick for myself, Jump Around.

BassMasters Classic

I have been lucky enough to attend a few BassMasters Classics and also to work behind the scenes at two of them. If you get a chance get on down to one they are quite exciting and fun for the whole family. The first one I worked at was the 2005 Citgo BassMasters Classic held in Pittsburgh PA on the three rivers. This classic was John Crews’ first classic and I got to ride with him for practice and day 1. The following is an account of the first practice day. I will post a follow up for day 1.

July 27, 2005

Started on the Monongahela River

7:15- 7:20am threw a buzzbait around a water inlet with a small point

7:23-7:34am threw a brown/orange wiggle wart at old barges

                7:23 catfish

Run up to the locks

7:40 am pulled into the locks with several other boats/ woofed down a sandwich

8:02am locks opened

8:06am fished a train bridge just above the locks, worm on a jighead

8:26am moved up into small tributary

8:30am back up the main river, fished corrugated wall with brush laden shoreline (small point with brush/ topwater bait)

8:34am smallmouth 8 ½”

Shad everywhere and drum jumping

8:40 switched to a baby brush hog

8:54 made u turn moved down to boat docks and a lighthouse/ fished the docks with the brush hog

Fished the shoreline above the docks (rip rap) with a wiggle wart till 9:08am

9:09am idled to bridge piling, fished with spinnerbait till it hung and broke off. Fished with a blade bait

9:17am moved to other side of the river, trees, brush and blowdowns. Fished with a worm on a jighead and worked up the shoreline to another bridge piling

9:35am stopped at a water pipe with lots of water moving in fished it with blade bait.

9:37am watched two drunken guys drive their Chevy Blazer down a foot path to the river knocking over brush and saplings along the way. They got to the river and drove parallel to it, half in the water and half out until they hit a tree. Both guys then fell out of the truck and started to wrestle around fully clothed in the water. (Strange sight for 9:30 in the morning)

9:39am jumped up river to some sort of industrial plant and fished the worm till 9:44

9:45-9:53am worked up the shoreline with the wiggle wart

9:58am fished the wiggle wart just below a bridge

10:05am stopped to fix an eyelet on his rod

10:12am went back down the river to some old beached barges and fished with the wiggle wart

10:26am ran down river to small water inlet pipe and fished that with the wiggle wart, continued fishing down river on a corrugated wall with the worm

10:34am moved out to a channel marker buoy (the Mon meets another creek) threw a Rapala crank bait

10:40am switched to topwater, threw towards shore then back to the Rapala (1 follower)

10:43-10:45am fished the blade bait

10:47am moved down river to some brush, fished around with buzz bait

10:50am switched to a spinnerbait

10:58am moved down to a bridge, fished with spinnerbait till 11:02am

11:07am back in the lock

11:28am fished around the lock with a drop shot till 11:39

12:05pm stopped at a point just outside a no wake zone and threw the Rapala

12:09pm switched to a tube which hung on the first cast

Moved to the Ohio River

12:16pm pulled up to a creek and started flippin a tube

12:23pm switched to the worm

Idled further into creek and fished with the tube

1:14pm moved down river to the dam threw the spinnerbait, tube and the worm

1:38pm moved to a small island fished with the tube, spinnerbait and a 3” Senko

1:43pm moved up river about 100yards fished with tube

1:57pm swing and a miss (tube)

Moved to the Allegheny River

2:16pm went up river and fished around a submarine, crank bait

One guy asked from shore “Did you catch any live fish today?”

Drove up river to dam, idled around to check it out. Found hump next to an island where the old locks used to be

2:56pm stopped at a bridge down from the dam threw the blade bait till 3:02pm

3:15pm check in at ramp

Notes from a while ago

I was cleaning up around the house the other day and stumbled across some old notebooks. The first one I opened was from April of 2000.

In April 2000 I attended a Bass Fishing school called The Pro Tech School of Bassin in Manning South Carolina. (You read it right…a fishing school) It is no longer in existence but it was pretty helpful at the time. The school was located on the shores of Santee Cooper Lakes in South Carolina and had a weeklong schedule with the first two days being classroom and the final three on the water. The instructors for my stay were Hal and Mark Cercoply and Randy Dorman.

The following was my day’s events as I wrote them in 2000.

Sunday April 23^rd

14 hour ride.

Arrived at Black’s Camp at 2:30 pm

Drove around a bit (definitely red neck town), ate dinner and went to bed around 10:00pm

April 24

Woke up around 6:30am

Went to the restaurant and ate breakfast, met Randy Dorman and the rest of the students, 2 from Colorado and 2 from Michigan

Randy Dorman taught today’s class

Class from 7 am to 12 pm

Ate lunch at the camp restaurant…great food

Class from 1 pm to 3 pm

Topics covered; The Bass, weather patterns, seasonal patterns, maps, electronics, sight fishing and the spinnerbait from the line tie to the skirt

Went to bed around 10 pm

April 25

Woke up at 6:15 am

Toast OJ and Milk

Hal Cercoply teaching today

Class from 7 am to 11:30 am

Ate lunch at the camp restaurant

Class from 1 pm to 3 pm

Topics covered; Aquatic vegetation, top water baits, crank baits, jerkbaits, Carolina rig, jigs

Hal was very insightful into the tournament trail and touring pros

Drove around looking for tackle

Ate some good fried chicken

Fished from the docks, caught my first Santee fish…..crappie

Went to bed around 11 pm

April 26

7:oo am 1^st day on the water

Fishing with Hal

Started with a Carolina rig

On to the jerkbait, throwing to Cypress trees

Hooked the biggest bass I have ever seen, after about 5 minutes she straightened the hooks out on the Smithwick Rogue and disappeared. (Story later)

Switched to the Texas rig worm

Went in for lunch at 11:30 am

Back on the boat (Triton TR-21)

Fished from 12 pm to 3 pm

Ate at Black’s camp restaurant (good food)

Fished from the docks again only crappie

Went to bed at 11:30

April 27

Ate with the students and instructors

On the water with Mark at 7 am

Started with slow rolling a spinnerbait

Switched to split shot rig

Then to the Texas rig worm, throwing to submerged stumps (this lake is huge!!)

Went in for lunch at 11:30 am

Worked on flippin for the afternoon

Threw the floating worm some and the Carolina rig

Ate dinner with the other students at the Cracker Barrel (only big restaurant) in Santee

Went to bed around 11:30 pm

April 28

On the water at 7 am with Randy

Started with jerkbait around grass fields

Carolina rigs in the canal cutouts

Went over pitchin

Threw the Carolina rig some more, boated my first Santee bass

Lunch at 11:30 am

Fished cypress tree field after lunch with the texas rigged worm

Fished with the texas rig and jerkbait the rest of the day

Went in around 3 pm

Mark handed out our certificates

Ate dinner at Black's

Packed, fished from docks…more crappie

Went to bed at 10 pm

April 29

Woke up at 7 am

Ate a good breakfast

Left for the Charlotte Bass Pro Shops around 8 am then to Richmond to stay the night.

The days are getting longer.

The days are getting longer and fishing season is getting closer. If you haven't taken care of your equipment, now is the time to get it done.

Your reels need regular care to keep them operating at their peak performance. Cleaning and lubricating your reels before the season starts up is a must. Check your rods for broken guides or missing inserts as this will hamper casting and hurt your line. Speaking of line, make sure you spool up with some fresh line. Old line can be frail and could have some memory which will hamper casts.

Take a look at your tackle as well. If your crankbaits have any rusty or bent treble hooks make sure to replace them with some good quality hooks. Check out your spinnerbaits and jigs as well. Some of the older models have skirts that can dry out and fall apart. You wouldn't want to tie on your favorite spinnerbait and watch the skirt come apart on your first cast.

Finally, take a look at your soft plastics. Make sure you have what you need and that none of your baits, if stored with others, have had their colors run. I have seen some weird color combinations of plastics that have been stored together.

Now if you are a boater this would be a good time to check out your boating gear also. Ropes can rot over time and anchors could rust. Go over your ropes and look for rot or excessive wear, your anchors and make sure they are in good operationg shape and if you have a drift sock, open it up and look for any signs of damage. Check your lifevest for excessive wear or damage and if you have the auto inflateables check your charge and replace the C/O 2 if needed. If you use eye protection for running such as a Save Phace mask check the lens and straps.

Preparation before you get to the water can lead to success on the water.