Tourney season kicks off with Bassmasters Classic
It's hard for us Yankees to grasp this, but the biggest bass tournament in the world is under way even while we're still blanketed with snow and our lakes are sporting frozen lids.
The three-day Bassmasters Classic began at daylight Friday on Lake Logan Martin near Birmingham, Ala. The tournament continues today and the champion will be crowned after Sunday's fishing.
Much like NASCAR opens its season with the Daytona 500 -- the granddaddy of stock car races -- BASS now kicks off its tournament season with the Classic.
But it wasn't always that way. For most of its history, the world championship Classic tournament has been a summer or fall event. BASS and parent company ESPN moved the Classic to February in 2006, and selected Florida's Lake Toho as the venue.
2005 event
Local fishing fans will recall the 2005 Classic was in Pittsburgh, with the world's best bass anglers competing on the Three Rivers. It was the last summer Classic, and Kevin VanDam of Michigan, without question the king of bassing, took home the championship trophy.
VanDam leads a sterling field of competitors this weekend in Alabama. He's among the favorites, along with Michael Iaconelli of New Jersey; Aaron Martens, a Californian transplanted to Alabama; Denny Brauer of Missouri; and Edwin Evers of Oklahoma. One Ohioan, Bill Lowen of Cincinnati, also earned a berth in this year's championship.
While last year's winter Classic was contested on warm waters in central Florida, this year's contenders are dealing with a decidedly different set of circumstances. Winter has not been too bad in Alabama, but the water temperature at Logan Martin is only in the low 50s.
At that temperature, spotted bass are more active than their largemouth cousins, but they tend to lack the size that makes Classic anglers confident they'll hook up with enough weight to earn the 500,000 first prize. On the other hand, the temperature has been inching up in recent days, so the largemouths could make a major move up toward the shallow water where the bass men will find them by pitching to docks, rocks and wood cover.
High drama
Regardless of the conditions, the Classic always produces high drama. Will a favorite prevail? Will an underdog emerge and steal the stars' thunder? Will a leader falter and a backmarker leapfrog the field?
Anything can happen because this is, after all, bass fishing. The competitors are locked in combat with their fellow anglers, but the big variables are the bass themselves. They may have cooperated yesterday, but there is absolutely no guarantee they'll want to play the same game today or tomorrow.
To stay in touch with the action, fans can catch television coverage today and Sunday. ESPN2 is broadcasting updates today from 7 to 10 a.m. and again from 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.
Sunday's coverage begins at 6 a.m. and continues through 10 a.m. The tournament's conclusion, including the final weigh-in and action highlights, will be broadcast between 10 p.m. and midnight.
New licenses required
Those who are inspired by this weekend's Bassmasters Classic to get a jump start on their own 2007 fishing are reminded that new Ohio fishing licenses are required starting March 1.
jwwollitz@aol.com