Jones Takes 2008 Classic!

Congratulations to Alton Jones on winning the 2008 Bassmasters Classic! I was rootin' for the hometown classic rookie Casey Ashley, but a Day Two stumble held him from getting into the top spot. Watch out though, he's a good fisherman and one of the better young guys that will be a force fishing the 2008 Elite Series this year. I really enjoyed following the classic this weekend and thought that ESPN did a great job on coverage throughout. Its definately tough to cover fishing as a live sport, but they did a good job with their bass blogs that were updated throughout the days of the tournament. I also felt that they showed a lot more "on the water" coverage this year than they have in the past, which is always nice.

It was amazing how many different patterns were being applied this weekend by the classic anglers. Football jigs were being dragged slow and deep, guys were pitching finesse jigs up under docks, they were crankin both shallow and deep, small finesse worms on a drop shot. Jigging Spoons were even being applied when the bass were schooled up and busting bait on the surface. It was really exciting to watch.

One thing that I really thought was amazing (and this separates the best from the average) is how these pros adjust their techniques from day to day depending on what the weather and fish are doing. I knew before this tournament that the pros always applied this type of "fishing the moment" mentality, but watching this tournament really drove home that fact.

All in all it was a great and exciting tournament!

Bass Tournament Schedule 2008

I have just recently finalized (roughly) my tournament schedule for the upcoming 2008 season. I'll be taking part in three different tournament "circuits" this year, which means it will be the most tournaments I have fished in during the course of a year.

I will be fishing 4 (potentially 5) tournaments on the Sliverado Pro/Am Tour as an amature, 9 tournaments with my local bass club (Lakes Area Bassmasters), and at least 2 College based tournaments. The first two circuits will be held in both Minnesota and Wisconsin, with the College tournaments occuring in Indiana and presumably Texas (but this is not finalized).

I am really looking forward to this season in terms of growing my fishing ablilites, my tournament experience, and meeting many new great people involved with this sport. During preparation for the tournaments I will try and write about my practice and also how I ended up.

The first tournament will be the Big Ten Championship in Indiana sometime in April. Last year we (The University of Iowa) finished 3rd and hope to better that this year. It should be a fun tournament where we will probably looking at pre-spawn, spawn, or post-spawn conditions depending on what the weather does between now and then. Stay tuned in April for more info on how that tournament went.