I make it a point to tune in to most big-league bass tournaments, blasting a live broadcast on one computer while I work on the other. Office jobs are a bore and I can scratch a little fishing itch by watching the best in the world catch ‘em up.
While I listened recently, Marty Stone was dialoguing something about a tie. Pumping up the audience, I figured. Sensational broadcasting.
Boy, was I wrong!
Fans of fishing, myself included, were presented with the closest high-stakes shootout in recent history when the Pro Circuit Top 10 took to Lake Champlain in a winner-take-all format on Monday. When the dust settled, 25-year old Kyle Hall beat out veteran Jon Canada by an ounce. One ounce.
Hall’s blood brother and travel partner (and possibly the best young angler in the world) Dakota Ebare finished third, just five ounces back. All three breached the 21-pound mark.
Oh, how I wish there there had been a tie! Again referring to Stone, evidently a one-hour fish off is required to determine a winner in Pro Circuit competition. Gosh, that would be fun to watch. The strategy involved would have been legendary.
But we have a great champion, adding valor to the principle of hard work and time on the water. Hall mentioned that he and Ebare spent two months learning the habits of smallmouth on northern fisheries a few years back. Since that time, each has become a force to be reckoned with, consistently cashing big checks at Thousand Islands and Lake Champlain.
In this situation, which repeats itself from time to time, I’m reminded of Shin Fukae. Longtime fans will recall Fukae as possibly the first angler to dedicate every detail of his life to pre-fishing before an event, spending as much as two months on a fishery, learning its subtle cues.
As I eluded, we see this come up, even with modern off-limits periods. Individuals go above and beyond their competition and dedicate incredible efforts to learning the trade. You’ll get conflicting reports from some established pros; those who feel time away from fishing helps them more than anything. But for the young guns, it seems nothing replaces time spent liquid.
Now tuning back to the competition itself – MLF will likely do away with the cut-and-start-over format next year. That seems to happen every time I get my wish. As I’ve said before, as a fan, I love the clean-slate arrangement. There’s nearly always a big name left bringing the heat, anyone can win, and last-minute decisions play major roles. No coasting here.
One ounce. Can you imagine?
Jon Canada has one career win, coming this season, actually. He’s obviously hit his stride, and will have another before long.
This week’s event also illustrated a few key, often over-looked ingredients in professional fishing. First, culling. Scales are great, but nothing can replace the balance beam. Next, dead-fish penalties. Best not to get one, as tight as things have become. That’s often easier said than done on northern smallmouth fisheries in the summertime. Learning proper fish care is as important as learning the best knot. Some pros, I saw, could do better. Not overly complicated, fish care requires more dedication than anything. But it’s a player.
More so, we saw several sides of efficiency. How a professional angler could be dropshot fishing for smallmouth and not have an additional rod ready for following fish is beyond me. But I saw it. The savviest pros have multiple identical rigs laid out and baits in their pocket, not in the center box.
Yet just when I was playing know-it-all, Ebare made a good point. After a stressful fish catch, he found it important to re-center, retie and take a few breaths. His reasoning being that things often go wrong, rather than right, in the middle of a smallmouth tornado.
I have to agree. I can remember numerous times when friends and co-anglers got frazzled by big following fish, slamming home hook-sets and breaking lines. It takes experience and a calm demeanor to chip out a big bag of bronzebacks when they’re snapping like sharks. I liked Ebare’s thinking. Calm and collected; he’s got that handled.
Was it Lake Champlain that was the real story? Numerous competitors at or around 80 pounds for the event; three over 21 the final day.
I’ve always felt Lake Champlain was one of the best, if not the best bass fishery in the nation. Now this opinion came well before those silly best-of lists and all the hype. I remember the early events at Champlain, when locals fished north and the pros went south. Good grief, what a place!
To this day, Champlain remains one of the few places where you can catch 20 pounds and get beat any day of the year, with either brown or green fish. I know of nowhere else where both species readily get so big, and remain in such large numbers. Winning stringers repeatedly come from water as shallow as a foot to as deep as 50. Where else does that happen?
New York, as a whole, has got it going on. And surprisingly, a few young Texans have cracked the code and become Northern superstars, belt buckles and all.
Come on, a tie? Almost.
Sometimes I wonder if they script this stuff.
(Joe Balog is the often-outspoken owner of Millennium Promotions, Inc., an agency operating in the fishing and hunting industries. A former Bassmaster Open and EverStart Championship winner, he's best known for his big-water innovations and hardcore fishing style. He's a popular seminar speaker, product designer and author, and is considered one of the most influential smallmouth fishermen of modern times.)
