Adapt or Die
Posted by Pete Robbins on Apr 6th 2021
photo courtesy of bassmaster.com
I’ve watched a lot of Bassmaster tournaments live, and quite a few more on TNN, ESPN and the YouTube, and while just about all of them are memorable for something, two that I remember the best were the Pittsburgh Classic (2005) and Ike’s win on the Delaware River (2014). There’s probably a certain amount of bias bases on the fact that I attended and covered both, but I’d like to think that part of the reason that I recall them so vividly is because they were one-offs. There’s a pretty good chance that the top level of B.A.S.S. will never return to Pittsburgh or Philadelphia.
“Good!” a lot of the anglers would probably say in response to that last statement.
“Good!” a lot of fans would probably say as well.
No, it’s not 130 pounds at Falcon, 120 pounds at Santee or 110 pounds at Fork. Philly wasn’t even close – Ike won by 8 pounds. Half of the fish weighed in at OH Ivie recently could have swallowed KVD’s winning catch at Pittsburgh. Still, those tough, grind-em-out events add diversity and complexity to the schedule. They require different skill sets than returning to more patternable, more conventional venues. There’s nothing wrong with a tournament at Guntersville or Grand Lake or St. Clair, but something truly out-of-the-ordinary has to happen there in order for a single event to enter the pantheon of greatness.
We’re probably going to hear a lot of griping from various folks about this week’s event on the Sabine. I’ve never been there, so I can’t really opine meaningfully on the intricacies of the fishery, but having watched footage from multiple prior tournaments there I suspect it’s going to be tough. Competitors will end up being on top of each other. But someone’s gonna win a hundred grand. He’ll consider it his own personal Fork, Falcon and El Salto rolled into one. If you truly want the AOY to represent the best of the best, he needs to be able to hit not just a fastball, a slider and a curve, but also the knuckleball.
