Elite Series Pickwick Lake

(Photo: B.A.S.S./Gary Tramontina)

I haven't had anything to say about this one, so I haven't. My fantasy performance was even worse than usual.
B.A.S.S.
Herren 21st
Kvd 22nd
Chapman 55th
Vinson 64th
Walker 66th

Advanced Anglers
Kvd 22nd
Skeet 37th
Short 45th
Kennedy 59th
Biffle 71st

Hopefully we will see more of Brianna Palaniuk. Her brother Brandon now has a Facebook page. Unfortunately I missed Brianna's interview with Mercer.
Update: Apparently the interview with Mercer was done at one of the Florida stops.

Congratulations to Davy Hite on his big win!!!

Congratulations Edwin Evers!!!

(Photo-Screen Capture from Bassmaster.com)

This one was close folks. The Citrus Slam Elite Series Tournament on the St. Johns River was suppose to be an epic slugfest. It didn't live up to the hype because loads of big fish disappeared on Day 1 and the promised 30lb bags never materialised. I have a theory that the "Super Moon" caused the fish to feel that the moon was full almost a week early. That would explain why the fish were moving up despite a cold front last week at Harris Chain and why many of the Pro's reported seeing the mother load in practice.

With the fishing being tougher than expected the door swung wide open for The Big Show Terry Scroggins to take home the title on his home water, and that almost happened. Unfortunately Big Show suffered through a series of execution issues on Day 3 due to light line and he came in light with only 13-15. That stumble opened the door for Edwin Evers and he stepped through it squeaking out a 2-14 win with 77-1. I am guessing Big Show is just sick that he didn't put up at least 80.

Congratulations Edwin, you earned this one BIG TIME!

You can give Edwin props at his Facebook Page...

There is a good post win interview with Edwin on BassFIRST.

Elite Series SJR Day Final

It looks like this one will be a nail biter. It very well may come down to a last minute lunker.

Don't think I will liveblog today either.

I plan to listen to the Bass Zone.com Wide Open post game at 7:30PM EST.

Sweet! They had Chiggar on this morning on BassCam. (Just watched it and vids are too short)

I wonder if B.A.S.S. is having problems, I'm not getting anything and it's after 3PMCST when the weigh in was suppose to start.

OK Hook'd Up started.

Elite Series SJR Top 12 and Thoughts

The Day 3 Weigh In is complete and Alton's lead has shrunk to 2lbs 9ozs over Edwin Evers. I would have to say this isn't looking good for Alton as E2 made up 8lbs today and if Vinson didn't have 5 dead fish E2 might be leading this thing. Todd Faircloth, in 3rd, made up 8-14 and Big Show is only 6-11 back and he had a problem with breaking off fish today. KVD came back to earth today with only 12-2, but as you can see is still in the Top 12.

The wind is suppose to blow pretty good tomorrow, so I would have to say advantage Big Show. Really anyone in the top 5 has a great shot and it's conceivable that someone from even farther back could bust a huge sack and pull a major upset.

Should be good!!!

Elite Series SJR Day 3

This post will be sporadically updated with new info on the bottom

Now that I'm finally out of bed this is what I'm looking at.

Bassmaster.com Live Blog

Bassmaster.com BassTrakk (Looks like the fishing is slow as of 12:45PM EST but then again cell coverage might not be the greatest)

Bassmaster.com BassCam

Bass Zone.com Wide Open (Next on at 1:15PM EST)

BassFIRST.com (Once again it looks like they have a few of the video's mislabeled on which day it's for)

Managed to mess the computer up with so much stuff open and a virus scan running. Listening to BassZone Wide Open right now 12:30PM CST.

I don't feel like live blogging the weigh-in today so I won't.

SJR Elite Series Had Marshal Shortage

I didn't get to reading the BassFan Day 1 recap until late on Friday night and at the bottom of the recap they had this note:

> A B.A.S.S. communications official confirmed that due to a shortage of marshals registered for the event, five anglers fished today without an observer. That's a particularly undesirable situation in a sight-dominated tournament due to the organization's rule that fish caught in that manner must be hooked inside the mouth.

I guess I can't say I'm all that surprised by this as B.A.S.S. did a couple of things last week to hype the Marshal Program. The critics of the Marshal program said this kind of thing would happen and I don't think this is the first shortage they have ever had. If the Elite Series were to come to Lake Mille Lacs I would definitely be a Marshal. For Lake Minnetonka, the Mississippi River Pool 4 plus or Vermillion I wouldn't. I would consider doing it for Leech Lake.

I think B.A.S.S. would be a lot more successful with this program if the $100 Marshal fee would include lodging for the Marshals.

Elite Series SJR Day 2 Weigh-In Liveblog

(New info at top)

And it's over. First out of the cut is Mike McClelland. Also missing the cut Shaw Grigsby, last man in is Tak. Here is the Top 12:



Fantasy guy Matt Greenblatt 8-9, so he is well short of cut. Gets a check for last weeks big bass. "When it comes to looking at em' I can honestly I am not the greatest."

Chris Lane with 12-7 and he will make the cut. Thanks service crew for fixing boat from yesterday's incident.

Billy McCaghren into 5th place. 9-4 kicker. Said he found a couple of big one's that he just couldn't get.

Boyd Duckett "I suck in Florida"

Brian Snowden into last place with 2-3 "the whole reason I'm here is to be with you Dave"

J Todd Tucker with 21-5 to move into 2nd with 41-13 "Trying to spend quality time on the fish I think will bite"

Terry Butcher "I found a bunch of big one's I just can't make them bite."

Mark Davis makes the cut with 21 something. "I'm not sight fishing"

Rookie Keith Combs into the Top 10 with 14-9. Has a big one found for tomorrow.

Keith Poche with 15-4, which is a big comeback, probably in the cut.

David Walker with 15-9, which is good for my Dad's fantasy team. "This place is about big fish...you couldn't pick a better event to be sponsored by Power Pole."

Hmmm didn't miss Big Show like I said 22-13, moves into 2nd with 40-0. "I found something really special today" "I'm gonna put on the Big Show tomorrow"

Fantasy angler Bernie Schultz with 10 something which will help me a bit.

Huh the live leaderboard has Scroggins weighed in with 22-13, how did I miss that?

Kelly Jordan 16-1, so he has been consistent.

Swindle "Once I got 5 I just put the Motorguide on high and I didn't run across any big one's"

James Niggemeyer redeems himself with 13-1. "I made some key adjustments today." Will make the cut.

Somehow I missed my fantasy guy Peter T who had only 7-6.

J-Will with 1-2 will still make the cut. Says he "freaked out" and ran around when he shouldn't have.

Rookie Ott Defoe with 14-15, made the cut. Caught his biggest fish on the 3rd try for it.

Brody of the Lake "Pit-ti-ful" "I started off the morning and put a hook in my finger" Pimps Brodyofthelake.com. Caught 1-0 for the day. Ended up in 97th of 99.

Jared Lintner says he found a 10 for tomorrow.

Kota thanks people who have been doing stuff to help Japan.

Fantasy Pick Rojas 10even made the cut "I'm excited to get out tomorrow there is a lot of big fish moving around."

JVD with 7-0, won't make cut. "Left one on a bed about 7lbs that I just couldn't get."

Klein "Today I'm just in survival mode, the area I'm in has been picked pretty clean."

Clark Rheem 5-8 kerplunk! Apparently he hurt his ankle, had someone else weigh his fish.

Tim Horton with 6-11 kerplunk!!! "I had two if I could have got em" "a lot of fish started to pull up again" Apparently he had multiple dead fish penalties.

Skeet Reese 8-13 "This is definitely been one of my bombs" Skeet pimps new bait Havoc Wide Load, Mercer asks "Wide Load Is that from my signature series?" Skeet got a good laugh out of that.

Brent Chapman with 6-14, kerplunk "the area has muddied up" moved to another area late and he said he wished he would have moved sooner.

Rick Clunn with 7-6 so he won't make cut. "Usually I come to Florida just hoping to survive."

Grigsby with 11-7, so he is on the bubble with 19-13. Missed two big fish today

KVD 17-13 into 3rd with a kicker for 35-0, kicker 9-5. He didn't see the kicker, only a little mail, pitched to the bed and the big girl came out of the weeds.

Brandon Palanuik will not make the cut thanks to late penalty. Apparently he got pulled over in a Manatee Zone.

Leader Alton Jones with 22-13 and goes way into 1st. Mercer "Shaq Daddy Super Bass" as he pulls out 8-12 kicker. "My little secret baits still working"

Rick Morris said he fished a frog all day and had about 20 hits, but just couldn't hook fish.

Casey Ashley not nearly as good as yesterday with only 12-3, puts him into 3rd.

Kriet "I said if I came out of Florida with $20,000 I'd throw a big party, but it's going to be hot dogs and Dr. Pepper."

Ish "I went to my gamble area today" apparently lots of big fish are there.

Ike 7-6 probably won't make cut "I can't sight fish, I suck"

BOOM BOOM 16-3 into 3rd "I made a decision early to go fishin' and not sight fishin'"

Edwin Evers 22-5 and into first 38-15.

Rookie Travis Manson from WI with just 6-3, no cut for the cheese. "I couldn't find any rocks and smallmouth."

Faircloth with 10-5 to move into 1st "It got pretty tough on us today"

Bobby Lane 10-9 into 2nd with 28-13 into 2nd

Majorly annoying chippy audio

Cajun Baby with 16-2 moves into the lead

First up John Murray puts up 14-8, he will be in the cut. Pulls out a kicker

Trip "I think the happiest guy in this field is Big Show"

Mercer explains we cut down to the Top 50 today.

Hmmm the sound is chippy so far.

OK National Anthem finished and Mercer on Stage

Oops no Hook'd Up until tomorrow.

I believe things start out with Hook'd Up with Zona and Sanders.

Elite Series St. Johns Day 2

(This will be updated during the day, new content on the bottom)
Well I'm up and on the blog 11:30AM CST

It appears that BassZone.com Wide Open will be on 12:15PM CST

B.A.S.S. on Facebook really doesn't have any info on the day so far.

Bassmaster.com has BassCam Video's from today...

BassFIRST also has video from this morning....

developing...

Elite Series St. Johns Day 1

Note- This thread will be updated sporadically through the day. New stuff at the bottom.

Some of the best coverage will be found all day sporatically at Bass Zone.com Wide Open.
They are suppose to be on Next at 11:45AM EST
They had live play by play of Rojas getting 8lb class toad.
Next report at 1:00PM EST

Rich Lindgren at his Bassin' Insider blog with Versus has a blog on the ethics of sight fishing.

My Fantasy Teams:B.A.S.S.- Rojas, Scroggins, Schultz, Peter T, Greenblatt
Advanced Angelers.com- KVD, Scroggings, Peter T, Grigsby, B. Lane

Another good place for tournament coverage is BassFIRST.com. Now BassFIRST doesn't have updates on how the day is going, but there video's are good for pre and post tournament days.

Just watched the Day 1 morning B.A.S.S. BassCam video's. Ole Shaw doesn't think he has found the fish to win and Scroggins claims other guys have found his key areas. There is an on the water video that claims Brent Chapman landed a 10lber.

Sad News- Don Barone has reported that Steve Kennedy's Jack Russel Terrier Louie passed away on Tuesday. Louie would go nuts when Steve would be weighing his fish and you could hear him on the live feed. That just sucks!!!

Developing...

KVD on the St. John's

BassFIRST.com got KVD on camera... KVD says it's gonna be a sight fishing deal, provided it don't blow and rain.

Alton On St. Johns

This was just reported on Facebook by Alton Jones:

With stable weather it looks like this one may be a battle of the sight fishermen. Shaw could be very dangerous again. Kelly Jordan, Alton Jones, Dean Rojas, Grant Goldbeck are all accomplished sight fishermen. Who else?

Elite Series Harris Chain Day Final Thoughts

Well the veteran legendary Florida sight fishermen Shaw Grigsby, pulled out yet another sight fishing victory in Florida. Shaw was kind of lucky because he beat Grant Goldbeck by 7-6 with Grant weighing in a full 5 fish less than Shaw. It was an increadible comeback for Grant with just 1 fish for 1lb 1oz on Day 1. Personally I was hoping Grant would somehow pull it off and he was just one toad away from doing that today. I think I along with a lot of Elite Series anglers are astounded that sight fishing was the deal in this one, especially with the winning area being shared by 3 or more boats. I guess it just goes to show how unpredictable fishing can be at times.

One thing about Shaw, I like the way his Jersey looks in the abstract and the hoodie that I am having designed is going to be quite similar in terms of the color scheme and design.

In terms of Angler of the Year race you have to believe that KVD is licking his chops. And Props to JVD in finishing 1 spot below his Uncle in 5th. If you missed the weigh in today Jonathon Van Dam was moved to tears when talking about how this was his dream come true.

My B.A.S.S. Fantasy Team was brutal in this one with 3 anglers worse than 77th Place. I faired much better in Advanced Anglers.com because I put KVD and Scroggins on that team. David Walker and Bobby Lane were major buzz kills on both. While my Fantasy Fishing teams have kind of sucked it up this year I am still ahead of the game in terms of prizes won thanks to a contests with The Bassholes.com, Chris Lane on Facebook, and TBrinks Fishing blog. Hopefully I'll pull down some Fantasy Fishing prizes yet, the season is still early.

Update: Here is a nice write up on Shaw from Wired2Fish.

Elite Series Harris Chain Day Final

The best place to follow the days action is at the Bassmaster.com Live Blog... and with BassTrakk.

Also don't forget Bass Zone Wide Open coverage that comes on sporadically. They are set to go live again at 1:15PMEST

Well it looks like Shaw and Grant got to the honey hole today and no other boats were there, which almost certainly means Shaw wins.

Live coverage on Bass Zone.com was pretty cool. It looks like Goldbeck needs to catch a serious kicker at this point. Both he and Grigsby are one short of a limit. On Bass Zone Grigsby had been sitting on a spot for a long time, then moved off and back again. Speculation was that if Grigsby got that fish he almost certainly shuts the door because of the way he was putting effort into it. Steven Browning also has a shot maybe but he needs a serious kicker. BassTrakk has him down by 4+ but he has his limit.

I wonder if Shaw has done everything he can to get a limit? I would think that would have been priority #1 going into the day. But then again with Goldbeck right there he probably has a pretty good idea of what he needs to do.

Oh, one thing I learned yesterday is that B.A.S.S. has stuff on Facebook in terms of tournament coverage that isn't anywhere else.

The Big Question Elite Series Harris Chain Day 4

Will people who are fishing tournaments tomorrow on the Harris Chain and blasting off before the B.A.S.S. guys move in on Shaw and Grants honey hole?

If that happens, it's a nightmare for Shaw and wide open for Browning and Van Dam. If not, it's probably over.

On The Wolverine Skunk

This is from the B.A.S.S. Day 3 Liveblog:

In answer to the comment below on Derek Remitz: Yes, he did fish. And as crazy as it seems, Remitz zeroed both days. He is one of those anglers who got caught in making the wrong decisions at the right time. Count him and Bobby Lane in the same boat. Lane didn't zero but on his home water he feels like he did.

Both are deeply disappointed. But both are also at the top of the game nine days out of 10. We expect to see each of them back on their games next week.

Elite Series Harris Chain Day 3

If you are like me and slept all day missing the action you can quickly go back through it because B.A.S.S. put up it's Live Blog today.

The Top 12 are;
Shaw Grigsby
Grant Goldbeck (Who has an outside chance at a stunning come back)
Browning
Golden
KVD
Chris Lane
JVD
Niggemeyer
Alton Jones
Scroggins
Clunn
Cajun Baby Crochet

Tonight I plan to catch Bass Zone Wide Open at 6:30PM Central.

Harris Chain Day 2 Weigh In Liveblogged

(Newest Info at Top)

So Shaw is in 1st and I think Rojas is 1st out of the cut.

Derek Remitz doesn't weigh in today either, wonder what the story is?

Peter T does Shakespeare, seriously he did.

Sconni Boy Rookie Travis Manson 6-3 doesn't make the cut. Mercer does funny bit about one of these things is not like the other one. Bald Trip and Mercer with Manson's super hair.

Brandon Palanuik 11-7 with 3 fish. Apparently Brandon's sister is in the crowd, she was really loud.

Bobby Lane 3-3 this is not a good day for my fantasy team. "I think Lake Harris is the cleanest I've seen it in 5 years."

Randy Howell fell out of the boat today and yesterday he caught a little gator.

Cajun Baby- 16-5 into 8th pulls out 1 stud 7-9. "Yeah son it feels pretty good" in his cajun accent.

Hallman- 9-6 on my Fantasy Team currently in 71st with about 15 to go.

Faircloth "I went through a lot of fish to get what I got" he is on the cut bubble.

David Walker 2-14 Ouch on the Fantasy Team!

Grant Goldbeck 27-1 after 1-1 yesterday. Mercer said his kicker probably poops 1-1.

Scroggins comes up and the crowd goes nuts. "I'm totally confused."

Mark Davis takes a stroll down memory lane about the Harris Chain.

Swindle was hilarious but he talks to fast to catch "I hate lilly pads"

Chris Lane has 7-6 kicker caught later in the day. "Sight fish move up in a cold front in Florida, I've never heard of that."

Denny "I'll lick my wounds and move on to the St. Johns"

Rookie Greenblat pulls out a 10-4, it's his birthday. Caught it on 8lb test. Greenblat is from Florida and I'm almost put him on my Fantasy Team, went with Walker instead.

Alton Jones- "This is kind of a 2 day lake"

Rheem 6-6 "lost several in the last 30 minutes"

Niggemeyer pulls out two kickers, he had 19 something. "I hit everything I had" Tells story about guy cutting trees by his kicker that was on a bed. He obviously caught it anyway.

JVD 12-7 so he probably will make the 50 cut.

Ott Defoe's daughter sings "Rock Star"

Marty Robinson- Pulls out a toad had to be at least 8.

Mercer "Get on your feet for Skeet Reese." Skeet "These guys are pretty good"

Browning "I've been blessed two days in a row, I can't wait to get up in the morning"

The Squirrel "I caught more weight on this lake in two days then I have in 4 previous try's"

Shaw is Gary Klein's roomate: Mercer "we know who's buying dinner tonight" Klein "I don't know about that, he's a little tight."

Montgomery with 18-12 "You couldn't drive a nail up my butt with a sledge hammer" about only having 4 fish late in the day.

Shaw Grigsby- 29-8 for 43-15 He pulls out two monsters, weighs one for 10 even. Broke a rod on a 7lber that he got in. Caught 6 fish today. "I caught a big old pig I like it."

Kevin Wirth 5-1 crash and burn.

1st UP KVD 18-3 "This place changes a lot from day to day" "I see a few big one's behind me back there." "I'm not sight fishing"

Trip says they whacked em' today.

Elite Series Harris Chain Day 2

B.A.S.S. Web Guru Angie Thompson is riding in the boat today with Elite Rookie and Federation Nation Champion Brandon Palaniuk and from a couple of fish of his that she has posted to Facebook, it looks like Brandon is having a very good day.

You can catch sporadic live on the water coverage at Bass Zone.com Wide Open
Great Quote: "We haven't seen any alligators, let alone Bikini's"


Another place that is doing a good job of covering this tournament is the website OutdoorsFIRST.com. They have video angler interviews from this morning

Bassmaster.com BassCAM also has some video coverage from today...

Here is some on the water video of Palaniuk talking about what he is doing and what he got...

Hmmmmm

Does this seem odd to anybody else?
Our guy is almost in last place, Hooray!

My Elite Series Fantasy Squad for Harris Chain

For Advanced Anglers.com Fantasy Fishing I went with
KVD
Skeet
Scroggins
Bobby Lane
David Walker

I would switch out Scroggins for Hallman, but it's to late now.

Update: Not so good Day 1, I'm better in Advanced Anglers than B.A.S.S., Bobby Lane is killing me in both.

Here are my Anglers Day 1 Results (Day 1 don't mean Jack Squat)
Advanced Anglers
KVD 4th
Scroggins 4th
Walker 21st
Skeet 47th (Skeet is one of the best at improving his weight from one day to the next)
Bobby Lane 80th

B.A.S.S.
Chris Lane 13th
Walker 21st
Skeet 47th
B. Lane 87
Bradley Hallman 90th (I thought this was a safe pick, I switched out Rick Morris who is in 35th)