Classic Fantasy Line Up

I decided not to go with Keith Combs, who is the prohibitive favorite in Group A and to win the tournament.  I basically picked 4 solid anglers and 1 wild card, the Cajun Baby.

My Bassmaster Classic Fantasy Line Up

I decided to pull the cocky kid Wheeler for Shin in Bucket E.  I didn't go with Andy Young because a rookie Pro just isn't a good bet in a tournament this big.  We do wish Andy the best however.

Update: Last minute substitute of Morizo out for B. Hite.  Rich Lindgren over at the Fantasy Fishing Insider Podcast had solid reasons to go with Hite.  My pick of Morizo was just a gut feeling with nothing to back it up.

So here is my final roster.

Major League Fishing Episode #5

In this one McClelland, KJ, Skeet, Tak, Alton, and Faircloth battled it out.  From the preview to the Episode we knew the Alabama rig was going to play a role.  However, it was hard to know who that would be for as Skeet, Tak, KJ, and Faircloth all started by throwing it in the morning.  Conditions were a bit tougher this round as it was high skies and no wind.  It looked good for Skeet who got along some bluff walls and pulled away for a while.  But when he got to about 26lbs the fish quit and he didn't make any solid adjustments..  McCelland eventually caught up and surpassed Skeet throwing the McStick.  The Kelly Jordan went from last place to 1st and first to get over 40lbs.  McCelland  crossed 40lbs 5 minutes later.  Skeet was first out with 27.25lbs

So it's Van Dam, Ehrler, Jordan, and McCelland in the Final Round next week.

The smart money is on Van Dam, but who knows maybe the Alabama Rig will work again for Kelly J.

Kevin Van Dam 2010 Bassmaster Classic Champion- Analysis

Kevin Van Dam is so good at bass fishing it is shocking. Like golf, fishing is an individual sport that rewards good technical mechanics, raw physical abilities, mental toughness, mental intelligence, and something golf doesn't have which is anglers intuition. I think I can confidently say at this point that Kevin Van Dam has proven that he is the best bass angler ever to posses these skills and traits. Don't get me wrong, Rick Clunn had/has all these features in spades and is like none other. However, I think Kevin is showing domination in a time when the level of competition has never been higher.

A question that is entering my mind after the finish of this Lay Lake 40th Bassmasters Classic is whether Kevin had the best spot in crowded Beeswax Creek or whether he was simply the best dimensional fisherman in Beeswax Creek? The standings in this one bear out remarkably that the best place to be fishing on Lay Lake the past 3 days was in Beeswax. If I am not mistaken all of the so called Super 6 were in Beeswax catching fish. The top 3 all fished close to one another but not in the exact same water and they all hoarded their specific area for the vast majority of time in the tournament. I think the answer to my question is that there was a little of both. The fact that Kevin's area gave up the two biggest stringers of the tournament tends to favor the answer that he was in fact in the very best area. However, the fact that KVD, Jeff Kriet, and Todd Faircloth were all pretty much using the same category of lures I think favors the answer that Kevin was the best dimensional fisherman. While I don't know yet all the exact lures KVD caught his fish on I am confident that all of the top 3 guys were primarily on the very best pattern which was lipless crankbaits. Because KVD has an Elite Series win on Lake Toho that was a lipless crankbait pattern proves he is a virtuoso of that particular craft.

And lastly let me conclude that it speaks volumes to Kevin's level of ability that he bagged 51lbs 6ozs which blew almost every pre and during tournament prediction out of the water. I think measured by the numbers head to head this 2010 Bassmaster Classic will have proved to be tougher fishing than what went on when Boyd Duckett won in 2007; Still that did not stop KVD from convincingly beating Boyd Duckett's winning weight this year.

2010 Bassmaster Classic Day Final Take 2

11:30AM Just got on computer have yet to check anything. First stop BASS live blog. I read the bottom first, to keep things and suspense in order.

11:42PM I'll be dipped and fried the 8:57AM blog talks about KVD catching a pickeral. I could have sworn last night watching the Classic coverage on TV that Brent Chapman had caught a toothy critter, not a bass. Maybe I wasn't seeing things. I hope the disappointment of catching a non-bass makes the TV show.

11:52AM Straight up from the Live Blog:

10:55AM ET You want to get a good idea of how much these guys respect each other?

Todd Faircloth and Brent Chapman have been sharing water in Beeswax Creek all week. Chapman has been having a good morning. He has a limit. Meanwhile Faircloth only has two.

According to Robbins, Chapman just idled over to Faircloth and handed him a bait, assumedly the one or one like he's been using.

Faircloth is tying that bait on.

Chapman is a great guy, always has been. But he may be ready to see some with a shot at slaying the dragon succeed.


Brent Chapman and his wife are also bass fishing bloggers. But I'm not going to link to that now.

12:00PM Ruh Row!!!

11:15AM ET We didn't get to talk to Jason Quinn this morning. But we've just learned that he is dealing with food poisoning. He was up all night hugging the porcelain.

He's still out there today, casting away and probably feeling pretty terrible at the moment.


12:05PM I'm all updated on the 2010 Bassmaster Classic live blog Looks like Russ Lane is going to make a serious run, KVD will add drama, and Kriet and Faircloth need to catch more fish.

12:15PM If Bass Trakk is correct and KVD has 15lbs today than Ike is in serious trouble.

Kriet bags his limit, needs serious upgrading.

12:20PM Just got a call from my 38 year old brother Steve who was proud to say that he finished his first marathon today (1st one he ever tried). WAY TO GET IT DONE STEVE!!! I am sure I will blog more on this later today.

12:30PM On to watching the days Bass Cam video's

I see that Todd Faircloth has a limit but it's tiny fish.

The thing about these Bass Cam video's is that I have to pause them so they can load up, but if when I do that a new video is posted then the one I'm loading gets preempted by the new one. Hate that!

12:45PM From Bass Cam video Chris Lane says he's going to confront some guys who are fishing in Beeswax Creek, where most of the top guys are. Personally I think that is a bogus move, if people want to fish they have as much right to the water as the Pro's. Now I wouldn't fish on Pro's water in the BMC, but this is fishing and these kind of things can and do happen.

12:55PM As much as I love KVD, I'm rooting for the "Squirrel" in this one Jeff Kriet. Now if it was Ike and KVD than I'd be all KVD.

1:00PM On Bass Cam Russ Lane keeps talking about the head games that must be going on in Beeswax because of the crowd cheers when a fish is caught. Yeah if your not catching em' that would play with your head.

1:10PM These Bass Cam video's are basically short video blogs, worth the look if you are not watching them. Tip- They are in order from new to old, start with old and work your way back.

1:15PM Mercer Twit Vid Kevin VanDam Catching a giant on the final day of the Bassmaster Classic So good this one gets an embed.



1:30PM Mercer with an earlier Twit Vid than the Van Dam one. Why wasn't Mercer on the water the first two days?

1:35PM Rich's Bassin' Blog Mid-Day Report...

1:45PM Another Mercer Twit Vid from earlier in the day... He's on the water. Money quote: "I'm a roving reporter with nothing to report."

1:55PM Just finished up the Bass Cam on the water video's. On the very last one photographer James Overstreet reported that Kriet has more than what Bass Trakk is showing, but he is probably still short of Van Dam.

Just got to a Mercer Twit Vid of Mercer "in the bush," this one is kind of funny for once.

2:02PM Mercer was a Twit Vid fool this morning KVD Fish # 1 (Big One) and Bassmaster Classic Take Off

2:10PM Another Twit Vid from early this morning Bassmaster Classic Convoy

Note- The reason why the Twit Vids go from latest to earliest so far is because I am finding them as a go down my Facebook Newsfeed.

1:20PM It kind of looks like the on the water Bass Cam commentary is done for the day. BOOOOOO!

2:30PM Just read Ike's Bass Insider blog from last night and he sounded kind of beat down. Had 5 bites, landed 4 and that missed fish is obviously a huge loss in Ike's mind. Doesn't sound confident at all about nailing a 20lb sack.

2:45PM Going to take a break, get the dogs out and eat something.

3:15PM I'm back and if the Bass Live Blog and Bass Trakk are to be believed it looks like KVD blew this thing out. We know Bass Trakk can be wrong, but 7 plus pounds wrong is stretching the margin of error to it's outer limit.

3:40PM Alton's Angle blog No regrets

Skeets Beat blog Thank you everyone

4:20PM Once again today I will liveblog the leaderboard unless Rich Lindgren comes through and live blogs 360 at the Bassin blog.

I think I'm going to blog in draft KVD as the winner, so I am ready the instant it is official.