Slot-crossed anglers

Pros abuzz about size limits and bracket pairings at FLW Championship

SHREVEPORT, La. – “Who are you fishing against?”

It’s been the question of the week among America’s best bass pros competing in the FLW Championship on Cross Lake near Shreveport, La. The usual buzz about predicted cut weights to advance to the finals has been replaced by a single question: Who do you have to beat?

For the first time in bass tournament fishing history, head-to-head tournament fishing is being introduced at the FLW Championship. Through a bracket system based on year-end points, pros have been matched up against each other. To advance, a pro must only beat the person against whom he is matched up; the person he beats is eliminated.

The original field contains 48 pros and there will be three rounds of competition. After the first round (combined weight of days one and two) the field will be cut in half, 24 pros will advance and 24 pros will be eliminated. After the second round (day-three weight only) 12 pros will advance and another 12 pros will be eliminated.

Now here is the catch: After round two, the remaining 12 anglers will be put in order, 1 through 12, based on each angler’s total weight for three days of fishing. In the final round (day four), angler #1 will go head to head with angler #2 for the first-place prize of $250,000. The loser of that matchup will finish second. Angler #3 will go head-to-head with angler #4. The winner of that pairing will finish third and the loser will finish fourth. And so on down the line.

This means that only two anglers, those two anglers with the most cumulative weight after three days of fishing, will be eligible to win the $250,000 on day four. If an angler beats all of his opponents in the first two rounds, but his three-day total puts him in fifth place for the final round, the best he can finish is fifth.

If that is not enough to shake things up, consider that Cross Lake has a 14- to 17-inch slot limit – any fish between 14 and 17 inches must be released. Consequently, tournament anglers will only be allowed to keep fish between 12 and 14 inches or fish over 17 inches to accrue a five-fish limit.

According to pros practicing for the event, the slot limit is going to reduce catches significantly. It is quite conceivable that some anglers could catch a solid limit of slot fish – 10 to 12 pounds – and never weigh in a single bass.

Anglers have mixed reactions about the bracket format and the stringent slot limit. Despite the head-to-head elimination rounds, many pros are of the opinion that a chance to win still requires having the most cumulative weight, so they are making no adjustments in fishing strategies.

Fujifilm pro Randy Blaukat, however, believes that the format and slot limit on a tough fishing lake brings a great deal of strategy into the equation.

“At first I was considering a strategy of just targeting a limit of 12- to 14-inchers each day to sneak by my opponents,” Blaukat says. “But even if 4 or 5 pounds per day is enough to survive elimination, I would only have a 12- to 15-pound total (after three days). And if that puts me in, say, eighth place on the final day, I still can’t win.”

Unlike the regular format where pros hope for their biggest catch to be on day four, in this format Blaukat believes day three will be the most crucial day for the eventual winner.

“If you are going to catch one big stringer, it had best be on day three,” he says. “A huge stringer on days one or two is still vulnerable to being knocked out with a poor catch on day three. But a huge stringer on day three assures you a ticket to the finals and is likely to land you in a No. 1 or 2 seed. Then you are back to only having to beat one other angler for the win.”

Blaukat adds that the dream scenario would be a small-fish pattern to use on days one and two, a big-fish pattern for day three and then a mix of the two on the last day.

Cross Lake, located just a long cast from downtown Shreveport, is a relatively small lake of 8,500 acres. The length of the lake lies east to west and is approximately 8 miles long and 1 mile wide.

Pros scouring Cross Lake’s bottom with depth finders for summertime humps and drops have been very disappointed. Below Cross Lake’s dark, brown-green water is a virtually contour-free 8-foot bottom.

Despite its limited size and rather stark bottom, Cross Lake offers a surprisingly diverse mix of shallow water cover. The shoreline is lined with hundreds of boathouses, docks and piers. The lake also features shallow vegetation, predominantly hydrilla, which grows in 1 to 3 feet of water around the bank.

The west end of Cross Lake is a flooded cypress swamp where anglers can weave in and out of thousands of majestic cypress trees. But anglers will have to be careful because nearly one in every 10 cypress trees contains a mammoth wasp nest, many of which hang low to the water. Each nest is laden with hundreds of big black wasps. One errant cast and things could get wicked.

Judging from the old watermarks on the trees and docks, Cross Lake looks to be down about 18 inches. Consequently, most cypress trees only have about 2 feet of water around them. Within the cypress forest is a mixture of shallow vegetation including thick duckweed, which is perfect for fishing top-water rats and frogs.

Other baits used by anglers this week will be buzzbaits, spinner baits, shallow-running crankbaits, top-waters, Senkos, worms and jigs.

Anglers, bass, brackets, slots, swamps and wasps, and the winner gets $250,000 – sounds like the right ingredients for a TV reality show. In fact, bass-fishing fans can see the outcome of the “slot-crossed” FLW Championship on OLN September 22, 24 and 26 at 7 p.m. EST.

In the meantime, complete coverage of the 2002 championship can be found right here at FLWOutdoors.com throughout the week.

Links:

2002 FLW Championship preview
FLW Tour anglers prepped for Super Bowl of bass fishing
FLW Championship presents some compelling matchups
Pundits’ Picks
Destination: Cross Lake
2002 Wal-Mart FLW Tour year in review
2002 FLW Championship tournament bracket