MORNING RESET: Weather, Pressure to Impact Final 10
More than 150 anglers. Seven tournaments. Twenty-nine days on the water. And it all comes down to one day and 10 anglers vying for a $200,000 paycheck and the Tackle Warehouse TITLE Presented by Mercury belt.
No pressure …
Then again, the 10 anglers fishing the Championship Round on the St. Lawrence River today have all put up some stellar numbers this week, with eight of them tallying 21 pounds or better in the Knockout Round to make it to today. And the two group winners, Spencer Shuffield and Nick Hatfield, averaged 22- and 23-pound bags, respectively.
So, there shouldn’t be much pressure about whether or not they’re going to bring in some big bags. That is, unless a curveball is thrown at them … which there will be.
After an entire week of picture-perfect weather with plenty of sun and manageable winds, the anglers are set to face an entire day of stormy weather. The forecast calls for many of them to be scattered, which should hopefully mean small pockets of storms up and down the river for short periods of time. Regardless, this new weather could impact the anglers on many levels.
For starters, smallmouth typically bite best in the sun, and Martin Villa has seen plenty of times where thunderstorms really turn off the bite.
“If it starts cracking and popping, smallmouth have historically been known to shut off during thunderstorms,” Villa said. “Lightning does something to those fish.”
Villa also pointed out that the weather could impact the pros like himself making long runs, as hunkering down out of a thunderstorm on the run down or back can cost an angler precious fishing time. Though, Villa says that as long as he doesn’t feel there’s a true risk of his life, he’s still going.
That’s been the consensus for all the rest of the pros, too. They have one shot at the TITLE, and they’re not passing it up.
“I was really close to winning the TITLE last year,” said Bobby Lane, who finished second to Jimmy Washam on the Mississippi River. “We’re on the St. Lawrence River, man, and I don’t really care how the weather impacts those fish so long as they keep biting my Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Flat Worm and I can get them in the boat. I just want a shot at the win again.”
Meanwhile, some anglers see the bright side of the gloomy forecast, such as Dakota Ebare. For starters, he feels it will allow anglers to make adjustments to help set themselves apart. Plus, for him personally, he sees a pleasant advantage.
“It’s definitely going to knock down the boat traffic for me,” Ebare said. “The boat traffic has been a nightmare of pleasure boats and cruisers in my area. So, at least I won’t have to jump waves all day.”
Regardless of the weather, one of the 10 anglers will find a way to catch enough fish to hoist the TITLE belt to cap off a remarkable Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit season.