The Inside Line

My main goal going into the Lake St. Clair event was to qualify for the Angler of the Year Championship (AOY). That and try to win, of course.

Having secured solid finishes in the three previous events really helped — I was now within ten spots of qualifying.

It’s that time of year again; time to head shallow for largemouth. Shad start to move shallow in late summer and the big bass will be right behind them. There are three ways that always seem to produce for me this time of year; fishing docks, flipping laydowns and fishing a topwater near grass. Let’s flesh these out.

After an exhaustive week of competition on the St. Lawrence River, I made the drive to Lake Champlain — site of our seventh Elite Series event.

Arriving in the village of Plattsburgh, NY shortly after sunset, I caught up with fellow Florida pro Cliff Prince and his family. They had booked a room for me at a low budget motel on the outskirts of town, and though it was rough, it would serve as interim lodging until we could move into our lakeside cabin for the remainder of the week.

Each year on the Bassmaster Elite Series we travel to some of the best smallmouth bass fisheries in the world. This year we went to the St. Lawrence River and Lake Champlain. Both have excellent smallmouth fishing and I love going to those places, but maybe not for the reasons you would expect, I like to chase northern largemouth. These waters are excellent for largemouth and they often receive far less pressure than the smallmouth. I have had success and failure this year chasing the green fish, but it is how I like to fish when I head north.

Whenever our tour visits the St. Lawrence River, I know my chances for success are strong. I’ve been fishing there for decades, and in that time I’ve experienced all types of conditions. I was looking forward to this event more than any other on the schedule.

Located near the town of Russellville, Arkansas is Lake Dardanelle — a large pool on the Arkansas River. It covers roughly 40,000 surface acres, and it’s full of prime bass-breeding habitat.

I love this lake because the fish stay shallow most of the year … and they usually bite!

The Tour’s sixth stop was The Mississippi River (pools 7, 8 and 9) out of La Crosse, WI. The Mississippi is well known for its plentiful cover such as wood, wing dams, vegetation, backwater pools and docks. Our first day of practice found Jimmy and me with no bites, so we decided to make a run. We quickly found ourselves on a sand bar, stuck high and dry. Luckily, fellow Yamamoto pro Darrel Robertson happened by and pulled us out. (Thanks, Darrel!)

After the bass spawn, some stay shallow and some head to deeper water immediately.  Knowing whether you should fish shallow or deep is the big debate for me and I have learned that it usually boils down to water clarity and shallow cover.

Until I went to Africa last year, I never really noticed travel rods. Prior to that, when it had been necessary to take rods on a plane I’d traveled with a long rod tube. I was pretty in-your-face about my one-piece snobbery.

On the advice of the advisory board of anglers, B.A.S.S. has changed the Elite Series “no info” rule for 2018. As soon as next year’s schedule was announced, anglers were not allowed to solicit or intentionally receive any information about the fishing on the waters on the 2018 schedule. They are still allowed to be on those waters until 28 days before the start of the official practice period.

Our friend Amber returned to Michigan a week after our late August trip to St. Clair and found the time to squeeze in another day of chasing the most evil fish on earth – the muskellunge. In her case, it was a wise bet

Keeping fish inspires product sales. Even if you eventually intend to release them, just a short term stay at the Hotel Livewell may require measuring boards, culling clips and rejuvenating chemicals to keep them alive. And if you’re going to drop ‘em in a hot grease bath, it’s still a product-intensive effort, starting with a fillet knife and ending with all sorts of seasoned coatings and deep fryers.

I’ve never met Indiana angler Bob Daly face to face, but he serves as a constant reminder of an angling life well-lived. As I’ve transferred from being a tournament angler to someone who prefers to put his time, money and energy into far-flung travel, I’ve learned that there is a small cadre of anglers both nationwide and worldwide who do the same – just at a much more advanced and frequent level than I do – and Bob is deeply enmeshed in their subculture.

We’ve been home from Africa for 11 months, but we just got a new reminder of the trip – a replica mount of Hanna’s 14 lb. tigerfish from the Lower Zambezi River. In just five years, we’ve gone from no taxidermy to five specimens – my 12 lb. largemouth, each of our personal best peacock bass, a very special Montana cutthroat, and now this toothy African beast.

When I bought my house, I was single. The only thing I really cared about was having a garage big enough to house a bass boat. The place could’ve had no bathroom and no kitchen, but if it had acceptable boat protection it was in the running.

During the Bassmaster Classic Bracket on Lake Pokegama, eventual winner Jacob Powroznik extracted a bass from beneath a dock that already had a cull tag firmly affixed to its lower lip. How convenient.

And on the sixth day, Pete caught a trophy.