Table of contents for Classic Preview 2016 in Bassmaster

Ski Bum. Ehrler took a year off from high school in the 1990s and moved to Taos, N.M., for the skiing season. “I home-schooled myself, lived in a basement and skied every day.” What Kind Of Bass Is That? During the fall and winter offseason, Ehrler enjoys chasing saltwater calico bass off the California coast. Drought Woes. California s prolonged drought hasn’t just diminished Golden State lakes; it’s also made it hard for Ehrler to pursue wild quail and chukar, one of his favorite pursuits outside of bass fishing. Life Changing. Ehrler explains the importance of his 4-year-old son Ollie like this: “When I did the GoPro video and got to see it for the first time, I was a little bummed out through the first part of it because…

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the algae bloom that smothered a vast majority of Lake Erie last summer was the worst on record. This winter, Sullivan Lake in Sullivan County will be the first to benefit from the Reservoir Aquatic Habitat Enhancement Program directed by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Inmates from the jail will join with the parks department to cut lumber from green poplar to build fish cribs. | California angler Paul Bailey caught an 11-pound, 4-ounce spotted bass on an unnamed lake in northern California. If he can obtain the proper verification, he will eclipse the current all-tackle world record. In a recent study, North Carolin➾…

It’s hard to cheer for your favorite angler on an empty stomach. Good thing Tulsa is cooking up something good for you. Here’s a sample of some of Tulsa’s best places to chow down. They were voted “Best in the World.” The Tulsa World, that is. Pizza Andolini’s Pizzeria and Italian Restaurant A house specialty is the Porchetta luxury pizza, which includes 10 ounces of sliced pork roast stuffed with prosciutto, pancetta, pecorino, lemon peel, garlic, thyme and sage and topped with house-made mozzarella. 1552 E. 15th St., www.andopizza.com Barbecue BurnCo BBQ Bring the whole crew and enjoy the Happy Plate, a mix of everything on the menu, including ribs, brisket, bologna, sausage, chicken, pork and a “Fatty Sandwich.” 1738 S. Boston Ave., www.burnbbq.com Tex-Mex Los Cabos Mexican Grill and…

10. Tinker: Could your old lures use a little TLC? 9. Organize tackle: If your garage looks anything like ours, this may take a few days. 8. Remember when … Revisit warmer days in the mind’s eye by pulling out photographs of great days on the lake. 7. Internet shopping: Bass Pro Shops and Tackle Warehouse are waiting for you. 6. Tune in: It’s perfectly acceptable to binge-watch past episodes of The Bassmasters. 5. Turn up the volume: Jimmy Buffett music always makes it a few degrees warmer. 4. Take a nap: Rest up for warmer days ahead. 3. Research: You just think you know all there is to know about your favorite fishing hole. 2. Take a trip: Just think: Someone’s catching them in Florida right now. 1. Read…

A Michigan man’s hand was injured in early November when his girlfriend attacked him with a mounted sailfish, according to Whitehall, Mich., police. Police said the man had been sketching the fish when his girlfriend moved it. The fish fell and broke after the woman left the room, police said, and when she returned, she blamed the man and became agitated, hitting the man over the head with a piece of the fish and poking him with its nose and cutting his hand. The woman wasn’t arrested because of health issues, the police report said. Police said alcohol was involved.…

“Tulsa has strongly supported B.A.S.S. throughout the decades.” IN THE COUNTRY music classic “Tulsa Time,” the singer reminisces about get- I ting back to the good life he enjoyed before leaving this eastern Oklahoma city. And it’s likely his prior life there included some bass fishing, or some connection to it. This is because Tulsa and this hook-and-line sport have a long shared history. They have been linked for decades by a cultural love of bass fishing, by abounding opportunity to enjoy this sport and by a business climate that has attracted and fostered several iconic companies in the fishing tackle industry. This March, there will be another important addition to this city’s bass fishing résumé: the hosting of its second Bassmaster Classic. The first, held in February 2013, was…

THE ANGLERS WHO competed in the 2013 Bassmaster Classic at Oklahoma’s Grand Lake battled snowstorms, low temperatures in the teens, frigid water and sluggish bass. The 2016 Classic returns to Grand Lake on March 4, nearly two weeks later in the year than in 2013. It should greet the anglers with warmer weather and better fishing. With improved conditions, the lures and patterns that dominated the 2013 Grand Lake Classic might not be the way to go this time around. However, Oklahoma’s weather is not to be trusted. The website www.fivethirtyeight.com analyzed the daily weather patterns of 120 U.S. cities with more than 1 million people against 20-year averages. They found that Tulsa, Okla., where the 2016 Classic weigh-in will take place, is No. 17 on the list for the…

THE CROWDS AT Elite Series weigh-ins grow larger every year. There’s nothing quite like seeing the pros in person as they step to the scales and banter with emcee Dave Mercer. If you’re fortunate enough to attend one of these events, be sure to take advantage of the diverse opportunities the location has to offer before and after the weigh-in. Here’s a sampling of things to do. WINYAH BAY, GEORGETOWN, S.C., APRIL 7-10 If you dare, consider a Friday night walk with costumed reenactor Bob Wolf and storyteller Elizabeth Huntsinger Wolf, author of Ghosts of Georgetown. The 90-minute tour treks through a historic district steeped with stories of the ghosts of those who once lived vibrant lives here. Located on the waterfront in historic downtown Georgetown is a less frightening…

Congratulations to the newest members of the Bassmaster Lunker Club™. Membership in the club is free and open to any B.A.S.S. member who catches a largemouth bass weighing 10 pounds or more or a smallmouth bass weighing 6 pounds or more, from Jan. 1, 2015, to the present. New Lunker Club members will receive an official certificate with holder and a Minn Kota hat. Donald Blume Arizona 104 Canyon Lake, Arizona ◆ Split shot 4-inch Zoom Trick Worm (watermelon red flake) ◆ Water clarity: clear ◆ Depth: 6-8 feet ◆ Weather: clear Robert Hill California 1112 San Joaquin Delta, California 3/8-ounce Nu jig Randy Ingram Florida 108 Lake Jackson, Florida Rapala Fire Tiger Floating jerkbait Roger Beiner California 102 Lake Sherwood, California 1/8-ounce Spro float and fly hair…

It seems like it’s better to have a world-class smallmouth fishery... than to allow the genocide of the species for a short-term tourism fix. “I HATE YOU!” That’s what I yelled at my boss. This is usually not a good idea. Ever. But, I couldn’t help myself. I was fishing Minnesota’s Mille Lacs Lake with Dave Precht (the guy that could have fired me over such a statement) and Dan Quinn, Rapala’s field promotions manager. Precht had just landed his third smallmouth to my zilch. I was happy for him the first two times around, but was over it by the third 4-pounder. “Don’t worry, James; you’ll catch one eventually,” was his response. (I’m not sure if that hurt more or less than him telling me to find a new…

The Professional Bass Fishing Hall of Fame will induct three new members March 3 at the Doubletree Hilton in Tulsa during its annual induction dinner. This year’s Hall of Fame class includes true heavyweights: 41st U.S. President George H.W. Bush, legendary bass fishing educator and angler Billy Murray and soft-plastic lure innovator and angler Gary Yamamoto. Bush is noted for his interest in bass fishing, water conservation and angler access, and according to B.A.S.S. founder and Hall of Famer Ray Scott, he’s also a pretty good angler. Murray, whose brother Bobby won the first Bassmaster Classic in 1971, has worked for PRADCO Fishing for decades and was instrumental in sharing his knowledge through the Bass Fishing Institute. Murray also pioneered the idea of a traveling “Hawg Trough,” a mobile aquarium…

Okie Tunes When you think of Oklahoma music, you probably think country. But the Sooner State has produced musical legends whose genres range from the psychedelic rock tunes of the Flaming Lips to the funk-inspired rhythms of The Gap Band. Here’s a small sampling of music to put you in an Oklahoma state of mind. Don Williams, “Tulsa Time” Don Williams may be from Texas, but if there’s a more iconic song about this year’s Classic venue, we haven’t heard it. Flaming Lips, “Do You Realize” This tune by the psychedelic rockers from Oklahoma City was at one time deemed “The Official Rock ‘n Roll Song of Oklahoma” by gubernatorial resolution. Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, “Liza Pull Down the Shades” From the iconic Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa…

Late 1800s Henry Holderman, a member of the Cherokee tribe, begins gathering support for building a dam on the Neosho River as a hydroelectric power source for the Cherokee Nation 1935 The Oklahoma legislature creates the Grand River Dam Authority, the state agency responsible for Grand Lake 1938 Work begins on Pensacola Dam, part of a Works Progress Administration project that will form Grand Lake 1940 Pensacola Dam construction is completed 1941-1946 The U.S. government takes control of Pensacola Dam to divert electricity production for the war effort 1946 Control of Grand Lake is returned to the Grand River Dam Authority by the U.S. Congress and President Harry Truman 2013 Mississippi pro Cliff Pace wins the Bassmaster Classic on Grand Lake…

Mercury in the world’s waterways has plagued scientists and fisheries managers for years. Mercury occurs naturally in some water bodies, and industrial pollution also has been linked to mercury contamination. Regardless of the source, mercury and fish from contaminated waters have been associated with numerous health problems. Now Australian researchers say they’ve found a material that may be able to trap and isolate the heavy metal on a large scale. Making it even better news is the fact that the new material is made of discarded materials and is quite inexpensive. Scientists at Australia’s Flinders University told scimex.org scimex.org that they’ve made a soft, jelly-like polymer out of industrial waste and orange peel that can suck mercury right out of the water. The material is made from sulfur, millions of…

BUCKET BRENT EHRLER It was kind of expected for him to do really well his first year in the Elites because he has been a dominant FLW pro. Nobody has paid much attention to him because he’s had only one or two top finishes. He is sneaky good. Grand Lake sets up well for Ehrler. He has a lot of experience fishing clear, cold water at places like Beaver Lake and Table Rock.He won’t have a lot of - spec tators like Evers and other local favorites will. It’s hard to win at home with scads of boats after you. Shaye Baker, B.A.S.S. tournament photographer, blogger, videographer Don’t even think about calling this guy a Classic rookie. Ehrler has piled up more in derby winnings than a large chunk of…

ARGUABLY THE MOST basic assumption in the sport of bass fishing is that bass like to hang around cover: submerged grass, logs, stumps, brush, rocks, dock pilings — any object in the water that provides shelter and a home base from which to ambush prey. Because we bass anglers buy into this assumption, we spend most of our fishing time target-casting our lures to cover. As newcomers to the sport, we try to bump our lures into every piece of cover we come across — a tactic that works well in many lakes. But it’s possible to have too much of a good thing, and that certainly applies to bass cover. Some lakes have hundreds of stumps peppered across a single ledge or channel break. Others feature vast expanses of…

HOW WOULD A Bassmaster Elite Series pro fare on that little ol’ lake down the road where you and your buddies fish for bass? That’s the question we pose to the nation’s leading anglers in this series! This month, Jacob Powroznik accepts our challenge: Locate and catch bass in a seven-hour time frame on a small lake you’ve never seen before. The 36-year-old Port Haywood, Va., pro burned up the 2014 Elite Series tour by winning both the Evan Williams Bourbon Bassmaster Elite event at Toledo Bend (Louisiana) and the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship on Lake Michigan, claiming Rookie of the Year honors in the process. He went on to place fifth in the 2015 Classic on Lake Hartwell (South Carolina). Here’s what happened March 1, 2015,…

Brent Ehrler Hometown: Redlands, Calif. Birthday: Feb. 3, 1977 OK, let’s get this out of the way right off the top. We’ve seen your GoPro video, “An Angler’s Joy,” and we have to ask: How did you attach the GoPro to the lure for the point-of-view angle of a bait being cast? It was just one of the regular stickie mounts that come with every GoPro. We attached the stickie mount to a big swimbait, like we use so much in California. I put the stickie mount on the bait and then wrapped tape around it. It was my swimbait rig, so I had a heavy rod, heavy line, so it was no problem to cast the additional weight. I just made casts and reeled it in, and then cleaned…

In traditional sports, a rookie is defined as someone in the first full season of his or her sport. In the Bassmaster Elite Series, anglers have been designated as rookies their first year on tour, and as such have been eligible for prizes and titles (Rookie of the Year). And rightfully so, for the most part. Local and regional events do not completely prepare you for the elevated level of nationwide competition experienced on the Elite trail. That said, there have been a swarm of highly decorated FLW pros moving to the Elite Series the past couple of years. With them come resumes touting decades of national tournament experience, Forrest Wood Cup titles and millions in earnings. Last year, for example, longtime FLW pro Brent Ehrler competed for the first…

Big-city amenities, small-town feel. That’s Tulsa. Situated where the Plains meet the Ozarks, Tulsa was settled by the Lochopoka Creek in 1836. Today it’s a lively metropolitan center that for the second time in three years will play host to the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro. Here’s a Classic visitor’s guide to some featured destinations. For more, see www.visittulsa.com. Different Fish When you aren’t looking at big bass at the BOK Center, check out the fish at the Oklahoma Aquarium in nearby Jenks. See huge bull sharks from a walk-through tunnel and thousands of other fish. 300 Aquarium Drive, Jenks, 918-296-3474, www.okaquarium.org. Deco Destination Tulsa boasts an extensive collection of art deco architecture, many examples of which can be seen in the downtown Art Deco District.www.tulsahistory.org. Go West With…

For many years, Department Wildlife compiled bass tournament results provided by various tournament groups into an annual Oklahoma Bass Tournament Report. Grand Lake had some impressive statistics for 2013, the last year the tournament report data were available. In a nutshell, Grand has lots of bass and a better-than-average share of big fish. • Grand Lake’s average winning weight was 18.72 pounds. • The average weight of Grand Lake tournament bass was 2.66 pounds. • Grand ranked first in the report for average number of bass weighed per day per angler at 1.81. • The lake also ranked first in percentage of successful anglers, which is defined by the number of anglers or teams weighing at least one fish. • Grand was the top lake in the report with an…

“I really like the fact that they see value in bass fishing and strongly support our sport.” Bassmaster : You are the reigning Angler of the Year — your third title. How does it feel? Aaron Martens: It makes me feel really confident. Hopefully that will help continue the momentum to a fourth next year! It’s just a huge compliment. BM: How does this one differ from your first title in 2005? AM: The first one, I came from behind. I didn’t know until the last day. This one I knew before the last event was over. The first one was special because it was a lifetime goal. This one, though, makes me feel like I’ve had a special career. BM: You had the most dominant year we’ve…

BASS TOURNAMENTS HAVE always been the testing grounds for the latest innovations from fishing equipment companies and boat manufacturers. When the Bassmaster Classic was moved to February, the biggest show in bass fishing became the ultimate challenge for testing the competitors’ boats, motors and fishing gear in frigid weather. The stiffest test for rigs and gear was last year’s Classic at Lake Hartwell, where the temperature plummeted to 9 degrees the first competition day and set the record as the coldest Classic day ever. It was so cold the first morning that the takeoff was delayed for an hour and a half due to concerns over icing at the ramp. However, even with the later start, some anglers still had trouble launching their boats in the frosty conditions. “There were…

NOBODY CAN DENY the benefits that fluorocarbon and braided superlines give to bass anglers. The Bassmaster Elite Series pros would feel handicapped without them, including 2014 Angler of the Year Greg Hackney. So why has Hackney reverted to monofilament for a number of fishing applications? “There are techniques where I used to do better with mono,” he says. BUOYANT AND LIMP Hackney is one of many Elite pros who cast hard-plastic topwater baits with monofilament. As beneficial as fluorocarbon is for other tactics, it sinks and kills a surface plug’s action. Because monofilament floats, it allows a topwater bait to strut its stuff. Hackney uses “nothing but mono” when he’s short casting topwater baits, buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, bladed jigs and square bill crankbaits to visible targets. Because a limp monofilament is…

“Ken Cook is one of many professional anglers who make fitting role models for our children.”— B.A.S.S. founder Ray Scott WAS IT EERIE coincidence, or otherworldly? Whatever, for some unexplained reason, I began thinking about Ken Cook, the 1991 Bassmaster Classic champion, one recent evening. I do that sometimes, recalling people and places and happenings from the past. That was Thursday night, Jan. 7. The next morning as I was pouring my first cup of coffee, I received a short text from my friend Don Barone, a columnist for Bassmaster.com. “Dave, just wanted you to know that Ken Cook passed away a couple of hours ago,” he wrote. Cook died suddenly while visiting his son Hunter in Oklahoma City. He was 68 years old, fit and active and otherwise healthy,…