2007 Bassmaster Classic

**NotSoSilentBob** · February 19th, 2007, 02:37 PM

Who will take the 07 Classic?

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/index

**1inStripes** · February 19th, 2007, 03:11 PM

I like Mike Iaconelli, but I am going with Greg Hackney this year.

I will say with it being an Alabama lake, I would think Aaron Martens may have a lot of experience and could pull it out.

**TheBeast** · February 19th, 2007, 03:32 PM

With the weather the way it is there right now, bitter cold, windy, rain, sleet. I look for it to be a tough bite with an expected warming/calming trend by the time it kicks off. With that said I look for the most experienced and best finesse anglers to come out on top.

Kevin Van Dam: Would have to be an early favorite, he excells at most every type of fishing and his esperience in cold-warm changes being from Michigan makes him my favorite.

Mike Iaconelli: Would be my second, with the moment of coming off his Angler or the Year title and the complete turn around he made after his meltdown in the Classic last year. He is probably the best finesse angler in the field and also being from New Jersey he grew up fishing weather changes like this consistently.

Aaron Martens: Has a hometown advantage being from Alabama, and is one of the best at adapting to different conditions and different presentations. He is also a good finesse fisher and a great jig fisher.

Other to watch for that should have a good showing:

Rick Clunn: 4 classic wins wnough said
Gerald Swindle: Lives an hour away from Lay Lake
Ishama Monroe: 3 top 10's and 2 wins in the Elite Series last year.

Timmy Horton
Steve Kenedy
Russ Lane: All 3 form Alabama.

**1inStripes** · February 19th, 2007, 03:34 PM

Van Dam is good. I wouldn't mind seeing Clunn win, and I also didn't realize that Swindle lived that close to Lay Lake. That will make him dangerous.

**LCAS_712** · February 19th, 2007, 03:43 PM

G-MAN is the one to watch but Aaron Martins is a solid angler also. You always can not forget KVD hed be dangerous if they where fishin a mud puddle lol

**TheBeast** · February 19th, 2007, 04:38 PM

[ QUOTE ]
You always can not forget KVD hed be dangerous if they where fishin a mud puddle

[/ QUOTE ]

Just as they announced next years Classic location...................

Fishing

[img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

**kmccall** · February 19th, 2007, 05:37 PM

Do the refs get heckled in fishing? Do the fish have fans cheering for them? Has any of the anglers been T'd UP?

**TheBeast** · February 19th, 2007, 05:54 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Has any of the anglers been T'd UP?

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually yes they do. Mike Iaconelli had his day one weight disqualified last year when he threw a fit on his boat cussing and hollering and broke his light pole, after he found that his livewell wasn't working and some of his fished died.
The big difference anglers are entrusted to govern themselves and the biggest percentage of them do to a detriment to themselves. A good example is Shaw Grigsby who isn't gonna be fishing in the classic this year because he turned himself in in the last tournament last year. He knew he had to finish in the top 12 of the event and was 8th on the second day he had a bad day while his boating partner fishing the same way caught a good limit and spent most of the day just setting. After he was sure he hadn't made the top 12 to get to fish the last day as they were loading the boat he asked his partner what he had done different, which turned out to be just concentration. Right after he learned that he had made the final cut and immediately he knew he had messed up, he called the competition director and told him what he did and he did keep his spot in 12th but wasn't allowed to fish the next day since he had done it after the weigh-in. By asking his partner what he had done different he violated the no-information rule.

FWIW here is the article:

Shaw Grigsby is "That Guy."

Every bass tournament in history has That Guy. The one who woulda, coulda, shoulda. The one who would have been there if . . . , who would have won if . . . , who should of . . .

You know that guy.

BASS
By self-reporting a violation, Shaw Grigsby lost a bid for the Classic.Grigsby is that guy for the 2007 Bassmaster Classic. But with a big difference.

All those other guys had a hard-luck story based on a hope that didn't materialize. What makes Grigsby that guy for the Classic is a moral ethic that has set the tone for bass anglers all over the world

Grigsby missed making his 11th Classic by a scant 7 points. The difference is two places in the standings for the last event of the season. What makes all of that even more compelling is Grigsby would likely be packing for Birmingham as a competitor in the Classic. But Grigsby has a conscious.

The last event of the 2006 season was at Table Rock. It was an event where Grigsby was faring well and struggling at the same time. On Day Two, he was in eighth place, and in perfect position for a Classic run. By the end of Day Three, he was in 11th place, just one position out of making the Classic. He wound up in 12th by choice.

The choice was he took himself out of the tournament on Day Three for breaking a rule that realistically only he would have ever known about.

"It sucks,'' Grigsby said this week. "But I would do it again."

Reminiscent of the PGA golfer who turned himself in for having too many clubs (The extra was his child's play club) in his bag, Grigsby made the easiest decision of his life but one that came with the hardest of consequences.

"I should have been far enough in the Classic that it wouldn't have mattered,'' Grigsby said. "But that's life. I made the right decision, and I'm not going to the Classic."

His right decision revolved around a few moments following the Day Three weigh-in at Table Rock. Grigsby had spent the day fishing with a young co-angler who was very familiar with Table Rock.

Up to that point, Grigsby had been faring well in the event, and was even in a position to win the event. Day Three started off well. Almost immediately he boated a 3-½ pound keeper, but from there everything fizzled.

Catching fish was no problem. The bass were pouring into the boat, but none of them were keepers.

"Then my Co-Anglers catches a good one,'' Grigsby said. "Then he catches another good one and then he catches his third one and sets his rod down.

"I think 'Holy smoke. He's got like 8 pounds and hasn't been fishing for more than an hour and a half. I've got one. I've caught more fish, but they are all short.' I keep fishing and fishing, and he's just sitting back there.

BASS
Shaw Grigsby fishes with his co-angler on Day 3 of The Rock, where his self-reporting cost him the Classic."I work all day long, just catch, cull, catch, cull, catch cull and they are all short. I finally catch my second keeper. That's what I end up with "? two."

At that point, Grigsby's Classic hopes had all but faded. He just knew there was no way he would make the 12-man final-day cut.

"I've got Kevin (VanDam) behind me, all these stud muffins behind me, so I'm sure I dropped from eighth to out of the top 12,'' Grigsby said. "I was bummed, because I knew it probably cost me the Classic. I go to load the boat, and I should have known better, but I ask my partner, 'I just want to know for future reference what we're you doing different.'

"He tells me a little deal that he was doing. I was doing it, too. But he was concentrating on it. In other words, he was focused on it. That's all he'd do. While I would do it some, I would also be doing a little of this and a little of that. But he was just concentrating on one part of the technique."

That one little piece of technique proved to be a huge message. Grigsby received a call minutes later while loading his boat. He was informed that he had indeed made the cut and his Classic hopes were still alive.

"I thought, 'No way,'" he said. "But sure enough, I was in 11th place."

The thrill didn't even get started. Grigsby immediately realized that his short conversation with his co-angler was a violation of the Elite Series no-information rule.

"All I could do was call Trip (Weldon),'' Grigsby said. "He and I both knew I had to withdraw at that point."

Because the violation had taken place after the weigh-in and hadn't affected that day's catch, Grigsby wasn't disqualified from the event. He was able to keep his 11th-place position, but was disqualified from competing in the final 12 field on Sunday, and therefore could not fight for the extra two positions he needed to make the Classic.

"All the way home I agonized over what I had done,'' Grigsby said. "Not that I had turned myself in, but because in typical Shaw Grigsby fashion, I just didn't feel like I made it and talked to my co-angler too soon.

"I should have waited to see. But I didn't."

The result is Grigsby is not in the Classic. And he learned some valuable lessons along the way, some he's keeping secret, like the specifics of the technique his co-angler was using.

"It cost me way too much to just give that up,'' Grigsby said.

But other lessons come through as bold and clear as the water of Table Rock: Shaw Grigsby navigates with an incredible moral compass.

When you want to see integrity in a Bassmaster event, look no further than Shaw Grigsby. He's that guy.

**1inStripes** · February 19th, 2007, 06:16 PM

Wasn't the reason Ike was kicked out because he threw the light pole in the lake though? [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

He is crazy, but dang he can fish too.