LA CROSSE, Wis. — It might sound intrusive, but Chris Beaudrie of Princeton, Ky., exploited safe spaces to sack up a 19-pound limit that leads Day 1 of the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Mississippi River. In a tight race where only 1-14 separates first and 10th places, Beaudrie leads Brady Vernon by 11 ounces. Making his first visit to the upper Mississippi River, Beaudrie said his lack of local experience plus the minefield of shallow bars and obstructions proved daunting.
“It was really tough for me to navigate this place in low water because I’ve never been here,” he said. “I just tried to put myself in good places.”
Addressing the newness, Beaudrie drew upon his Tennessee River knowledge. Seasonally, the fall reservoir drawdowns that impact his home waters have taught him what bass prefer during falling-water periods like the upper Mississippi has recently experienced.
“It was just understanding the conditions and adjusting to that,” Beaudrie said. “They’ve had high water all year, and I’m sure that had fish positioned a little easier to catch. But I knew the falling water would pull them out and group them up.”
Beaudrie’s intuition was spot-on, as he found most of his fish in deeper troughs along the shallow grass beds.
“I’m looking for ditches and (deeper) edges that run up against these shallow grass beds,” Beaudrie said. “It’s just a safe haven for them to pull to. If you have 300 yards of a foot and a half of water and the water’s been falling for a week or more, they gotta get out of there.
“That’s what I struggled with in practice. Shallow wasn’t working and everywhere that looked good didn’t have hardly any water. I just did what instinct told me to do and I looked for their safe haven.”
Spending his day in Pool 8, Beaudrie said that after the cooler temperatures of practice week, he had been waiting for warmer weather. This week’s warming trend is working in his favor, as it seems to be stimulating his shallow fish.
Beaudrie said he caught his fish early on topwaters and once the day turned sunny and the water slicked off, the bite slowed significantly. During that tough period, he explored other areas and switched to slower presentations, which yielded a couple of key culls.
“On the way in, I culled out a 3 1/4 with a 4 maybe 2 miles from the weigh-in,” Beaudrie said. “I had over 18 pounds before that.”
Looking at his Day 2 plan, Beaudrie said: “I think I pushed those (early fish) to another area in the mat. Luckily, I was able to relocate them, so, hopefully, I can get back on them tomorrow.”
Hailing from Sterrett, Ala., Vernon is in second place with 18-5. Given the late-summer falling-water scenario, he said he’s happy with the day’s productivity.
“I was surprised to catch what I did; I was expecting 15 to 16 to be at the top,” he said. “I caught 16 and some change pretty early. I (locked) up to Pool 7 and had that by like 8:45.
“I fished around for about 2 hours and I wasn’t getting any bites, so I was like, ‘I’m probably going to go back down to Pool 8 before I get stuck up here.’”
Relying on a clue from practice, Vernon started his day by targeting vast duckweed mats with blown-in eelgrass. He caught those early fish on a frog.
“I found a key place in practice that I got three bites out of, and they were big ones,” Vernon said. “I went back there this morning, and I had no idea, but I caught them fast out of one mat.
“I found one little place that’s deeper than the rest of the bay. I think all the wind in practice pushed the dead eelgrass and matted it up. It kind of protected what I was fishing.”
After leaving Pool 7 around 11:30, Vernon flipped a big jig in hopes of finding another big bite. This strategy added two of his keepers, including a 4-pounder that culled out a 2.8-pounder.
Tucker Smith of Birmingham, Ala., is in third place with 18-4. Entering the tournament fourth in the Bassmaster Opens Elite Qualifier (EQ) points, Smith opted to protect his standing by remaining in Pool 8 and minimizing the risk of lock delays.
“I did a few different things today,” Smith said of his diverse game plan. “This morning was tough. I caught a limit really quick, but it was only like 9 to 10 pounds.
“I fished hard all day and finally pulled up on a place and caught two 2 1/2s. Then I pulled up on another place and caught a smallmouth that was 4-12 and a 3 1/2. I fished a couple more places and caught some nice largemouth.”
Smith caught his fish on a mix of reaction baits and slow presentations. Maintaining his composure under pressure was essential to his productive day.
“It’s so hard to stay calm, especially when you’re in the points race, to keep a calm mind,” Smith said. “I was out there by myself today. I didn’t have a co-angler, so I really just thought to myself and tried to stay calm. I just ran around a bunch and eventually caught some.”
Satoshi Egawa of Fort Lee, N.J., is in the lead for Big Bass honors with his 4-14. Jimmy Brumfield of Madison, Miss., and Richard Conrad of Arcadia, Wis., share the lead in the co-angler division with 10-8. Amanda Riley or Galesville, Wis., holds the Big Bass lead among co-anglers with a 4-7.
Friday’s takeoff is scheduled for 6:30 a.m. CT at Veterans Freedom Park. The weigh-in will be held at the park at 2:30 p.m.