WEST MONROE, La. - Five invitations to the 2005 Bassmaster Classic in Pittsburgh will be handed out at the conclusion of the Bassmaster Open Championship held on the Ouachita River in West Monroe, La., Dec. 2-5.
Although lots of prize money is on the line, it's the Classic tickets - which will be awarded to the five top finishers - that are most the sought-after elements of this tournament. In the world of professional bass fishing, there's no greater luxury that owning a Classic invitation before entering the Bassmaster Tour season.
All of the competitors - 78 boaters and 77 non-boaters - will be on the water on Dec. 2 and 3, but the field will be pared to the top 10 in each category for the third round. That's when the non-boater champion will be crowned. Weights are carried over after each day of competition.
On Sunday, only the top five boaters will be on the water, each having earned a spot in the Classic and now vying for the title of Open Champion and a first-place prize worth $45,000.
"It would be really nice to already have the Classic made," said Texan Tommy Martin, who won the points title on the Central Open circuit. "That's a big load off your shoulders."
Martin, who turned 64 the day before Thanksgiving, is one of 80 pros who earned a spot in the Open Championship by finishing in the top 20 spots in the Northern, Central, Western or Southern Open standings.
Although the Ouachita River flows a total of some 510 miles from its source in west-central Arkansas, tournament competitors will be limited to about 100 miles of it in the Monroe pool - plus the few backwaters they will be able to navigate.
The last time the Bassmaster Tournament Trail came to the Ouachita River was in November of 2003 when Harold Allen posted his first BASS victory with a catch of 38 pounds, four ounces in a Central Open. He did it by targeting the D'Arbonne Bayou area where he fished a depression on a large flat with a creature bait and ringworm.
Unstable weather has created a situation where the visiting pros don't know what to expect this time around.
"I think it's going to be tough because they've had a lot of rain there," Martin said. "The water's real high, and the fish are scattered. I don't know what it will be like.
"In certain areas there are plenty of fish. If you get in the right place, you're on them, and if you don't get on the right place you won't catch anything. I like it up there. I've done well there, but I haven't fished it when it's flooded like this."
Louisiana's Greg Hackney, winner of the points title in the Southern division, was even less sure about what to expect.
"A lot's going to depend on the water level and how much rain they have in Arkansas between now and the tournament," he said. "It's been high, and now it's falling. It can really fluctuate a lot with the rain."It's a great place to fish. It won't be big weights like Okeechobee [the final event on the Southern Open series], but it ought to be pretty good."
Other pros are a little less optimistic about the projected fishing.
"What Harold Allen caught last year is pretty good for that water," veteran Arkansas pro Stephen Browning added. "Although the water is a little high, I don't think it's going to be a major factor. It's just a tough place to fish. If a guy can catch 10 pounds a day he's probably going to earn a ticket to Pittsburgh."
Weigh-ins will be held each day at 3:00 p.m. CT at Lazarre Point Recreation Area.
2004 Bassmaster Open Championship 12/2-12/5 Ouachita River, West Monroe, La. (BOATERS) TERRY ADAMS HAROLD ALLEN TERRY BAKSAY CHRIS BAUMGARDNER R J BENNETT ART BERRY CHRIS BIELERT STEPHEN BROWNING MARK BURGESS TERRY BUTCHER TIM CARROLL PRESTON CLARK RICK CLUNN DAVID COOKE DANNY CORREIA JOHN CREWS STEVE DANIEL CHRIS DAVES WOO DAVES JERRY DOLEZAL JESSE DRAIME GUY EAKER PAUL ELIAS EDWIN EVERS ART FERGUSON III PETE GLUSZEK GRANT GOLDBECK GREG GUTIERREZ GREG HACKNEY AARON HASTINGS CHIP HAWKINS KENYON HILL TIM HORTON RANDY HOWELL LOUIS IRIBARREN CLINT JOHANSON KURT JOHNSON JUSTIN KERR KOTARO KIRIYAMA GARY KLEIN CHRIS LANE RUSS LANE KEVIN LONG AARON MARTENS TOMMY MARTIN BILL MC ANINCH MIKE MCCLELLAND DOC MERKIN YUSUKE MIYAZAKI ANDRE MOORE CHAD MORGENTHALER RICK MORRIS AARON NELSON SCOTT NIELSEN MIKE O'SHEA CLIFF PACE ERIC PARRA BRIAN PENSO PETE PONDS GREG PUGH MATT REED JASON REYES SCOTT ROOK MARK ROSE FRED ROUMBANIS NEIL RUSSELL CAMERON SMITH MARTY STONE JAMES STRICKLIN BRADLEY STRINGER NORIO TANABE PETER THLIVEROS ZACHARY THOMPSON MARK TYLER ROB VANDERKOOI CHARLIE WEYER DAVE WOLAK CHARLIE YOUNGERS 2004 Bassmaster Open Championship 12/2-12/5 Ouachita River, West Monroe, La. (NON-BOATERS) JORA AIRAPETYAN KIM BAIN JOHN BITTING JASON BRADSHAW RYAN BROWN DAVID BRYNING ED BURNETT IZZ BYRD MIKE CAMPBELL DON CARPENTER TERRY CHAPMAN GARY CLARK TEDDY CLOIDE WESLEY COY ED CUMMINGS LARRY CUNDIFF JOHN DAVIS MARTIN DEHAVEN GENNARO DICOLA HAROLD DUNLAP JACK FARAGE MIKE FORSLUND BRUCE FREEMAN JEFF GRAHAM ROBERT GROOMS JEREMY GUIDRY KENNETH HARRIS WILLIAM HATTON SCOTT HEAD DENNIS HORNE DAVID HOVANEC JOEY HURLEY TAKESHI IIZUKA MIKE KERNAN DAVID KILGORE JIM KLINE GEORGE LAMBETH STEVE LARUSSA PHILLIP LEE ROD LEE TIM MARTIN SHUNICHI MARUYAMA LLOYD MCDANIEL KEN MERLOCK BRIAN MERRIFIELD DONALD MUIR MARK NELSON DEAN PERKINS KEITH PHILIPS MIKE PICKETT CLARENCE PINKERTON CHARLES POLAND JODY PRUITT JOE RIALS RICK RICKMAN RUSS RITTER ALLEN RIX CHARLES ROBISON TRAVIS RULLE WILLIAM SANDERS MICHAEL SCHMITT DON SHIMATSU ROBERT SLATON JEFF SNYDER BRIAN STAFFORD RICHARD STEVENS SIEG TAYLOR CHRIS TEAGUE SCOTT THOMAS CHUCK THURLOW PETER TYPER TODD WAGMAN JEARY WHEELER MIKE WILLIAMS FRANK WOODLEY JAMES WYLIE BILLY YELVERTON