In competitive bass fishing, strategy matters. And “saving the best for last”, just might prove to be the best strategy to deploy for anglers fishing in the most important and certainly the most challenging event of the year, the 2015/16 Coors Light Future Pro Tour Classic, to be held March 11-13th on Oroville Lake and Bullard’s Bar reservoir.
And the challenge is simple…yet complex, as less than 100 Classic qualifiers will gear up to fish for two days at Lake Oroville, an impoundment noted throughout the west for its QUANTITY of spotted bass, and after which, 85% of the field will be eliminated, with the remaining 15 teams heading approximately 25 miles due east to Bullard’s Bar reservoir, a lake now recognized the world over for its abundance of record-setting spotted bass.
Making up your mind
March on Lake Oroville can be the best time to get big limits – if you wish to key on the areas where the big largemouth and smallies could be moving up to spawn.
But as with any lake, the gamble to hunt for big fish, at the expense of securing a decent two-day limit of smaller – but easier to catch bass, could be a major mistake, and cost a team the opportunity to move on with the final 15 to the championship round.
And that championship round will truly be a test for the best, as the stakes: a new Ranger Z118 with Evinrude E-Tech engine, Minn Kota and Humminbird electronics, valued at nearly $40,000, will be awarded to the first place team on the final day.
Add to this the fact that if any angler catches the world record spotted bass on Bullard’s during the final day, they will be awarded a $25,000 cash bonus, and you have an event the will make even the most stoic of bass anglers become excited about the possibilities of claiming the most coveted title amateur bass fishing!
And please note…the spotted bass world-record was broken twice on Bullard’s bar over the last year – at this time same of the year!
This is what Bullard’s Bar can produce in the early spring!
Go big, or go home?
That will be the decision each angler must make as they prepare their strategies for the most challenging FPT Classic event ever presented!
Good luck to all, and congratulations Coors Light Future Pro Tour Classic qualifiers!
FPT