Bassmaster Classic

Classic Update: We will be blogging live from the Classic Expo this week. Check back often for the latest updates.

When the smoke cleared this year on the Classic stage it was the same as last year Kevin Van Dam was holding the 41^st Bassmaster Classic trophy high over his head celebrating his 4^th Classic win. This year’s Classic victory marked the second time the Classic has been won years back to back. Rick Clunn pulled off this feat in 1976/1977 and Van Dam tied the mark in 2010/2011.

With two Big Bite Pros making the cut to fish one more day Jeff Kriet was the first to hit the stage. Heading out on the last day Jeff Kriet occupied the last spot to make the cut, he sat in 25^th place. When the day was done Jeff brought 15-5lbs to the stage to end up in 21^st place for the 2011 Classic. Jeff had a 3 day total of 37lbs.

Dean Rojas started the day in 18^th place. He came to the stage today with 18-5lbs to push his 3 day total to 42-12lbs moving up the standings to 13^th place to finish the Classic.

At the end of the second day Big Bites Russ Lane had the biggest bass in the Classic with a bass that pushed the scales to 7-12lbs. Today Boyd Duckett brought in a bass that weighted 8-15lbs that took over big bass honors.

Check back in a few days as we will post details of how the Big Bite Pros caught their bass and what baits they were using this year at the Classic.

From all of us here at Big Bite congratulation to Russ, Dean and Jeff for fishing the Classic. We can’t wait for the 2011 Elite season to get under way in a few weeks in Florida.

At 25th place with 21 pounds, 1 ounces, Jeff Kriet's got a little more than half of KVD's leading 41-11. Kriet missed a couple fish yesterday - one flopped off the boat when he couldn't make a kick save -- he's headed back to Venice, his new favorite fishing spot.

Kriet has only had about 3 and half hours fishing time in the Classic so far and looks forward to more time today. Prefishing in December, he went out for 3 hours and caught 80 bass and 15 redfish.

"Venice to me is one of the greatest fisheries, one of my favorite places to fish," he said. "It was fun. Where else can you go catch that many fish flipping?"

Talk about abbreviated days -- yesterday Kriet had 62 minutes to fish and didn't get bit for 40 minutes. Once he got into the key zone a barge operator had to shut off the canal so Kriet had no choice to leave, but not before sacking four bass and losing two.

Needless to say, he's thrilled at the prospect of fishing three-plus hours today.

With such limited time to fish yesterday, Kriet reported that some of life's necessities took a back seat. He ate a candy bar at 70mph and, he relieved himself, without ever stopping flipping his YoMama." Russ Lane gave him a few packs of his new YoDaddy to try today.

Dean Rojas brought in one of just three 20-pound bags on day 2. The heartbreaking part is that Rojas was on the quality fish to challenge KVD, and he wasn't fishing either of the two most popular areas. Rojas has a canal to himself about 20 minutes from take-off and yesterday, had a blast sight-fishing with his new Big Bite WarMouth and throwing his signature frog.

Russ Lane's 7-12 lunker from Day 2 was not only the biggest bass ever weighed at a Delta Classic but the fifth best daily big bass in Classic history and the third best daily lunker from a Day 2.

Day 2 was all about change at the 2011 Bassmaster Classic on the Mississippi Delta. This morning started out like yesterdays with a fog delay but today’s delay was 2hrs 45 minutes long. For some of the fishermen that were making long runs, this cut into more of their fishing time and it showed up in some of the bags that crossed the stage today.

For Big Bite Pro Russ Lane day two was about redemption. Russ had a bad day one catching no fish and hit the water to see if he could catch a big enough bag to make the cut after day two. Russ fell short of that goal today but was able to set the big bass mark of the tournament so far with a bass that pushed the scales to 7-12lbs. Russ caught a full limit of 5 bass today that weighted 14-14lbs earning him a 45^th place finish at the 2011 Classic.

Russ said he caught all of his fish except the big bass on his new Big Bite Signature bait the YoDaddy and took the big bass of day two on a Spro Fat John.

Dean Rojas had a better second day and brought 20-3lbs to the stage today to land in 18^th place. This brings his two day total to 24-7lbs. Dean gave the credit to his new signature series WarMouth bait by Big Bite for allowing him to catch some bedding bass.

Jeff Kriet managed to stay out of the water today and brought in just enough to get the last spot to fish another day making the cut. Jeff brought 10lbs in today to take the 25^th spot; Jeff’s two day total is 21-1lbs.

Kevin Van Dam leads the Classic after two days with a total of 41-11lbs and has a lead going into the last day of 3-10lbs over 2^nd place Brent Chapman.

With Russ Lane not making the cut to fish the last day Russ will be spending sometime in the Big Bite booth at the Classic Expo on Sunday. Please drop by the booth to see Russ and his new signature bait the YoDaddy.

After day one of the 2011 Bassmaster Classic thing are starting to all fall into place. The first morning was late to start after a 1hour 10 minute fog delay the anglers were sent out to see what the first day had to offer.

As the first day went on there was a rumor that Big Bites Jeff Kriet has a limit of bass but was experiencing mechanical issues. While on the Classic stage Jeff told the crowd “that he had to get into the water to check his prop and was not even sure that he and his partner would even make it back to the landing”. Jeff ended weighing in 5 bass that pushed the scales to 11-1lbs that was good enough to get him 27^th place after day one.

Dean Rojas came in with 2 bass today that weighted 4-4lbs. This has Dean sitting in 45^th place after day one.

Big Bites Russ Lane came up on the stage with no fish in his bag for his day one on the water. He said “that he just had a tough day, plain and simple”.

Aaron Martens has the first day lead of the 2011 Classic with a 5 bass bag that weighted in at 20-07lbs and also took first day big bass honors with a bass that was 5-9lbs.

The full 50 field will fish today before the field is cut to the top 25 after the day 2 weigh in.

Rough day 1 for the Big Bite Pros; Kriet came in with 5 fish at 11-1 landing him in the middle of the pack, Rojas had two fish for 4-4 and Lane came in empty handed. Hope tomorrow is a better day!

It is official the 2011 Bassmaster Classic on the Mississippi Delta out of New Orleans is underway after a 1hour, 10 minute fog delay this morning. Many of the bass fishermen seem confident that they will bring in fish today, as rumors have it that the last day of practice showed these fishermen a lot as the water was warming and bass were on the move.

All three Big Bite Pros were looking to get underway this morning to see just what the 2011 Classic had in store for them. Russ had his new bait the YoDaddy rigged on a few rods, as did Dean Rojas he was planning on fishing his new signature bait the WarMouth.

If you are planning on attending the Classic Expo please make sure you stop by the Big Bite booth to get your first look at Dean’s and Russ’s new signature baits. These baits will be available for purchase at the Classic, be the first in your club too own these baits.

Stay tuned for Classic update throughout the day and a fell rundown after the weight in tonight.

We wish all 3 of the Big Bite Pros the best of luck in the 2011 Bassmaster Classic.

Jeff Kriet - Waiting for warmth

By Rob Russow
Bassmaster.com

VENICE, La. — Wait with fingers crossed. That's the mantra most anglers fishing Venice are living by as they launch for the second day of official Classic practice. With the time already invested in scouting and fishing that far from the launch, all the anglers can do is hope the water warms up enough to get the bass active.

Most anglers know the wealth of bass in the area, but water temperatures in the 40s shut down the action, at least on Friday's first day of official practice. Jeff Kriet was concerned when he found 41-degree water at the ramp in the morning.

"The water was way colder than what I expected it to be," Kriet said. "That's not good in this shallow water. It's like Florida, they don't like the cold. When I finally did get a bite yesterday, it scared me."

Kriet found that even just getting a few bites was a good sign of things to come. Four bites on Saturday might translate to 15 or 20 bites by the time the tournament begins.

"I think the weather will warm up and that will help because this is a fun area to fish," Kriet said. "There will be a lot of whining in practice and when it warms up guys will end up catching them. Right now, it wasn't what you want to run two hours for. We are gambling that they are coming."

Classic Practice Day two -
Jeff Kriet sorts through a few lures, making some last-minute selections to take with him on Saturday.
With current forecasts putting the highs next week in the 60s, the fishing will definitely improve. At least as important as the highs will be the overnight lows. Cold nights the last few days have kept water temperatures down, but as the week eases into Tuesday and Wednesday, nighttime temperatures around 50 degrees should heat the water in a hurry.

Early on Saturday, the water temperatures were 46 degrees in the Venice Marina, already a significant improvement on the first day of practice. Another week of warmth could have the fishing ready to explode.

Starting Friday Feb 18 Big Bite Baits will be posting Classic Updates every 30 minutes on its web page of the happenings at the Classic and The Classic Expo so check in every day. If you are close to the New Orleans area make sure you make your way to the Classic Expo (It’s Free) We will be debuting two new signature series baits at the Expo. Big Bite Pro Staffer Scott Petersen will be giving Hawg Tank demos all 3 days so come see the latest ways to rig and fish popular Big Bite Baits. While there make sure you stop by the Big Bite booth #4018 and say Hi, there we can answer all your Big Bite Bait questions.