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4th: 8-Pounder Saved Jones
> Day 4: 5, 15-03 (20, 74-07) Thanks to an 8-03 bass today that weighed more than his other four fish combined, Jones came away with his third Top-4 finish at the St. Johns.
"I feel very fortunate," he said. "We've been here about the same time of year each time and I seem to catch them a little differently every time. This place just fishes to my strengths."
After finishing 6th in last year's AOY points, he's off to another strong start as he sits in 4th through two events.
"I do feel good about the start," he said. "One thing people don't often talk about is points are just as important early on in the season as they are late in the season. Later on, everybody's watching to see who's going to make the Classic and who's not. Every bass I can catch now is one I don't have to catch later. I'm thrilled to have had a good start and get a good jump on the points."
His day was made tougher by the northwest wind that kicked up Saturday afternoon and continued through today. It muddied up the water on the east side of George where he'd been having success.
"It shut those fish off yesterday and I thought it would settle down overnight, but it didn't," he said. "I caught five, including my big one over there, but I had to scramble around later and culled a couple of times." Complete Story
5th: Jones not Looking
> Day 3: 5, 19-08 (15, 59-04) Jones is one of the game's premier sight-fishermen and he caught his entire bag that way on day 1, but hasn't done it since.
"I'm just fishing pads and grass," he said. "I'm using a couple different baits, but I'm catching the majority of them on the YUM Dinger that I like to throw so much down here."
He caught about 25 keepers today, down from 40 on day 2. His biggest was a 5 1/2-pounder.
"The problem today was the wind. I was smoking them until 10:30, but then it muddied up my main area. It was white-capping on (Lake George) and when you're fishing in a foot and a half of water, it silts up pretty good." Complete Story
Fishing’s ‘World Series’ aptly named
The 2014 Bassmaster Classic will take place Feb. 21-23, and they rightfully call it the “World Series of Bass Fishing.”
No other tournament puts so many top anglers together to compete for big money and the life-altering experience that comes with being named a Classic Champion. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to prepare for this major fishing event?
A lot of the contestants, including Alton Jones, winner of the 2008 Bassmaster Classic at Lake Hartwell, traveled to Alabama in December to pre-fish the 69,000-acre Lake Guntersville, located along the banks of the Tennessee River in Northeast Alabama and the site of this year’s Classic. Read More
3rd: Big Move for Jones
BassFan.com > Day 4: 5, 22-03 (20, 76-06) Jones was another guy who accomplished his primary objective for the week as he nailed down his place in the post-season (the Top 8 on the final points list automatically advance).
"It's always good to achieve a goal you've set, and to move up to 3rd place today made it all the sweeter," he said. "I'm very pleased and very thankful about the way things went this week.
"I'm also very excited for Chris Lane for making the Classic and winning this tournament. It's great when you can have a good finish and also help a friend."
For the final 2 days, he and Lane took turns drifting a 250-yard stretch of current Jones found in practice that was loaded with big bronzebacks. The four stringers they caught combined to weigh nearly 88 pounds.
He caught 16 keepers today, only one of which weighed less than 3 pounds. Read More
4th: Jones was Hog-Tied
Bassfan.com Day 4: 5, 17-10 (20, 71-08) Jones was surprised that he was unable to gain any ground in the standings despite catching more than 17 1/2 pounds.
"That's just a testament to how strong this river is fishing right now," he said. "I had a couple of chances to upgrade – I had a 4-pounder that I swung in that bounced off my graph and got away and another big one that I never saw that pulled off.
"Overall, I'm really pleased, though. It was a great week."
He had no company at all today as he fished below the Jones Bluff Dam.
"There was nobody else there – not even a local. It was really a peaceful day down there. It was almost surreal, like I wasn't even in a big tournament."
