Weather, tornado and flood shorten event
Scanlon's Day 1 lead holds true.
(Photo: Andy Crawford/BASS)
BASS Press Release
MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. — The water was murky, but Casey
Scanlon’s clear understanding of bass behavior led him to victory in the St.
Croix Bassmaster Open at Norfork Lake presented by SEVIIN.
Due to forecasts for severe weather, including heavy
thunderstorms, hail, and possible tornadoes, B.A.S.S. officials cancelled the
event’s scheduled second and third days. Scanlon, an Ozarks veteran from Eldon,
Mo., who led Day 1 with 18 pounds, 5 ounces was declared the winner.
Finishing with a margin of 1-8 over Doug Chapin, Scanlon
took home the top prize of $52,086 and earned a berth in the 2026
Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour, March 13-15 at
the Tennessee River.
“It feels great to win,” Scanlon said. “Obviously, I would
have loved to go three days, but I’ve been doing this a long time and you take
these wins anyway you can get them.
“The Bassmaster Opens have become more competitive than ever
before, so any time you can beat this caliber of competition, it’s an
accomplishment.”
Heavy rains prior to the tournament sent muddy plumes into
Norfork. Scanlon said he saw the lake rise only a foot and a half to 2 feet
from the level he fished during practice, but turbidity levels were drastically
different.
“The water level didn’t rise too badly, but it brought some
current into the lake,” Scanlon said. “I think it helped me; it really
positioned the fish a little better for me.”
Fishing the mid-lake region, Scanlon focused on the backs of major creeks where he knew the bigger fish would follow the rising water. With lots of floating debris he called “sawdust,” Scanlon located a key spot where current dynamics kept a prime habitat feature clear of the clutter.
“I ended up catching all but one of the fish I weighed on a
50-yard stretch,” Scanlon said. “During practice, on one of the last channel
banks in the back of a major creek, I noticed some boulders under the water,
just slightly off the bank. I figured during the tournament, when the current
was flowing, this would be a good spot for the fish to sit and ambush (prey).
“Around 10:30 on Day 1, I decided to slow down and focus on
those boulders. There was lots of sawdust in the area, but where the boulders
were, a turn created an unseen eddy and kept the sawdust and debris away.”
Scanlon caught one of his limit fish on a 1/2-ounce Trophy
Bass Company spinnerbait in the Ozark Flash color. He caught most of his fish
on those boulders with a 4-inch Bass Pro Shops flipping tube rigged on a 4/0
Hyabusa heavy-duty hook with an unpegged 5/16-ounce Bass Pro Shops weight.
Scanlon believes that coating his tube with Capt. Dave’s
Hawg Jam fish attractant helped, but his longtime belief in that bait cemented
his commitment.
“I hadn’t thrown that tube very much in practice,” he said.
“I had thrown the spinnerbait enough to know if it would work. I tied on that
tube because it’s my confidence bait. I know I can go behind people and catch
fish.”
Scanlon gave his stretch of boulders periodic breaks and
returned multiple times throughout the day. One of those breaks took him to a
set of current-washed logs he had been considering for much of the day.
Scanlon lost a big fish that jumped off boatside but caught
one of his better fish there on the spinnerbait.
“The key moment was going back to the well one more time in
the last hour of the day,” he said. “I returned to those boulders and caught my
second biggest fish and another good one. Without those two, I wouldn’t have
won it.”
Chapin, who hails from Tigerton, Wis., finished in second
place with 16-13. Ultimately basing his day on how he expected the fish to
respond to the rising water, Chapin got his momentum going with an early shot
of spontaneity.
“My plan was to start on fish I’d found under bait in a
pocket, but that didn’t pan out,” Chapin said. “I was running down the lake and
something told me to pull into this transition area with a flat near a bluff
bank.
“I cast at a blob on my forward facing sonar and it was a
4.75-pound largemouth. It was a God thing.”
From there, Chapin turned his attention to creek bends and
shallow bluff walls in the backs of pockets.
Knowing that the turbidity would prompt the fish to pull
tighter to the bank where they could leverage a smaller strike zone, Chapin did
most of his work with a 1/2-ounce 6th Sense Divine spinnerbait in the Lavender
Shad color with tandem willow-leaf blades.
He also caught a nice smallmouth on a 6th Sense Strobe
Minnow on a 1/8-ounce 6th Sense Finesse Swimbait jig head.
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