Griffith and Logan lead the pack at the 2015 TBF Federation National Championship

By midday, the prospects were unclear for Jon “Scooter” Griffith here in The Bass Federation National Championship on Grand Lake, but in a roundabout way it provided just the clarity he needed to dial in a pattern that helped him take the day-one lead with an 18-pound, 13-ounce limit.

Jon Grif d1 leaderGriffith began his day by sight-fishing the clear water down by the Pensacola Dam. This opening move, he says, gave him some early comfort, as it matched the transparent water he’s used to fishing near his home in Mesa, Ariz. Targeting windblown points, Griffith got his early bites with reaction baits in about 4 to 8 feet of water. Unfortunately, the plan turned out to be less productive than he had expected.

“I thought I was going to struggle today because I only had three fish at noon, but then I just started catching them,” he recalls. “I caught five more, and a couple were pretty good size.”

The key to his afternoon rally was moving back up the lake to areas of dirty water.

“I don’t know if it was just because it was the afternoon or because it was the dirty water,” Griffith says. “I think people are afraid to fish it [dirty water]. It’s really dirty – I mean it’s chocolate.

“I think a lot of these fish haven’t been pressured as much as I thought they were, so I’m going to go back to those first thing tomorrow. If that doesn’t work, I have two bed fish that I can go back to and catch anytime.”

In the dirty water, Griffith found that the fish had pushed extremely shallow. Some of his bites on reaction baits came in mere inches of water.

“There were a couple of casts where I threw the bait up in there and was surprised my bait didn’t hit the bottom. The bites were a lot more aggressive in the shallow water. And they’re stronger,” he notes. “The biggest fish I caught were in the muddy water, so that makes me want to gamble tomorrow and go. You can’t win if you don’t gamble a little bit.” Wes Login

Griffth leads the boater side of the event but the big sack of the event goes to a Co-Angler from Alabama named Wes Logan who managed to bag 19 even from the back of the boat today, look out for Wes if he catches them on Day 2 he will be hard to beat for the co-angler National Championship title on Saturday.

 

 

 

 

For a detailed Day 1 story by our Partners In Fishing at FLW  click here

 

Day 1 standings for the Boaters CLICK HERE

Day 1 standing for the Co-Anglers CLICK HERE

For the Full day 1 photo gallery CLICK HERE

Day One from the Federation National Championship

Day 1 Weighin starts LIVE at 3:00 pm CST

 


Live video from your Android device on Ustream

2015 TBF Federation National Championship kicks off tomorrow morning!

The 2015 TBF Federation National Championship kicks off tomorrow morning Thursday April 23!  48 boaters and 48 co anglers will live for their respective TBF Living The Dream packages.

Weigh in’s are live Thursday and Friday on bassfederation.com and Saturday on FLWoutdoors.com at 3:00pm CST! Thefish are biting and it is on!

15-FNC

 

Trysdan Wallace is the Washington Junior State Champion!

 

2015 Junior State Championship was held on lake Washington this last week end with sunny mild weather. Water temperatures on some parts of the lake were in the high 50s indicating pre spawn conditions for junior competitors to figure out transitioning fish moving to spawning areas.

Trysdan Wallace--2015 State Junior Championship

Trysdan Wallace–2015 State Junior Championship

Trysdan Wallace a freshman at R. A. Long high school struggled throughout the day but managed to bring in a couple of fish to just edge out previous Junior state champion Trevor Huff by a small margin to become this year bass federation state representative at the Junior World Championship to be held on Lake Hamilton, Ark in August.

Trevor Huff finished second place with a total weight of 4.96lbs to Trysdan Wallace’s 5.29lbs, but did manage to capture the big fish of the day with a 3.51lb small mouth.  Other competitor Carson Yancey, last year’s champion from Kent WA, Along with Cooper Callahan and James Morton from Yakima and Collin Jacobs of Tumwater.  All worked various techniques throughout the day, but could not buy a bite to bring to the weigh in.

Trevor Huff--2nd place

Trevor Huff–2nd place

Big thanks go out to the volunteer boaters Brandon Huff, Mel Marchese, and Doug Jorgensen who stepped up to help out and all the members of the State Adult team.  Tyler Brinks for photos, Tony Lofranco, Wes Wesenberg, Troy Roberts, and Joe Mitchell for helping and supporting the kids along with Western Bass Club and our sponsors.

Spokane Valley Marine, Lake City Western Vigilantes’, Strike King lures, C & M Trophies, Dobyns Rods, St. Croix,  Jon’s N.W. outdoors,  Cabela’s, Big hawg baits , The Prop Shop, Three rivers marine, interstate batteries, Vicious fishing, KGM baits and the Washington National Guard.