Better Be A Good Poker Player To Win In Oakley Big Bass Tournament On Smith Mountain Lake
You have to be a good poker player to do well in an Oakley Big Bass Tournament, according to Chris Lucas, who knows a thing or two about bass tournaments since he directs the highly successful Anglers Choice Tournament Trail.
“It’s like playing poker. You never know when to play your hand in that thing,” said Lucas, who plans to fish the Oakley big Bass Blue Ridge Classic this weekend on Smith Mountain Lake. “I’ve seen some hours when a 3-pound fish would win you $100 or $200 and then I’ve seen some hours when a 4-pounder would win you nothing.”
Lucas, who has fished the Oakley tournament on Smith Mountain Lake the past few years and collected some hourly money, described the set-up where anglers have to guess which hour to weigh their fish as a “crap shoot.”
“You have to figure out when to weigh your fish – if you have one – unless it is a real stud. They pay seven hours each day, with a total of $1,000 paid out per hour. That’s a pretty good chunk of change.”
The Blue Ridge classic is coming to Smith Mountain Lake at just the right time, Lucas said.
“I am not much of a bed fishermen but I think the fish are going to be on the bed this weekend. There will be a lot of guys who will try to see what they catch.”
But that won’t be the only game on the lake, he added. The winners of a recent tournament on the lake caught their fish on boat docks with a jig.
“So it’s going to be probably the whole gamut of fishing this weekend – a topwater bite, some bed fishing and I am sure you should really be able to catch them on whatever you want to do.”
The Oakley Big Bass Tour has four major contingency programs. It is the anglers’ responsibility to register for each program and notify the Oakley staff of his entry. Programs include : Nitro BPS: www.tournament-rewards.com; Optima: https://www.optimabatteries.com/en-us/experience/optima-true-blue; Talon Rewards: www.talonrewards.com; and Toyota Bonus Bucks: www.toyotafishing.com.
The Oakley Big Bass Tournament has a guaranteed purse of $36,750 with hourly paybacks. The heaviest bass each hour wins $1,000, 2nd $500, 3rd $300, 4th $250, 5th $200, 6th $150, 7th $125 and 8th $100. Weigh-in times at Parkway Marina are 8-9 a.m., 9-10 a.m., 10-11 a.m., 11 a.m.-12 p.m., 12-1 p.m., 1-2 p.m., and 2-3 p.m.
Whoever catches the biggest bass of the tournament will trailer home a 2015 Nitro Z7 with a Mercury 150Hp ProXS motor, valued at $30,000.
Oakley Big Bass Tournament Trail
Apr 25 & 26, 2015
Smith Mountain Lake
Parkway Marina
Call Mark Jones 214-605-4600
