‘old Warhorse’ Will Take On A Muddy James River In Bassmaster Northern Open
Former Bassmaster Classic Champion Woo Daves
Woo Daves of Spring Grove, Va., has achieved true “old warhorse” status in the annals of competitive bass fishing. A “warhorse,” by definition is “a veteran, as a soldier or politician, of many struggles and conflicts.”
And Daves has been there from the earliest days of professional bass fishing to the present. His entry in the Bassmaster Northern Open this week on the James River, just a few miles from his home, marks the 40th year Daves has been a regular in B.A.S.S. tournaments.
It was exactly four decades ago that he fished his first major Bassmaster event, the 1973 B.A.S.S. Chapter Championship on Pickwick Lake, June 13-14-15, the same dates as the 2013 Bassmaster Northern Open this week. He finished 13th with 15.9 pounds in the 1973 championship.
Daves is one of the few anglers from the early days of B.A.S.S. still fishing Bassmaster events. His career includes 34 top 10 finishes, with five major wins, 17 Bassmaster Classic appearances, and the Classic Championship on Lake Michigan in 2002.
He owns an outstanding record on the James, just in B.A.S.S. events – top 5s in five major Bassmaster tournaments. His record includes: 1983 Virginia Invitational, 5th place; 1988 Bassmaster Classic, 2nd; 1989 Bassmaster Classic, 5th; 1990 Bassmaster Classic, 4th; and he finished 3rd in the Bass Pro Shops Northern Open on the James in June of last year.
Daves said he was looking forward to a return to his home water where he has an outstanding tournament record, but the rains spawned by Tropical Storm Andrea that blew up the East Coast earlier this week has flooded the James River and its tributaries.
“There has been a lot of flooding, so I don’t know what to expect,” he said. “Every place I fished last year is really muddy and I don’t have the experience on the river that I had 15-20 years ago when I fished it a lot.”
“When you fish bass tournaments a lot, you don’t ever get to fish at home, and I do a lot of saltwater fishing and a lot of rabbit hunting when I am here,” he said.
The muddy water is unfortunate, because the river had the potential to produce record weights for the tournament, Daves said.
“The river has made a great comeback, but with this weather I don’t think it’s going to show itself like it could. The tournament weights this year have been better than they have ever been since I’ve been here. A lot of 7-pound and 8-pound bass have been weighed in and that’s almost unheard of. In the past you might bring in one 7-pounder in a tournament, but they have been bringing in four and five 7-pounders in a tournament. So the fish are out there.”
Daves said in the last five or six tournaments it took an average of 25 pounds or more for a five-fish limit to win.
“I know of two tournaments that had four over 7 pounds weighed in. So there are a lot of quality fish out there and I was really looking forward to fishing it,” he said.
While Daves believes the catch will be less than hoped for because of the flooding and muddy water, he also expects some of the anglers to find quality bass.
“Whoever finds a little clear water will do good,” he said. “Somebody will catch fish.”
In 2002 high winds on Lake Michigan kept most of the anglers in the Bassmaster Classic away from their prime fishing locations, so they either battled winds and waves to try to fish spots in Lake Michigan where they had located fish, or retreated to the calmer backwaters where industrial pollution had heavily impacted the bass populations.
But Daves did neither. He merely idled his bass boat out to the seawall that protected the marina near downtown Chicago and caught the fish he needed to win without ever putting his boat on plane.
When you are an “old warhorse” experience counts. And Daves has the experience to find fish in all conditions.
Bassmaster Northern Open
Jun 13-15, 2013
James River
