On the first day of August 22 days before the start of the Bassmaster Legends presented by Ramada Worldwide BASS announced they were moving the tournament from the Arkansas River in Little Rock to Lake Dardanelle in Russellville, Ark.
At first glance, it seems like a jarring change late in the game, but Mike McClelland, of nearby Bella Vista, Ark., said there's not much of difference between the two.
"I really believe right now that [Dardanelle] is going to fish more like a river," said McClelland, who won the Pride of Georgia on Clarks Hill Lake earlier this season. "I may be basing my experience on what I've seen with flow in the past, but when the river is flowing like this, it creates a lot of flow through Dardanelle."
The similarities make sense, considering Lake Dardanelle is a reservoir of the Arkansas River, and the pros will takeoff 91 miles upstream of where they would have launched in Little Rock.
"I think the color is going to more consistent with the river, rather than a lake," McClelland said. "In the months that you don't have flow, you typically see it clear up a little bit, but that won't be the case at this point."
The same heavy current BASS deemed "unsafe" in their press release is going to be an angler's best friend when the tournament starts on Thursday.
"When you add flow to that system, it just makes it that much better," McClelland said. "Even in the back waters, if there is flow in the main river, it creates movement and current in the back water. So, I think it is definitely helping the bite as a whole."
But according to Greg Hackney, who grew up fishing the Arkansas River, the style will only mimic a river on the first two days. In the Majors format, the top 12 heaviest weights after the first two days of the tournament move to an area broken into a six-hole course that had previously been off-limits.
In this case, that area will be the Illinois Bayou, which Hackney said will look eerily similar to a lake.
"The first part of the tournament is going to be just like fishing the river, but the second part is going to be more like a reservoir," he said. "So, if you make the cut, it's going to be a little like Jekyll and Hyde."
McClelland said most of his experience on Dardanelle is in the Illinois Bayou, so he is going to spend the majority of his first two days on the banks of the main river.
"When you get into some of the backwater areas, there is going to be some offshore stuff coming into play, but on the main river the bank is going to be where the action is," McClelland said, adding that he likes his chances if he can get into the top 12.
McClelland, like most of the local pros, said he wasn't excited about the late change in of venue, but it isn't because Dardanelle is a bad spot. Hackney said Dardanelle has an exceptional reputation as a fishery in Arkansas, but a state-wide, $100,000 big-bass tournament held the weekend before the Legends means that reputation will be working against the pros.
Even though it stretches 49 miles, Hackney said Dardanelle will be packed from end to end with anglers looking for the one bass that will make their year.
"The key is normally that big bass, but it's going to be hard to find because of the Arkansas big bass tournament," he said. "It's going to be the biggest factor. Those fish are going to be coming off of a lot of pressure."
Mike Wurm, of Hot Springs, Ark., said he is less worried about the local pressure and more worried about the loss of the morning bite. The anglers will takeoff at 9 a.m. instead of the usual 6 a.m., which Wurm said is going to kill the majority of the top-water catch.
"The top-water bite is even more important in the Summer," said Wurm, who has years of experience on Dardanelle. "We're going to lose that buzz-bait bite on the rock jetties."
But he said he still expects it to be a good tournament, and he's looking forward to applying what he knows about summer patterns in Arkansas.
"The river is not going to be as important in Dardanelle because it is so wide," he said. "I've got a plan in place. I think I know how to find the areas that are holding the most fish."