Bassmaster Classic qualifier Ryan McMurtury has a unique theory about fishing a tournament in strange water: the less he knows about the fishery, the better off he is.

As a result he has not asked anyone who has fished the three previous Classics on the Louisiana Delta anything about how to fish there.

“I just feel like if somebody holds your hand and tells you where to go anybody can do that. It’s not about the money – it’s about being able to know you can find fish and compete,” said the 43-year-old Abbeville, S.C., angler who qualified through the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Weekend Series, operated by American Bass Anglers.

In his first year on the Weekend Series trail, McMurtury won the 2010 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Weekend Series National Championship on Lake Guntersville last November to advance to the 2011 Bassmaster Classic.

“Everywhere I go I don’t seek out any information. When it gets tough you can adjust quicker – like at Guntersville. I had never been on that lake before.”

McMurtury had to adjust at Guntersville because his boat broke down in practice, so he had to go home and get a smaller backup boat.

“I feel that had I been able to use my big boat in pre-fishing, I would have fished more areas and not stayed where I did. In the tournament, I stayed in one spot for four days and never left it. I used a double rig fluke with exposed hooks. When one fish hit, I just held it down until another one hit. I caught fewer fish each day, but more weight.”

McMurtury caught 165 bass off that spot over the four days, weighing in 20 at 69.53 pounds to win the championship and the $100,000 first prize, plus a $10,000 bonus from Federated Auto Parts.

Ironically, a boat problem cost him a shot at also winning Angler of the Year in the BWS Division series in his first year on the tour last year.

“Last year at Santee Cooper I zeroed because of boat trouble. I would have come in third in that tournament, but my oil pump went out. I came back strong and finished 8^th in points, but if I had not had that zero I would have been the divisional leader.”

A lifelong fisherman McMurtury began tournament fishing with a buddy in 1989 and has fished tournaments full time for the past five years, but last year was the first year he began fishing major sanctioned tournaments.

Three weeks before his Bassmaster Classic debut, he prepared for the championship by winning the Weekend Series South Carolina Division 9 opener Jan. 29, on Lake Murray.

He estimates he is on the water between 310 and 320 days a year, sometimes for just an hour or two.

“I counted one year and fished over 330 days that year. I am the type of person if I get a chance to get to the lake I will go. If I don’t get to fish but an hour and a half to two hours I will still go. I’m not the type who will sit there and say I wish I had gone,” he said.

And, he added, those short trips really help hone his fishing skills.

“I think if you fish in little short spurts of time it helps because you have to find the fish quick,” he said.

The Louisiana Delta is a vast waterway, with numerous canals and streams connecting a myriad of “lakes” and ponds in a maze of fishable waters. The key is locating a group of fish like winner Davy Hite did in 1999 when he fished a junction of two canals for the winning weight.

The only experience McMurtury has on the Delta came during pre-practice in December when he had “a great practice.”

“I just hope those fish are still in the same areas,” he said.

He said the first thing he will do in practice before the Classic begins will be to check the water temperature.

“As soon as I get the water temperatures, I will know if the fish are in pre-spawn, spawn or post-spawn. But I know its going to be early pre-spawn. I doubt many fish are moving yet so I am going to fish it like I fish the lakes where I live, pre-spawn style.”

As for being one of a handful of anglers experiencing their first trip to the biggest championship in bass fishing, McMurtury said he is feeling no pressure despite the fact that most of the Elite Series anglers in the field have been to multiple Classics.

“Nobody is picking me to win. I kind of like that,” he said. “All I have to do is go fish. It’s me against the fish, not me against them.”

 

Bassmaster Classic

Feb 18-20, 2011

Louisiana Delta

Bayou Segnette State Park

www.bassmaster.com