The fishing pros found enough bass to crown a winner at the CITGO Bassmaster Classic, but it was the city of Pittsburgh that looked like royalty.
 |
 |
| Kevin VanDam, of Kalamazoo, Mich., takes a victory lap around Mellon Arena last night in his boat with Jackson, one of his 8-year-old twin sons, after winning the CITGO Bassmaster Classic with three-day total of 12 pounds, 15 ounces. Click photo for larger image. |
|
The fishing pros' inability to find many big fish -- Kevin VanDam won with a Classic lowest-ever-weight of 12 pounds 15 ounces -- may have frustrated competitors and played poorly in the South where behemoth bass are as commonplace as fishing buddies named Bubba. But the catching mattered less to local organizers looking to land a big one on a national stage.
"All of the commentators are talking about the resurgence of Pittsburgh, plus we have an exciting tournament," said Davitt Woodwell, a leader of the local organizing committee that with the state BASS Federation, Allegheny Conference, and local and state political leaders helped land the Classic for the city. "The image of Pittsburgh getting out there right now is different than what people expected."
Yesterday morning's live coverage of the sports network's showcase fishing event cut back and forth between guys catching fish and the Duquesne Incline, guys catching little fish and the Point fountain, guys not catching fish and blue sky shots of the three sister bridges over the Allegheny River from the roof of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
"How much would it cost the city to buy 12 hours of this kind of coverage?" said Woodwell, vice president of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council.
"And the benefits are not something you can quantify in a day. It's a long-term kick and how far it goes will be determined by what we do next and how we build on our recreation, tourism, economic development and environmental quality."
In a Market Square bar on Friday evening, ESPN's taped coverage of the first day's weigh-in caused guys in business suits to stop in mid-quaff and point to the television screens showing 8,000 frenzied fishing fans in the Mellon Arena and highlights of the pros catching bass in the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers.
"Fish in the rivers; who knew," was the generalized paraphrase, even from guys who work in a Downtown bounded by them.
Another 5,000 fishing fans got out of bed early yesterday morning to applaud the 7 a.m. launch at Point State Park.
"We've been watching it on TV and taping it and wanted to come down and see how big it is," said Bob Lockhart, a fisherman from Robinson, who made it to the launch with his wife, Cindy, and son, Bob. "I'd like to see it come back to the city. It made Pittsburgh look real good."
Randy McLemore, 41, of Logan, W.Va., is attending his third Classic on his first visit to Pittsburgh and gives the city high marks for convenience.
"I like it because we're closer to the water here and can see the fishermen and where they're going on the rivers," said McLemore, who follows the Bassmaster tour on television and fishes in local tournaments in West Virginia. "And everything -- the trade show, weigh-in and launch -- is within walking distance. The city is a lot nicer than I thought it would be."
Fishermen Tony Garone of Sewickley and Mark Hardner of Scott were at yesterday's launch and know what the pros are learning: how tough the rivers can be for bass fishing when they're warm and low.
"But there's a lot of energy down here," Garone said. "Everyone is charged and this is really showcasing the city. Some of the background shots of the city were just great."
It's not that fish aren't being caught. The pros had boated about 400 through the first two days of the tournament, but not a lot of keepers more than 12 inches long and very few big bass.
Denny Tubbs, aquatic resource program specialist for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, said the rivers are suffering from two years of bad bass spawning as a result of hurricane-spawned storms and flooding. This past spring was, by contrast, a very good spawning year, but it's too soon yet to see changes in the fishery.
"Come back in two years and you'll see a totally different fishery with bigger bass," Tubbs said. "But right now, the lesser response from the fish has been more than made up for by the response from the people in Pittsburgh."
For Tim Horton, of Muscle Shoals, Ala., one of the 25 pros that fished yesterday, even the stingy fishery didn't dampen his enthusiasm for the city.
"I've got to be honest with you, some of the pros didn't know what they were getting into in Pittsburgh," said Horton, who finished 10th. "But I am fishing in my sixth consecutive classic and Pittsburgh blew them all away."
Bobby Murray, a native of Hot Springs, Ark., and winner of the first Bassmaster Classic in 1971, said the bass in the rivers may be in a "down cycle" but that doesn't matter to those who made the trip.
"The fans I've been talking to love it here. The venue is awesome and everything is close at hand," Murray said. "A lot of people from the South are going to go home and pull for the Steelers this year."