One of the first rigs to be backed down the ramp failed to launch because the hull was frozen firmly to the trailer bunks. Instead of the boat floating off the trailer, the trailer floated up with the boat. Efforts were made to pry boats off the trailers, but the only tactic that seemed to work was quickly backing a rig into the water and then braking hard.
Said John Crews of Virginia, "You could hear the ice cracking as the boats broke free. I was afraid it would take a chunk of fiberglass out of my hull. That happened to some of the anglers, I heard, but my Bass Cat was fine."
As a result of these icy conditions, tournament officials postponed the start of competition by more than an hour...to 8:30 a.m.
One savvy competitor sprayed de-icer on his boat's storage lockers that morning but neglected his livewells. When he caught his first keeper that morning, he discovered a thick layer of ice had formed inside the wells. To fill the compartments and thaw the pumps, he had to run the boat in reverse to force water up through the intakes.
The freezing weather had a greater impact on the anglers than the bass.
As Jacob Powroznik of Prince George, VA, pointed out, "Half the field already was out of it when they saw how cold it was going to be. You've got to get that stuff out of your head. Having the right clothing for Arctic blasts is essential."
Powroznik packed a portable heater in his boat during competition, and he needed it.
The cold didn't get into John Crews' head, but it did affect his hands.
"My hands locked up," he said. "I have great cold-weather gear, but my hands don't function in that really cold weather."
Crews went on to explain that he suffers from Raynaud's Syndrome, a medical condition brought on by cold weather that causes spasms in the blood vessels of his hands, decreasing blood flow to the fingers and turning them white, then blue. It also can affect a person's ear, toes and nose.
He was able to handle a spinning rod well enough to catch a 4-and-a-half-pound bass on a Zoom Super Fluke right off the bat that first day but couldn't put enough of the right fish into the boat to finish higher than 33rd.
Powroznik welcomed the cold snap and thought he had the inside lane, going into the competition.
"I liked my chances--if they had let us go at the regular time," he said. "That delay killed me."
By the time he reached his key spot, the "herring bite" was all but over, and he could muster only four bass, weighing 9-2 that day. On subsequent days, which weren't delayed, he caught limits of approximately 15 and 19 pounds, for a total exactly 7 pounds off the winning pace.
"In cold weather like that, a lot of people will struggle to catch the right ones, but six or eight of us might find big schools of fish," Powroznik explained. "Timing was key, however. Blueback herring congregated in drains where the water was slightly warmer, but as the sun rose and the water warmed, they moved out to deeper water, and bass went with them," he noted.
Like Powroznik, Matt Herren of Alabama thought he had a good shot at finally hoisting the heavy Classic trophy in 2015.
"I truly thought I had the opportunity to win that tournament," he recalled. "The boat draw got me, though."
Herren had identified two spots loaded with good bass, but by the time it was his turn to launch and run to the areas, other pros already were camped on them.
While Herren, Crews and Powroznik all regretted they didn't do as well in the 2015 Classic as they expected to, each is proud to have participated in and survived the most brutally cold world championship in history.
"It was a neat deal," said Powroznik. "I got to experience something we probably never will see again."
Incidentally, Casey Ashley won that 2015 Classic and the $300,000 championship prize with 50 pounds 1 ounce.
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