Nation's top bass fishermen gearing up for Riverwind's fishing and poker tournaments

By Ed Godfrey Comments 1
Published: October 18, 2009

Some of the best bass fishermen in the world are coming to Oklahoma this week to catch fish and play poker.

(Illustration by Steve Boaldin, The Oklahoman)

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LONG –DISTANCE WEIGH-IN

Measures taken to keep fish alive

The pro anglers in the "Fish and Chips” tournament are going to have to make a 90-minute drive from Arbuckle Lake to Riverwind Casino for the weigh-ins Friday and Saturday.

That’s left many local anglers who often fish Arbuckle worried that too many fish will die because of the tournament.

Gene Gilliland, biologist for the Oklahoma Department of Conservation, said a large fish hauling truck from the agency’s Durant Fish Hatchery will be returning the bass to Arbuckle Lake immediately after the weigh-ins each day.

Having the tournament in late October with cooler water temperatures combined with less fishing hours than usual and a four-fish limit per boat also minimizes the risk of mortality, he said.

"There are going to be some fish that die,” Gilliland said. "Depending on how they are hooked, sometimes the stress just gets to them.

"But I don’t expect it to be an inordinate number and certainly nothing that will affect the overall population of the lake. We are going to do everything we can to make sure those fish get back in the lake healthy.”

At Bassmaster Classics, anglers often have to travel similar or greater distances to weigh-ins, he said.

When proper fish care measures are followed, more than 90 percent of the fish caught in bass tournaments can be returned back to the lake alive, Gilliland said.

By Ed Godfrey

TOURNAMENT HIGHLIGHTS

→Meet the pros: Fans can visit and get autographs Thursday from the fishing pros and Mark Zona, host of the "The World’s Greatest Fishing Show” on the ESPN network. The anglers will be available to the public from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the parking lot of Riverwind Casino.

→Hunting and Fishing Show: The casino is holding a hunting and fishing show from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Booths are still available. Call Clayton Wallace at (405) 322-6460 for more information.

→At Arbuckle Lake: The pros will be fishing Friday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. and on Saturday from 7 a.m. until 2 p.m. Spectators on the water are asked to launch their boats from Point Ramp.

→Weigh-ins: The weigh-ins will be held on an outdoor stage Friday and Saturday at Riverwind Casino. Friday’s weigh-in begins at 6 p.m. Saturday’s weigh-in begins at 4 p.m.

→Oklahoma pros in the field: Jeff Kriet, Kenyon Hill, Brad Hallman, Terry Butcher, Dave Smith, Harmon Davis and Vince Fulks. Also, collegiate teams from the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University will be represented.

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Riverwind Casino in Norman is sponsoring the "Fish and Chips” tournament Friday through Sunday, a first of its kind event which combines a two-day bass fishing tournament on Arbuckle Lake followed by a one-day Texas Hold ‘Em tournament at the casino.

The invitation-only event has attracted some of the biggest names on the Bassmaster Tour as well as pros from the FLW Tour.

Among the field is Kevin VanDam, considered the best bass fisherman on the planet. VanDam has won the Bassmaster Angler of the Year title five times, including consecutive crowns in 2008 and 2009.

VanDam also has two Bassmaster Classic championships on his resume and has won more than $3.6 million on the Bassmaster Tour in his 20-year career.

"I like my chances taking Kevin’s money on the poker table better than I do fishing,” said Ardmore pro Jeff Kriet, who also is in the 50-boat field of two-man teams.

Other big names in the tournament include Skeet Reese, the 2007 Bassmaster Angler of the Year and 2009 Bassmaster Classic champ; Rick Clunn, four-time Bassmaster Classic champion; and Dean Rojas, who has career earnings of more than $1 million.

The pros and their partners — who paid a $1,500 entry fee — will be fishing Arbuckle Lake on Friday and Saturday.

Those anglers — along with 100 other local poker players who paid a $220 buy-in — will be playing Texas Hold ‘Em on Sunday.

The bass tournament will pay $20,000 to the winner. The poker tournament also will pay $20,000 to its champion. And the highest finisher in both tournaments combined earns an extra $10,000.

Mark Jeffreys of Norman, founder of the Bass Zone Web Site which covers pro fishing, pitched the idea for the event to Riverwind Casino because so many pro anglers play Texas Hold ‘Em during their down time.

"When we have a weather cancellation or something like that, we always play,” Kriet said. "I carry a big ole’ set of chips in my truck.”

Even though the tournament is a novelty, the pros are taking it seriously because there is so much money at stake, Kriet said.

"When there is that kind of money on the line, it will get serious pretty fast,” he said. "I think there are a few of ‘em taking a crash course in poker right now, buying books and getting on the Internet. A couple of them are bringing ringer poker players (as their fishing partners).

"I would rather win the fishing tournament, but I am going to take the poker pretty seriously, too.”

The pro anglers will be fishing on arguably the best big bass lake in Oklahoma in recent years.

Even though Kriet and the other Oklahoma pros in the tournament are more familiar with Arbuckle Lake than their competitors, they won’t have an advantage with the caliber of fishermen in the field, he said.

"A lake that small, it won’t take those guys very long to dissect it,” Kriet said.

"We go to lakes all of the time that none of us have been to before that are a heck of a lot bigger, and we end up catching them pretty good. I don’t think a little 7,000- or 8,000-acre lake is going to confuse these guys too much.

"The lake is going to fish pretty small, especially if it cools off and those fish go to the bank. There won’t be very many secrets.”