Predicting who will win a bass tournament is about as much of a sure thing as predicting what five cards you’re going to get in a hand of poker.
And like a poker player who has to play the cards he is dealt, the Bassmaster Elite Series anglers converging on Toledo Bend this month have to fish in the conditions that Mother Nature deals out.
But there are always a few anglers fishing fans can keep an eye on, and Tietje pointed out five he thought stood a good chance of winning this tournament.
In no particular order, they are:
Todd Faircloth
“He has a lot of history on this lake, and I’ve competed against him in circuit tournaments on this lake,” Tietje said. “He’s always been one who likes to fish alone this time of year, and he always ends up way on top.
“With his knowledge and the lake being high, I look for him to be a contender because he’s strong on the ledges and really good around the grass.”
Edwin Evers
“Like Faircloth, Edwin has logged a lot of hours at Toledo Bend,” Tietje said. “He’s a good grass fisherman, and I look for him to put together a good grass pattern. He’s a good flipper with experience flipping matted hydrilla.
“But the one thing I think is going to help him is his knowledge of sloughs and drains that other anglers don’t know about. He could crank those sloughs to the top of the leaderboard.”
Terry Scroggins
“Being that he’s from Florida, Terry definitely knows how to flip the grass,” Tietje said. “He likes to throw a Texas-rigged worm, too, and he’s good at dragging a Carolina rig.
“His versatility with those three makes me look for him to be up in the pack.”
Gary Klein
“He’s a big grass guy, and he loves the jig,” Tietje explained, “but he can also fish the ledges as well as he can fish the grass. I think the big jig will probably win this tournament, and there aren’t many better at fishing a jig than Gary.
“I look for him to be really strong because of that.”
Aaron Martens
“Aaron has a good chance because so many fish will be out on those ledges and small humps,” Tietje said. “It seems like when they’re like that, he always finds schools of fish on those little key areas.
“If he can do that at Toledo Bend, he’s going to find big fish schooled up enough that he could come in with a consistently big sack every day.”