2013 BASS Master Classic on Grand Lake, OK. Issue?

[Waterfoul]

BASS announced it will be having the 2013 Bass Master Classic on Grand Lake, Oklahoma.  Seems like a great venue for FISHING.  BUT, the daily weigh-ins will be at the BOK Center in downtown Tulsa, nearly 60 miles from the launch site at the Disney Park near the dam on the lake.  So the competitors will catch fish all day, load their boats on the trailers and drag them all the way to Tulsa, over an hour away for weigh in.  A fish could potentially be in the boat's livewell for about 10 hours, including a trip down the highway???  Seems a little strange to me.  Seems detrimental to the fish's health.  After weigh in they have to be brought back to the lake.  Another hour on the highway.

There has to be a better/closer place to do the weigh in.

[djkimmel]

For the Classic, they have had DNR fisheries trucks there in the past to put the fish into after they are weighed. I've been in a couple tournaments where we had to travel about that long to weigh in. You just have to take really good care with water temp and make sure it is fresh before you go.

They have pretty specific production needs at the Classic. I always hope that they compensate with extra fish care to balance with the production needs. I haven't fished a Classic myself so I can only go by what I've seen along the edges and the visible. Fisheries trucks and staff do show some dedicated effort. I would think Oklahoma will be onboard for that.

I like how FLW does them in National Guard helicopters at some events. Pretty cool!

[SethV]

Water temp won't be a problem that time of year - so the fish should do fine.  The BPS is in Broken Arrow - if they would launch in Disney it is only about 40 min drive.  Should be a cool tx - that time of year is usually tough!  Water will be in the upper 40's to low 50's - think slow jerkbaits, ect.  I never did get them dialed in that time of year down there.

[djkimmel]

Is that the lake where someone (Mark Davis?) won in cold water once shallow with buzzbaits?

[Redbone]

So what about the marshalls?  Do they have to ride in the boaters truck back to the show?

[djkimmel]

Not usual. They are met and left at the ramp parking lot. Just my guess that is how it will go here too. But some anglers might want to ride along for a while more with some of the pros?

[SethV]

Is that the lake where someone (Mark Davis?) won in cold water once shallow with buzzbaits?

Yeah, I was thinking that was Tommy Martin?  I tried that - never did figure out how that worked in that cold water.  About all I could get bit on that time of year was crawling jigs in the brushpiles along bluff walls or on docks.  Always fish on the docks there.