06/24/2009 - FIRST PLACE: Kevin Short: 10-10, 11-04, 9-08, 11-13, 20 bass for 43-03 total.

Primary pattern: Short spent the week in a place he described as a “dead-end slough off a river chute.” He grinded the same water each day flipping and cranking repetitive targets, alternating lures and presentations to provoke strikes.

SECOND PLACE: Kelly Jordon: 12-01, 11-01, 7-02, 12-05, 19 bass for 42-09 total.

Primary pattern: Jordon targeted one drain pipe for most of the week, throwing a variety of baits to give the fish a different look.

RICK’S ANALYSIS – The Iowa Elite Series tournament was a complete throwback to the way tournament fishing used to be before premium-timed slugfests like Kentucky Lake, Guntersville and Falcon became the norm. (Be sure to read part one of my thoughts on slugfest tournaments in the previous Kentucky Lake entry.)

When the best pros in the business are struggling just to find one or two keeper bites per day, now we are taking about a contest that is totally different from sitting on one spot and mowing through dozens of keepers to get beyond 20 pounds. It’s not a slugfest, it’s a tough test.

Personally, I prefer the Mississippi River type events because it’s about maximizing a piece of water with all your capacities and resources. When a five-bass limit is a rarity, every second of the day is precious, every single cast counts. You have to make critical adjustments: change lures, change presentations and change casting angles to get the most from your chosen fishing area. Simply put, some of those skills get lost in all out slugfest where you can afford to miss a few fish or make a couple of bad casts because you already have 25 pounds in the well and a 10-pound lead over the field.

Now I’m not saying that we should have all our tournaments on places like the Ohio River. Some places – and the Ohio River is good example – are nonsensical. There are so few populations of fish there that truly pattering fish is almost impossible.

Some places, however, like the Mississippi River, don’t have hordes of aggressive fish biting everywhere, but rather have just enough fish to really test the individuals competing for them. Even before the Iowa event began there were guys already upset that we were fishing there. They deemed the place a “mud hole” and were defeated before the event began. That’s because just getting one or two keeper bites per day in a 12-hour practice day is a lot more demoralizing than getting 20 bites on every other ledge you fish.

Iowa was a grinders tournament and it’s been a long time since we have had one of those on the Elite Series. I enjoyed getting back to that approach where you run to your best water and stay put all day without worrying about moving every 2 minutes. The emphasis gets put back on the fishing: picking apart your best water is like a chess match where success depends on achieving 100 % efficiency and execution both physically and mentally.

Again this is no reflection of the actual winners of slugfest tournaments, but if you were to ask me who I admired more, the winner of an all out slugfest or the winner of a grueling tough test, I would have to go with the tough test winner because in the end that person had to overcome a tremendous amount of adversity and fish a perfect tournament for the win.