More to come in Arkansas

Jerry Mckinnis of Little Rock, a principal owner of BASS, said this weekend’s Bull Shoals tournament is the first of three Bassmaster Elite Series tournaments that will be held on Arkansas water in 2012-2014.

Mckinnis said BASS has not determined the sites of the 2013-2014 tournaments, but the Elite Series anglers favor returning to Bull Shoals while its bass fishery is peaking.

Mckinnis said Greers Ferry Lake is a possible destination, and Lake Dardanelle is also a high-quality fishery that can accommodate a big tournament.

The organization that became BASS originated in Springdale in 1967, but BASS isn’t likely to return to Beaver Lake in the spring or late winter because that lake hosts an annual FLW Tour event. The last major BASS tournament at Beaver Lake was the 25th Anniversary tournament in 1992, won by Larry Nixon of Bee Branch.

Calling Dr. Black

If you need a hook removed from your hand during a fishing tournament, Dr. John Black is your man.

Black removed a treble hook from Brandon Palaniuk’s hand Friday at Mountain Home, but he also removed a hook from Kevin Vandam years ago during a tournament on Table Rock Lake.

Vandam recalled his incident on stage during Friday’s weigh-in, but he said he was more impressed that Palaniuk caught 24 pounds in a half day of fishing.

Ounces count

When anglers catch so many similar size fish, Clark Reehm said boosting your average weight by ounces could be the difference between making a cut or missing it.

Like the rest of the field, Reehm said he caught an overwhelming number of bass in the 2-pound, 8ounce range. He adjusted his approach to boost his average weight to 2-12.

“As the week progresses, your filler fish get smaller,” Reehm said. “Threepounders are going to 2 1 ⁄ 2. Ounces are going to be big here, so you need to replace those 2 1⁄2s with 3 1⁄4s. You can’t just hope you get lucky.”

Reehm made the cut in 13th place, catching 157 Friday. He caught 14-1 Saturday to stay in 13th place. Only the top 12 advance to today’s final round.

A higher standard

Lakes that have 15-inch minimum length limits force anglers to improve their standards, but Bull Shoals seems to be an exception because it has so many 15inch bass.

“Fourteen is the new 12,” said Clark Reehm of Shreveport, explaining that a 15-inch minimum length limit forces anglers to catch a minimum of 14 pounds instead of 12 pounds to make the cut into the 50-man, third-round field.

Tripp Weldon said Elite Series caliber anglers are accustomed to 15-inch minimum length limits in Missouri and the Arkansas River, but Bull Shoals surprised everyone.

“We’ve never been here before, but I’ve heard stories about how bad this lake was,” Weldon said. “Anglers come here knowing they have to catch 15-inchers. Now if they had to do that the way it used to be, it might be a different story.”

Anglers reported catching between 30-100 keepers per day. They said they got so tired catching and releasing “cookie cutter keepers” that they had to adjust their tactics to catch bigger fish.

Ish’s makeover

Ishama Monroe of Hughson, Calif., is one of the sharper dressers of the Elite Series anglers, exhibiting a northern California flair.

It was not always so. There’s a photo of a much younger Monroe in the book, Fishing Arkansas by Keith Sutton, in which he wears a Silver Thread cap perched high on his head, John Deere style. He’s also wearing blue/green plaid shorts and blue hushpuppies.

“Oh, yeah, I remember that,” Monroe said. “The shorts? They’re gone.”

One fish, two fish

Jonathon Vandam of Kalamazoo, Mich., suffered a 2-pound penalty Friday after reporting himself for having six fish in his live well. Anglers are allowed to possess no more than five fish.

Despite the penalty, JVD made the cut in 39th place with a two-day total weight of 27-4. The mistake cost him almost 20 places.

JVD is best known for his public feud with Denny Brauer during the 2011 Elite Series tournament on the Arkansas River at Little Rock.