Are you going to be at Grand Lake this weekend – March 4-6? It’s going to be kind of fun…
We will have the clash of the two worlds that love to call Grand Lake their own…the recreational boaters and the hardcore fishing folks.
The eyes of the entire fishing world will be on Grand Lake this weekend with the 2016 B.A.S.S. Bassmasters Classic taking place on the waters of Grand with boats launching from Wolf Creek Park in Grove.
Now there are only 55 anglers who actually fish in the classic, but you can be sure – especially Saturday and Sunday – that there will be several hundred additional boats on the water following and watching the pros.
Don’t believe me? Check out this pic from the 2013 Bassmasters Classic that was held here on Grand Lake.
Word on the street is that a lot of the fishing action this year is likely to take place on the North side of Sailboat Bridge with the lower end of the lake still being a little muddy – ‘stained’ is the word the pros use – from the massive rains we had around here in late December.
But, you can be sure that they (the pros and their followers) will be all over the lake catching the biggest fish wherever they can find them. Heck, I would be too if I could win $300k.
At the same time, on Saturday, we have the annual Welcome Back Weekend ‘Ice Breaker’ Poker Run that will also bring hundreds of Grand Lake’s weekenders back to the lake for the first time this year.
And with temperatures the first weekend of March expected to be pushing 70 degrees – heck yea, let’s go to Grand Lake!
Now the poker run stops are primarily at the South end of the lake – Arrowhead and Cherokee Yacht Clubs, Dick Lane’s, Hammerhead Marina, Cedar Port Marina and Grand Lake Boat Sales/Hi-Lift Marina – but there is also a poker run stop at Shangri-La Marina on Monkey Island.
So what that means is that the recreational boaters will be moving up stream. You know, where most of the fishermen are.
And Island Joe’s at Shangri-La Marina opens this weekend, so people will be staying hydrated and such.
Uh-oh.
It’s not that much of a secret around any lake that the fishing guys aren’t big fans of the recreational boating types and the boating guys aren’t necessarily the guys who will be tuning in to see who wins the classic.
You know…it’s a cats and dogs type of thing.
They have for the most part learned to tolerate each other, but they mostly stay out of each others way. (OMG – What if some sailboats get in the mix as well!?)
Now I have every expectation that everyone is going to play nice this weekend.
But I promise you that there will be conversations around the BOK Center in Tulsa during weigh-ins, and at the Wolf Creek Ramp during launch, and at the Titanic Awards Dinner and Party at Cherokee Yacht Club after the poker run.
And those conversations will include snarky comments about the other group. You can bet on it.
But it’s the co-existence of such passionate boaters and fishing folks that makes Grand Lake so great.
Grand Lake truly is one of the best fisheries in the United States.
And Grand Lake truly is one of the finest lakes in the United States for recreational boating.
So let’s just all have a great weekend and thank our lucky stars that we are spending it at Grand Lake!
You remember that Seinfeld episode where George’s world’s are colliding? “A George divided against itself cannot stand!”
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