07/16/04-"Two Classics in recent memory have lent themselves to the possibility heavy spectator traffic.  The 1996 Classic and the 2002 Classic, both on Alabama's Lay Lake, a lake near a large population of very sophisticated bass anglers.  In 1996, George Cochran ran to a pool that held a lot of land locked bass.  To get into that spot he had to run a stump filled, shallow flat that was less than 2 feet deep.  First of all, he was the only guy who figured out that the Summer time bass on Lay Lake were shallow.  Most everyone believed the bass would be deeper.  The second thing is that George put himself in a spot that spectator boats were afraid to go, it was a treacherous place to get into.  I won the 2002 Classic at Lay Lake and I did it by fishing way up the Coosa River near the base of the dam.  The big spots I was catching were relating to heavy current.  I had virtually no spectator traffic because getting to my spot involved running up river and again was kind of dangerous to get to, there were a lot of big rocks up that river and most locals wouldn't risk the run.  The few who did couldn't hurt the current relating fish, because those fish were used to a lot of commotion with the current and were actually using the current to feed."

"The winner of this year's Classic will have to find a population of fish that are either so isolated that no one can follow a leader into the spot or deep enough that surface disturbance won't affect the.  Do I think this year's Classic will be won deep?  I think there is a good chance.  Watch for guys who are good at struture fishing and do well with finesse techniques."