Chad
Griffin Scores his First Elite
Series Victory on Sunday with
15-10
Story
by Brent Conway
Posted
- August 16th, 6:59pm CST
Syracuse, NY – With most of the hoopla of Classic berths and postseason invitations to the inaugural Toyota Tundra Angler Of the Year race in Alabama being settled on Saturday, Sunday at Oneida Lake’s Champion’s Choice came down to who would come closest to unseating the rookie camped on top of the leader board.
Texas pro, Chad Griffin, had since Friday, worked to create a five-pound margin of error heading out Sunday morning. While five pounds isn’t entirely insurmountable, odd were that everyone else was going to be fishing for second place. Their best hope was for the leader to stub his toe in a big way.
(Photos by Mark Jeffreys and Matt Pangrac)
After the first day of the tournament, it became clear that, unlike in the past tournaments at Oneida – where largemouth bass ruled the stage – big smallmouth were the key players this week. Sure, having a four-pound green fish to anchor your bag was nice, but most pro agreed that they were a bonus.
Even those anglers who, like Oklahoma pro Terry Butcher, started out focusing solely on largemouth found that their brown cousins were in greater supply – and if the right school was located – could be enough to win with.
Like most anglers in Sunday’s Top 12, Griffin spent his week with a split focus on both species to amass 50 pounds in the first three days of the event. Leaving the launch site Sunday morning, his goal was to catch everything that bit, feeling sure that if he put a 13- or 14-pound limit in the boat he’d walk away $100,000 to the good.
As it turned out, 13 pounds would have created some tension for the Texas angler, but the 15-10 that he brought to the scales was enough to edge second-place finisher Jeff Kriet off the hot seat and give him his first Elite Series trophy.
Griffin’s final tally over four days ended at 65-10, while Kriet’s final day surge of 18-2 (the heaviest limit
on the final day), brought his four-day combined weight to 63-6 – good enough for second place honors, and his highest Elite Series finish since 2007’s Sooner Run at Grand Lake.
Last year’s Choice winner, Dean Rojas, moved into third place overall with 59-3, after weighing 14-10 on the final day. Rojas came on strong Saturday, and furthered his cause Sunday, but cited the absence of a big largemouth bite to be his ultimate undoing.
Attica, NY pro Matthew Sphar posted a fourth-place finish, the highest of his Elite Series career, by weighing 14-12 on Sunday. The limit pushed his final tally to 58-14, and moved him up four places in the final standings.
Jason Quinn ended the week in fifth place, with a four-day combined total weight of 57-8 after placing 12-9 on the scales, and Steve Kennedy, who brought in 14-7 on the day, ended up in 6th place – after a heroic attempt at a postseason position – with 57-4 in combined weight.
1st Place: Chad Griffin
Chad "The Ice Man" Griffin started the week on a super-strong flipping bite but pointed out that his once strong flipping bite deteriorated as the week wore on. The flipping bite just got worse and worse as the week went on,” he said. “I just made the right adjustments throughout the tournament and was able to hold on.
“I actually went back in there this afternoon and caught a couple of smaller fish, but I think what happened is that the bait moved out and the fish followed them.”
Fortunately, aside from flipping, Chad also had a strong topwater bite. “I went out this morning planning to fish top water as long as I could, and about 10:00 I lost my little Zell Pop that I was throwing, which turned out to be the key to the whole deal.”
Griffin pointed out that the XCalibur Zell Pop he was throwing was a perfect match for the baitfish his big smallmouth were keyed on. Without it, he was wasting time. “From the time I lost (the bait) until the end of the day, I never caught another one on top,” he said.
“I had 20 or so roll on the other bait I was throwing, but nothing committed to it.”
With a five-pound lead going into the final day, by the afternoon Griffin said that he felt the lead slipping away. “Honestly, I was sure that I’d lost it this afternoon,” he said. “I lost so many fish – I mean a lot.”
Griffin said that he put his last keeper in the boat at 9:00 this morning. From then until weigh-in, it was a constant struggle to find more fish and keep his boat’s batteries charged. “I should have gone out last night and bought four new batteries,” he said. “Honestly, I was really worried that everything I had in the live well would wind up dying.
“This afternoon I had to drive around just to charge up my batteries. Thank goodness for Rick Morris because he gave me a spare battery, which I had hooked up to my other batteries with a set of jumper cables.”
With is first win in hand, Chad can finally take a reflective look on his tournament and the week he’s had – as well as what the win means to his career. “The win really allows me to keep fishing,” he said. “When it’s meant to be, it’s just meant to be, and this was just an awesome week.”
2nd Place: Jeff Kriet
Jeff Kreit told The BASS ZONE after Saturday’s weigh-in that if the right school showed up, he would have 17 pounds. It never did, but instead an even bigger school emerged. “I probably caught two limits of 17-pound fish,” he said.
“I really thought that I could win on smallmouth this week, but it turns out that I’m going to get beat by one six-pound largemouth from the first day.”
Clearly frustrated after finishing second in a tournament that he felt sure he could win, Kriet pointed out that he left no stone unturned in trying to make it happen. “I did absolutely everything I could to win this week,” he said.
“Execution-wise, I lost one fish all week. Fishing for smallmouth, I really just had to hope that (Griffin) would have a 12-pound day.”
Kriet explained that he used a tube for the majority of his fish this week, targeting deep grass and baitfish. “I used the birds as the baitfish guide,” he said. “If the birds were popping, I might be catching them in 30-feet of water. Most of the time they were in the 18-foot range.
“You had to make a lot of throws and just let it sink down and jerk it back. You could pick up a fish one about every third or fourth cast.”
Looking back, Kriet said that there’s little he could have changed: “I don’t know what it would have been. I don’t know that anyone has ever caught 63 pounds of smallmouth here, so I guess the only thing I could have done is to catch a largemouth or two somewhere in there.”
3rd Place: Dean Rojas
Coming into the final day, defending Oneida winner Dean Rojas was in seventh place and knew that he’d have to pull off some heroics to have a shot at winning for a second straight year. “I caught more fish today that I have any other day this week, but that big bite that I need to pull it off never materialized,” he said.
“I really milked each area for all they were worth.”
Rojas said that Kermit and the new Fightin’ Frog by Big Bite Baits played a role in his week, though he also flipped grass off-and-on all week as well. “I caught quite a few fish on the frog,” he said. “My biggest fish of the week came flipping, and it was really a nice gift.”
Rojas has mixed feelings on this week’s event at Oneida. “I had a really good tournament,” he said. “I fished really well and have no regrets. This lake has always been so good to me, it’s just unfortunate that we won’t be back for a while.”
4th Place: Matt Sphar
As the only New Yorker in the Top 12, Matt Sphar quietly fished his way into contention throughout the week. Sunday things weren’t quite as easy as they had been, however. “It was a pretty tough day,” he said.
“I didn’t catch that many fish today, and really had to scramble around to get those.”
Flipping an 1/8-ounce shaky head with a four-inch Senko, Sphar primarily targeted largemouth along a weed line in eight- to 12-feet of water. He pointed out that the pattern proved to be largely inconsistent, but when he would connect, the payoff was worth the wait.
“I could’ve spent some more time maybe trying to figure out the schooling smallmouth, but I just felt like the largemouth gave me my best shot (at winning),” he said. “The dream didn’t come true, but it was still a good week.”
5th Place: Jason Quinn
Jason Quinn came to Oneida in 55th place in Angler of the Year standings, and needed a strong showing to have a shot at making it to the Classic. He pointed out that he most likely saw his best chance at getting there (a four- or five-pound smallmouth) come unbuttoned early in the day.
“I’ve fished really clean all week, and the first fish I hooked this morning I jumped off,” he said. “In my heart, I knew that I’d probably just missed the Classic right then.”
Still, Quinn was able to manage a limit with a tube rigged on a jig head pretty quick after losing the big smallmouth. “I got to my first spot later than I’d been getting there, and still put a limit in the boat,” he said.
“They were all small though, but thankfully (Jeff) Kriet gave me some lighter jig heads and I was able to sit there and cull everything I had.”
Looking back, Quinn pointed out that during practice he decided to focus exclusively on smallmouth, given the size of the school he’d found. “During practice, I had 18 pounds a day easy,” he said. “During the tournament, I just never had the bites to get there.
“The algae bloom sort of messed part of that deal up, so I had to switch to some suspended fish that I’d found instead.”
6th Place: Steve Kennedy
Going from a (near) zero in 91st after the first day, into the Top 12 by the end of the week, Kennedy revealed that the school he found, and milked with a drop shot, wasn’t necessarily out of design. “The big deal was the schooling fish I found out there in the middle,” he said.
“I was headed down to a dock that, as it turns out, wasn’t even in the water. I stumbled across this school on accident.”
Kennedy said that over the course of the week he caught them “on a little bit of everything,” but the Yamamoto Flash was responsible for most of his damage. “I just had a ball out there this week,” he said.
“If you could get underneath (the school) with that drop shot, it was one fish after the other.”
Looking back on the week, Kennedy – who narrowly failed to qualify for the postseason point’s chase – said that there are a couple things he’d like to change. “Day One, I was trying to manage my fish a little better than I did last year,” he said. “Basically, I just managed to let someone else catch them.
“Looking back I should’ve caught everything I could, but that’s a tough call to make.”
7th Place: Greg Hackney
Final-Day Thoughts: “I caught a ton of fish today, but they weren’t the right ones. I fished to win today, and if I had it all to do over again I would’ve fished for second place instead.”
Bait of Choice: ¾-ounce Hack Attack Jig by Strike King
Biggest Challenge: “How many schools of largemouths I found this week that I’d found, but would just vanish. That’s the only thing that has be wondering.”
Key to the Week: “I honestly believe that the bait that I was using was huge in where I finished this week. I have so much confidence in it that I really believe in a year, most of the flippers in the country will be fishing it.”
Week in Review: “I missed so many fish this week. These fish here just bite bad. You really have to wait on them. They just don’t crush the bait like they do other places.”
8th Place: Tommy Biffle
Final-Day Thoughts: “The wind quit blowing this morning and turned the smallmouth off. I think I caught two in the first two hours, so I finally went largemouth fishing. I was kind of tore both ways this morning. In the last 10 minutes of the day, I had a big fish turn on my bait but didn’t commit. If he would’ve eaten it, it would’ve changed my week.”
Bait of Choice: Tube (smallmouth); Gene Larew Biffle Bug (largemouth)
Key to the Week: “Well, the smallmouth factored into my plans because I needed to make a Top 12. I sort of got torn between fishing for smallmouth and largemouth throughout the day sometimes.”
Week in Review: “I would’ve liked to have won, but really, my goal was a Top 12 finish to secure a chance in the Angler of the Year deal. If that wouldn’t have been in play, I would have strictly fished for
largemouth."
9th Place: Gerald Swindle
Final-Day Thoughts: “I caught a limit pretty quick this morning, but they just kept getting smaller and smaller all day.”
Bait of Choice: Zoom Speed Craw for flipping; Yo-Zuri Lipless crank bait; Lucky Craft Gunfish
Biggest Challenge: “Consistency was really my biggest struggle on week. I could catch them really good one day doing one thing, and the next day I wouldn’t get a sniff with it.”
Week in Review: “I lost a few fish here and there, but really I had a good tournament. I did everything I knew to do in order to be competitive this week.”
10th Place: Terry Butcher
Final-Day Thoughts: “I really thought, after the first hour or so this morning that I would really have a shot at running up the leader board because I’d already caught the bulk of what I weighed in.”
Bait of Choice: Heddon Rattlin’ Zara Spook; Green Pumpkin YUM Wooly Bug
Biggest Challenge: “I didn’t have that afternoon bite today like I’ve been having. They’re probably out there going crazy right now.”
Key to the Week: “All three days of the week, until today, my biggest fish came in the last 30 minutes of the day. That was really the key to keeping me in the hunt. Unfortunately, it just didn’t happen that way today.”
Week in Review: “Looking back, I can’t say that there’s anything I would’ve done differently. I really didn’t go into the tournament thinking I was going to catch them on top water, but after the first morning when it was overcast, I never laid it down. It worked out pretty well.”
11th Place: Bernie Schultz
Final-Day Thoughts: “The big school of smallmouth that (Gerald Swindle) and I were on just didn’t really pan out today. I wound up spending the day flipping mats, and just never got anything over two pounds.”
Bait of Choice: Baby Fat Craw by Yamamoto and Paca Craw (both in green pumpkin) for flipping; Rapala X-Rap Shad; 4-inch Senko around docks (green pumpkin).
Biggest Challenge: “I struggled all week long with the morning bite. I just never could get anything going during the first two hours of the day.”
Key to the Week: “Timing was the whole key because all different sizes of fish use the mats that I was targeting. It’s just a matter of which school is there when you rotate through.”
Week in Review: “You can sit there and speculate on what you might have done differently, but at the end of the day I did exactly what I wanted to do. I caught a done of fish, but just couldn’t get the kind of quality I needed.”
12th Place: Takahiro Omori
Final-Day Thoughts: “Today was really slow for me. I guess I’m just out of fish.”
Biggest Challenge: “I just didn’t have enough fish I guess. I tried everything I could to key on the largemouths.”
Key to the Week: “Everything I weighed this week were all largemouths. I did everything I could, but I just wasn’t able to get the really big bite.”
Week in Review: “My goal was to make it to the Classic. I know that I don’t have enough points to get into the Top 12, so all in all this was a really good week.”
