Scroggins Heavy Favorite for Classic

Jason Quinn can certainly identify with Terry Scroggins and his status as the consensus heavy favorite entering next week’s 36th annual CITGO Bassmaster Classic on Lake Tohopekaliga in Florida - which is Scroggins’ home state.

Like Scroggins, Quinn was the big favorite to win the 2004 Bassmaster Classic on North Carolina’s Lake Wylie, where Quinn had been a fishing guide for years. But it wasn’t to be. With a flotilla of spectator boats in tow, Quinn struggled to finish sixth.

“On one hand, it’s a great position to be in,” Quinn said. “But there’s a lot of pressure and attention that goes with it.”

In the extensive history of the Bassmaster Classic, no angler has won the world championship when it was held in his home state.

Scroggins, 37, of Palatka in northern Florida, hopes to reverse that trend.

“My confidence is real high,” he said. “I might go in there and finish dead last. But if I was betting on who’s going to win it right now, I’d have my name in the hat.

“Without a doubt, it’s got to be one of the best opportunities I’ll ever have, unless they have a Classic on the St. Johns River. Other than the St. Johns River, this Classic on the Kissimmee Chain is the best opportunity I will ever have.”

Over the years, Quinn and other local Bassmaster Classic favorites have been plagued by the unintended impact of being followed by spectators on the water. That threat does not intimidate Scroggins, however.

“Quinn had a lot of spectator boats on him and I’m going to have some on me. But I think that I might be able to plan for that a little bit and try to keep them behind me,” Scroggins explained.

“As long as you’re moving forward and not backtracking, I don’t think it will play too important a role. But if you start running back and hitting a spot two or three times, it’s going to get you. If you plan ahead and hit each spot just one time, I think you’ll be fine.”

Scroggins knows as well as anyone that the traditionally finicky weather of February will dictate the most successful fishing tactics during Classic XXXVI. But his skills — and confidence — seem well suited for the most likely scenarios.

“I really like my chances, especially if the weather gets cold and it’s going to be a good flipping bite,” he said, “I will be hard to beat. If it’s a sightfishing deal, I can also sightfish pretty well. But a lot of other guys can, too.

“Also, the topwater bite is going to be strong, too. And it could be won offshore.”

Despite being in a Bassmaster Classic field that includes such capable sightfishermen as Dean Rojas, Aaron Martens, Skeet Reese and Gary Klein, Scroggins says he can hold his own if the bass are on beds during the event.

“I learned to sightfish growing up in northeast Florida,” Scroggins said. “Just look at the guys that come from this area — Peter T, Preston Clark, myself, Bernie Schultz, Shaw Grigsby. We know how to sightfish. We’ve been doing it for years and years and years. We were doing it before anybody else was doing it, I believe.”

 

From BASS