The Wired2Fish staff had the opportunity to follow the anglers as they came off the stage and into the press room after weighing in at the Bassmaster Classic that concluded Sunday on Lay Lake.
Here are some great quotes by some of the best anglers in the world.
Stephen Browning- "I think I am going to change my name to 'catfish' because I catch a catfish at every Classic. I saw a group of shad getting chased and pulled in on them and made a cast....you guessed it...a catfish." Catfish Browning ended up in 25th place.
Dean Rojas- "Today, all I wanted to do was stop the bleeding. As with most of the guys...I come to win, and getting to fish the last day is critical. I am just glad this one is over, and I am ready to get the season started." Rojas finished 23rd.
Jason Quinn- "I laid on the boat deck for two hours today, sick as a dog with food poisoning. I think I got the sandwich that Ike was suppose to get (laughed). I am just now feeling better."
Jeff Freeman- after weighing in and seeing his name on the top of the leader board, Crochet said, "Get a picture of that screen Terry. I am leading this deal." Freeman went on to finish 9th in his second Classic.
Billy McCaghren- 2009 BASS Rookie of the Year said, "This really motivates me. I have a taste for this now and want to taste it again. Now I have to take the second step and again prove I am worthy to be here by doing it again next year." McCaghren finished 24th.
"The Cajun Baby" Cliff Crochet, a uniform police officer in Assumption Parish in Louisiana said "Life is good. I hope I can fish well enough to make next year's Classic in New Orleans. That would be sweet." Crochet finished 13th.
Kevin Wirth who weighed in 15 pounds, 8 ounces on the final day and had two bass more than 4 pounds said laughingly " We all need to get Kevin down and wale on him. Man is he tough. I think quitting smoking both helped and hurt me this week. I wigged out for about 2 hours on day one and about two hours yesterday but today...no wig out and I caught them better."
Matt Herren-"I clawed, scraped, punched and crawled to catch every fish." Herren finished 7th and is "still running".
Jeff Kriet- "I need therapy. I had several premonitions this week and none of them came through. I would really like to trash talk right now. Kevin and I have had this happen on a couple of occasions before, and I do not like the way it has worked out so far." This is his second second-place finish in a row. He finished second at Oneida in the last qualifier in 2009 and finished second in the Classic. Seems like he is on a roll heading into the start of the season.
2010 Winner Kevin VanDam- "I always want to win, and it's neat to do it on the eve of my kids birthday this year. These are the toughest anglers in the world, and I am honored to fish with them. We need to continue to support our sport because there are people out there that do not want us to hunt and fish. I love this sport."
Congratulations to Kevin VanDam for another inspiring and impressive Classic win.
