By David Xiong
In early 2023, BASS announced a new format for the BASS Nation series that would start with the 2024 season. Per the press release from BASS, “individual, grass-roots angler - even those who are not affiliated with a local club - will have more opportunities to qualify for the BASS Nation Championship and a shot at a berth in the Bassmaster Classic.”
This change would be implemented for the 4 BASS Nation Qualifier events with the first Qualifier taking place at Lake Eufaula in Alabama. This would be the opportunity that Alabama’s own Kenneth Grover would take advantage of in trying to make a long-time dream of fishing the Bassmaster Classic come true. The first step he had to make sure he did was to get connected to the BASS Nation of his state. Once this was done, focusing on figuring out Lake Eufaula in late January would be the next big task.
Having lived in Alabama for all of his life, it’s surprising that Kenneth has only fished Lake Eufaula a handful of times before the BASS Nation Qualifier. Trying not to let too much public information and past history distract him from current lake conditions, he would use the few days of official practice to figure out where the fish he needed would be, not being able to get to the lake before the official cutoff.
Having decided he would concentrate on the lower end of the lake, Kenneth would fire up his Skeeter FXR20 and idle around finding cleaner water and using his electronics to find some of the prespawn highways and rest areas that the bass would be using. With the way winds were blowing against the current, he was glad his Skeeter was able to handle the rough water with no issues. Due to the limited amount of practice he had, he liked that the boat was able to hold all of the fishing gear that could come into play.
One of the spots that he found was a roadbed that he would have all to himself on Day 1. Seeing that many of the boats around him were focused on brush piles, Kenneth went to work doing what he loves to do, fishing a jig. His primary weapon of choice was a 1/2 oz Buckeye football Mop jig featuring a “Kenneth-custom” hand-tied skirt with a Yamamoto Double tail grub trailer. Kenneth painted the grub in chartreuse and red but believed the key to the jig was the rattles that he added.
After practice, Kenneth knew Day 1 would be a bit tough due to the recent bad weather and heavy rain. Having only 6 bites all day, he worked his jig all around the roadbed and another similar area and was able to scrape up a limit weight of 12-9, putting him in 31st place. Seeing how the day played out, he knew that he would have to go to one of his other spots to start Day 2.
On Day 2, Kenneth went to another area that had similar features to what he fished on Day 1. With his goal of making it into the Top 20 in order to qualify for the Bass Nation Championship, he knew that there was a lot of work to do.
Remember those rattles that he added to his jig? Kenneth believed that the way he was subtly working that jig along the gradual drops of a ledge was a key to triggering his bites. Fortunately, this presentation along with another keeper caught off of a Bill Lewis MR-12 crankbait, helped him catch 13-15, good enough to barely squeak in to 18th and qualifying for the Championship later in the year. With that goal met, he set his eyes on trying to finish as high as he could. Little did he know what Day 3 would have in store.
Waking up after preparing more jigs for the final day, Kenneth felt energized and dialed in heading to his spot. Capitalizing on the early morning bite with everything coming on the jig, Kenneth would go on to catch the tournament’s heaviest bag of 25-4 that was anchored by a 7-7, which was just a few ounces off overall big fish. He caught all of his Day 3 weight in the first 2 hours just making a few passes, saying it was “like magic.” This awesome performance would bump him all the way to a 2nd place finish, which to Kenneth, was almost as good as winning looking back at how the tournament started.
Being one step closer to a Classic qualification, Kenneth did mention that the Bass Nation winner also gets an invitation to the Elite Series as well. When asked if he had entertained the idea of fishing against some of the best anglers on the planet, he made sure to say that he had to focus first on the Nation championship and that it was too early to evaluate that scenario to make a decision. But he never said “No.”
As with all tournament anglers, most of the time the money one ends up winning doesn’t help with breaking even after considering all of the costs that went into the whole event. With the Yamaha Power Pay contingency program, Kenneth was able to add another $1,000 on his winnings, contributing to what was already a spectacular event. Along with the added pay, he’s hoping to use the momentum he’s had throughout the rest of the tournaments on his 2024 schedule.
