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<p><b>The 2016 Bassmaster Classic ran March 4-6 on Grand Lake near Tulsa, OK. iboats had a great opportunity to talk with Randall Tharp and Mark Menendez of the Yamaha Pro Team as they prepped for the tournament. </b>
<p><b>Randall Tharp:</b>
<br /><i>*Randall Tharp, Bassmaster Classic Prep</i>
<p>I got introduced to bass fishing through the Bassmaster Classic. You don't need to know anything about competitive bass fishing to be able to come to the Bassmaster Classic and enjoy it. There's always something new, it's always the latest and greatest products. All the new Yamaha products will be here. The crowds in Tulsa are unbelievable for the Classic. Even if somebody doesn't follow the tour yet, this is the event to get people interested in it.
<p><img SRC="http://www.iboats.com/mall_marketing/newsletter/march16/images/art1-1.jpg" border="0" />
<p>Without a doubt, the Classic has the most impact of all the tournaments we compete in all year. The Classic is the culmination of how the anglers did in the previous season. Last years' results get you into the Classic. There's around 37 Elite tournament competitors at the Classic.
<p><img SRC="http://www.iboats.com/mall_marketing/newsletter/march16/images/art1-2.jpg" border="0" />
<p>The regular 2016 Elite season actually kicks off at the St. John's river event in a couple weeks.
<p>I'm proud to be a part of the Yamaha Pro Angler Team. We're at the very top. Yamaha has a very strong team made up of some of the best fishermen.
<p>This year Randall is running a Phoenix 921 Pro EP with a Yamaha 250 SHO. He has two PowerPoles on the back, a MinnKota trolling motor on the bow and has all Lowrance electronics on board.
<p>Follow and catch up with Randall on his site: <a href="http://www.randytharp.com/blog/?cm_mmc=Email-_-March2016Review-_-ArticleLink-_-RandyBlog">http://www.randytharp.com/blog/</a> Learn more about Phoenix bass boats and find your nearest dealer: <a href="http://boats.iboats.com/phoenix-bass-boats/?cm_mmc=Email-_-March2016Review-_-ArticleLink-_-BassBoats">http://boats.iboats.com/phoenix-bass-boats/</a>
<p><img SRC="http://www.iboats.com/mall_marketing/newsletter/march16/images/art1-3.jpg" align="right" hspace="10" vspace="10" border="0" />
<b>Mark Menendez:</b>
<p>This will be my 25th season. I've been here a long time. I run a Skeeter FX20 with a Yamaha 250 SHO. There's a pair of Power Poles on the back, all Lowrance electronics and a MotorGuide X-5 trolling motor. This is my first year runn'n a MotorGuide. It's a lighter trolling motor which helps the overall performance of my boat. There's less weight up front that the SHO has to leverage to run better. It's simpler to use too with the new variable system on the foot peddle. The torque is completely abolished at high thrust. You can go right down the bank without any problems of the trolling motor trying to fishtail going left and right in a heavy current or wind. It just makes life a lot easier.
<p>This season's gonna be a shallow water season. We don't have a lot of deep water events. We don't have a lot of offshore events. And we've got a couple Small Mouth events thrown in there as well. This is going to be good old bubba bass fishing with heavy line, heavy cover and trying to wrench big ones out of that heavy cover. It's kind of nice to get back to some basics. It's gonna be a lot of flipp'n. I think a spinner bait is gonna be a real player this season. Grand Lake is a great winter time lake. The bass here don't get ultra deep. They live a little shallower here. There's mass quantities of 3-5 pound bass in Grand Lake.
<p>I love fishing in the NE, I love fishing around the Great Lakes. I guess my favorite place to go is Coosa River for the Coosa River Spotted Bass. It's absolutely, positively the meanest black bass that swims. Lake Jordan is just phenomenal where you're catching 4-7 pounder's all day. Those fish hit the bait, they're so aggressive, so hard they'll just pull your butt right out of the boat if you're not careful.
<p>But for now I'm concentrating on Grand Lake and some great competitors here this weekend.
<p><img SRC="http://www.iboats.com/mall_marketing/newsletter/march16/images/art1-4.jpg" align="left" hspace="10" vspace="10" border="0" />
Follow the Bassmaster Elite season on their site: <a href="https://www.bassmaster.com/slideshow/2016-elite-series-schedule?cm_mmc=Email-_-March2016Review-_-ArticleLink-_-BassMaster">https://www.bassmaster.com/slideshow/2016-elite-series-schedule</a>
<p>Mark's web site is: <a href="http://markmenendez.com/bio.htm?cm_mmc=Email-_-March2016Review-_-ArticleLink-_-MarkBio">http://markmenendez.com/bio.htm</a> Find out more about Skeeter boats and your nearest dealer: <a href="http://boats.iboats.com/skeeter-boats/?cm_mmc=Email-_-March2016Review-_-ArticleLink-_-Skeeter">http://boats.iboats.com/skeeter-boats/</a>
<p>To check out the Yamaha SHO outboards Randall and Mark are running: <a href="http://yamahaoutboards.com/outboards/VMAX-SHO?cm_mmc=Email-_-March2016Review-_-ArticleLink-_-Yamaha">http://yamahaoutboards.com/outboards/VMAX-SHO</a>
<p><i>Photos courtesy Yamaha Outboards</i>
<p><b>Randall Tharp:</b>
<br /><i>*Randall Tharp, Bassmaster Classic Prep</i>
<p>I got introduced to bass fishing through the Bassmaster Classic. You don't need to know anything about competitive bass fishing to be able to come to the Bassmaster Classic and enjoy it. There's always something new, it's always the latest and greatest products. All the new Yamaha products will be here. The crowds in Tulsa are unbelievable for the Classic. Even if somebody doesn't follow the tour yet, this is the event to get people interested in it.
<p><img SRC="http://www.iboats.com/mall_marketing/newsletter/march16/images/art1-1.jpg" border="0" />
<p>Without a doubt, the Classic has the most impact of all the tournaments we compete in all year. The Classic is the culmination of how the anglers did in the previous season. Last years' results get you into the Classic. There's around 37 Elite tournament competitors at the Classic.
<p><img SRC="http://www.iboats.com/mall_marketing/newsletter/march16/images/art1-2.jpg" border="0" />
<p>The regular 2016 Elite season actually kicks off at the St. John's river event in a couple weeks.
<p>I'm proud to be a part of the Yamaha Pro Angler Team. We're at the very top. Yamaha has a very strong team made up of some of the best fishermen.
<p>This year Randall is running a Phoenix 921 Pro EP with a Yamaha 250 SHO. He has two PowerPoles on the back, a MinnKota trolling motor on the bow and has all Lowrance electronics on board.
<p>Follow and catch up with Randall on his site: <a href="http://www.randytharp.com/blog/?cm_mmc=Email-_-March2016Review-_-ArticleLink-_-RandyBlog">http://www.randytharp.com/blog/</a> Learn more about Phoenix bass boats and find your nearest dealer: <a href="http://boats.iboats.com/phoenix-bass-boats/?cm_mmc=Email-_-March2016Review-_-ArticleLink-_-BassBoats">http://boats.iboats.com/phoenix-bass-boats/</a>
<p><img SRC="http://www.iboats.com/mall_marketing/newsletter/march16/images/art1-3.jpg" align="right" hspace="10" vspace="10" border="0" />
<b>Mark Menendez:</b>
<p>This will be my 25th season. I've been here a long time. I run a Skeeter FX20 with a Yamaha 250 SHO. There's a pair of Power Poles on the back, all Lowrance electronics and a MotorGuide X-5 trolling motor. This is my first year runn'n a MotorGuide. It's a lighter trolling motor which helps the overall performance of my boat. There's less weight up front that the SHO has to leverage to run better. It's simpler to use too with the new variable system on the foot peddle. The torque is completely abolished at high thrust. You can go right down the bank without any problems of the trolling motor trying to fishtail going left and right in a heavy current or wind. It just makes life a lot easier.
<p>This season's gonna be a shallow water season. We don't have a lot of deep water events. We don't have a lot of offshore events. And we've got a couple Small Mouth events thrown in there as well. This is going to be good old bubba bass fishing with heavy line, heavy cover and trying to wrench big ones out of that heavy cover. It's kind of nice to get back to some basics. It's gonna be a lot of flipp'n. I think a spinner bait is gonna be a real player this season. Grand Lake is a great winter time lake. The bass here don't get ultra deep. They live a little shallower here. There's mass quantities of 3-5 pound bass in Grand Lake.
<p>I love fishing in the NE, I love fishing around the Great Lakes. I guess my favorite place to go is Coosa River for the Coosa River Spotted Bass. It's absolutely, positively the meanest black bass that swims. Lake Jordan is just phenomenal where you're catching 4-7 pounder's all day. Those fish hit the bait, they're so aggressive, so hard they'll just pull your butt right out of the boat if you're not careful.
<p>But for now I'm concentrating on Grand Lake and some great competitors here this weekend.
<p><img SRC="http://www.iboats.com/mall_marketing/newsletter/march16/images/art1-4.jpg" align="left" hspace="10" vspace="10" border="0" />
Follow the Bassmaster Elite season on their site: <a href="https://www.bassmaster.com/slideshow/2016-elite-series-schedule?cm_mmc=Email-_-March2016Review-_-ArticleLink-_-BassMaster">https://www.bassmaster.com/slideshow/2016-elite-series-schedule</a>
<p>Mark's web site is: <a href="http://markmenendez.com/bio.htm?cm_mmc=Email-_-March2016Review-_-ArticleLink-_-MarkBio">http://markmenendez.com/bio.htm</a> Find out more about Skeeter boats and your nearest dealer: <a href="http://boats.iboats.com/skeeter-boats/?cm_mmc=Email-_-March2016Review-_-ArticleLink-_-Skeeter">http://boats.iboats.com/skeeter-boats/</a>
<p>To check out the Yamaha SHO outboards Randall and Mark are running: <a href="http://yamahaoutboards.com/outboards/VMAX-SHO?cm_mmc=Email-_-March2016Review-_-ArticleLink-_-Yamaha">http://yamahaoutboards.com/outboards/VMAX-SHO</a>
<p><i>Photos courtesy Yamaha Outboards</i>
