Hi Carl ... Yes, I remember that tournament. Recall catching a big lake trout during prefish on a spinnerbait of all things. One cast was a bass, the next the laker! I was fishing that lttle island as you get into Penn- or was it Fairy - anyway, this laker hit like a ton of bricks and was so ripe it was spewing eggs all over the place as I reeled her in. She made amess of my boat!

Anyway ...your question about overwintering - from what I recall, I think a great many smallmouth bass do indeed return to the same overwintering grounds every year. What I don't think we know - is what happens to those bass if they don't return to the exact same spot. Then again ... it could be that even if a bass is released from a tournament during the end of October in an area ... say 20 miles from it's traditional overwintering spot, that it's no big deal for it to swim the 20 miles back in time to"over winter". So many questions, so many answers still waiting to be answered ... do we need more bass research out there or what!
Wil
PS ... if they didn' stop pulling water during that tournament ... I think I had the fish to win it in the river! Come tournament day there was zero current; before that it was very strong. Zero current meant zerro bass there ... for me any way!