Peter Thliveros hopes for a gold medal repeat in the Games.

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — If Peter Thliveros could travel in time, he wouldn't necessarily return to a year ago, when he won the gold medal during the Bass Fishing Competition in the inaugural ESPN Great Outdoor Games.

If he could make the trip, he would prefer a trip to the future to about two or three weeks from now.

Thliveros already has a gold medal, so the return trip wouldn't do him as much good as winning a second this year. But the conditions that afforded Thliveros the chance to win a year ago are behind schedule this year.

"It's a totally different ballgame than it was," Thliveros said. "We're here earlier by a few weeks, and the water is about a foot deeper. It's colder. And we don't have the weed growth we had last year."

The later is an important factor for Thliveros. He concentrated on submerged grass beds, flipping a jig into the holes and edges around them to catch the heaviest stringer on the final day on competition.

It also will prove to be a factor for the remaining 10 anglers. While this is one of the smallest competitive fields these professionals will fish against, the size of the water matches the number of anglers.

	“	I just hope I can find them. Everything will hinge on how well we use our time during the short practice time. ”
		— Bass competitor Larry Nixon

Or at least it did a year ago. Without the abundance of grass beds, Thliveros and bronze medalist, Randy Blaukat, expect everyone to be bunched up in the best fishing areas.

The Saranac Chain of Lakes "will likely fish very small," Blaukat said.

Which is bad news for Blaukat and most of the field. Friday is the only scheduled day of practice, before the tournament begins on Saturday.

"One day doesn't allow much time to try new things," Blaukat said.

With a field that boasts the top bass professionals in the world, there's no doubt that the best, most obvious places will be found by all of them. And with the short practice, most of them won't have time to find the little hidden places that often produces winning stringers.

	Bass pro Larry Nixon is a master at fishing waters he's never seen.

"It'll be just like last year, when everyone catches fish, but the guy who figures out how to catch the big ones will win," said competitor Larry Nixon.

For the most part, Nixon said that will mean finding largemouth bass.

The Saranac Chain of Lakes is known for its smallmouth bass. They are the prevalent species, and are expected to make up the lion's share of the catch in the tournament. But a smallmouth typically weighs lighter than a largemouth, so the largemouth will be the most sought-after fish.

"I just hope I can find them," Nixon said. "Everything will hinge on how well we use our time during the short practice time. It's just nice to know we're all in the same situation."

The tournament will begin at 6:30 a.m. EST and end at 3 p.m. EST Saturday.

The 11 anglers will be cut to five. The final five will have their weights erased, and they will fish to see who can catch the five largest bass during an eight-hour period.