Winter Weather and the Classic

I've been watching the Lay Lake water temperatures online lately, and it seems a few things are evident. First, the site that I've been viewing has been displaying inaccurate temperatures. About a week ago it listed the temp as around 43, which seems right. Then a few days ago it began listing it as 50, with the temp at 43 just the day before. That is obviously a mistake. But given the temp in the low 40's, which Bassmaster.com has confirmed, it's pretty obvious that this is not going to be an easy Classic. Even if the temps were to warm up--and it sounds like the weather will improve a bit, into the 50's by next Wednesday or so--it won't be nearly enough to put the fish into shallow water. This really could make this anyone's game, and I'm guessing it might wash out the hopes of a few of the media favorites. Russ Lane is a self-professed spotted bass fanatic (check out his site--he specializes in guided tours for spots), and some people have pegged him as being a factor. But given that this Classic might bear some resemblance to the frigid Lake Hartwell Classic of '08, who's to say that a deep jig bite, like the one that helped Alton Jones win, won't be a winning pattern? Where I am, in New Hampshire, it's snowing,which may not seem like surprising news. But this is the first snow we've had in nearly 6 weeks. The mega-blast of snow that hit the metro-Atlantic states a week ago missed us entirely. But the south is nearly as cold as we are, and it's been that way ALL winter long! As far as winters go up here, this is pretty much par for the course. I'm counting the days to ice-out, and I expect we'll be fishing open water in about two months. But what they're going through down south is unheard of. It sounds as though the spawn will be put off by about a month and a half. My guess is that they'll be fishing a late winter pattern at the Classic, rather than pre-spawn.