Just like NBA Basketball player Alan Iverson once said…. ”We’re talking about practice?” Yes, today we’re talking about practice and how important it can be for an angler to be successful. With my recent 11th place finish at Sam Rayburn in the ABA Pro League, it was a reminder of just how important practice can be.
The problem with practice this time of year (spring) is that conditions can change overnight, or worse, by the hour. But nevertheless, we will see how time on the water is important to being successful and how we as anglers must keep an open mind, especially on tournament day.
Let’s start with day one of practice, as conditions were very mild with warm daily temperatures reaching the lower 80’s and a mild northwest wind at 5 to 10 MPH. But one thing that would be a definite factor in this event was the rising water level.
The East Texas region had been inundated with torrential rain the week of this event with as much as 10 inches falling just north of Sam Rayburn. This created a much-needed steady rise all across Sam Rayburn. The lake had been approximately 6.5 feet low prior to this tournament, creating all sorts of obstacles for anglers to navigate around making for some nervous boat rides.
So, I made a decision to go shallow and shrink the lake by limiting my options and fishing fairly close to the tournament site. I wanted to really get into an area, learn it, and figure out what the bass were doing in this particular part of the lake. This proved to be a very productive move on my part as there was plenty of cover with patches of lily pads and hydrilla in several pockets I had chosen to concentrate on.
Now with rising water on any lake, bass have a tendency to move up with the rising water and head for the shallows. First thing I realized on day 1 of practice was there were a good number of quality bass roaming the shallows as I caught a few fish in the 3-to-4-pound range. Based off a previous event I researched from the week before, I noticed the weights were down and that 12 to 14 pounds would probably be good enough to get a check.
Over a two-day period of practice, I found three areas holding quality fish and decided to rotate through each over the course of my tournament day. But one area was especially promising as I caught three good fish and shook off 10 others late on the final day of practice. So, what does it mean to shake fish off? It’s where an angler fishes a bait with either a bent over hook or fishing the bait hookless, making sure he never hooks the fish.
Years ago, a fellow angler showed me this tip that I now use when practicing for a tournament and I don’t want to hook fish prior to the event. It's called a screw lock and allows me to fish a soft plastic bait, like a worm or creature bait, without using a hook. The fish still bite the bait and in most cases I can see or feel if they are quality fish or not.
Hooking bass a day or two before an event will cause them not to bite. Anglers call this “sore mouthing” them. But there are times when I’m on a new body of water that I’m not familiar with that I will hook a few fish just to see what size bass are in that area.
During my 2 days of practice, it did not take long for me to figure out that a weightless fluke, a speed worm with an 1/8-ounce weight, and a chatterbait would be my top baits for this event. Wind was a huge factor as well and was an important key to certain areas being more productive than areas with little to no wind.
As tournament day rolled around, I headed for my best area that I felt I could catch my five fish limit rather quickly. This held true as I boated 5 decent keeper fish before 8:00 AM and began to cull up for the rest of the day. The day started out with calm winds, but that all changed by 11:00 AM as winds shifted out of the south at 20 to 25 MPH for the rest of the day making it tough to place the bait where you wanted.
But it was on those windy banks or pockets, with scattered hydrilla patches in 2 feet or less, where fish seemed to be feeding heavily on shad. Therefore, the chatterbait became my main bait for the rest of the day. I was able to cull several fish, but my culls were only in ounces and not in pounds. I finished with around 13 pounds total for this event placing me in 11th overall. Most events are decided by who gets the kicker or bigger bites of a 5- or 6-pound fish. That big bite never came for me in this tournament which is why I finished 11th.
The best part of this event for me was that I moved up in the ABA Pro League Angler of the Year standings from 27th to 7th. Only the top 10 for AOY at the end of the season qualify for the Ray Scott National Championship which will be held at Lake Eufaula, Alabama in April of 2025. So, from my perspective, this was a very important event and now I must continue to do well in order to put myself in position to make another Ray Scott Championship.
Till next time, good luck, good fishing and when in doubt…. set the hook!
Steve Graf Angler’s Perspective
