RIDGELAND, Miss. — Tournaments played when the full spawning cycle is underway can be tricky to pattern when time is limited. Anglers must choose between prespawn, spawn or postspawn strategies.
Juggling all of them is a gamble, and especially so in a three-day derby that eliminates all but the top 10 anglers. Taking the least risky of the three options is the wiser move.
Those are the dynamics in play at the St. Croix Bassmaster Central Open at Ross Barnett presented by Mossy Oak. Practice is over, so now reality sets in on which option is most likely to pay off.
Postspawn largemouth were the unanimous choice among a random group of anglers interviewed on the final practice day.
“Ninety percent of the bass have spawned, and that population is staging on shallow flats, and specifically around scattered vegetation,” said Lee Livesay.
Largemouth and vegetation go together, but there is more to the reason why they are relating to that cover given the current conditions at Ross Barnett. The lake is shallow, averaging 12 feet of depth, and that makes it more prone to shifts in water clarity during spring. Recent rain and runoff had the lake borderline muddy, although the water level is dropping, thereby pulling stained water out of the creeks, into the main lake, and back into the Pearl River below the dam.
Livesay, the Bassmaster Elite pro from Texas, said the filtration effect of the water flowing through the vegetation provides clearer water than the surrounding areas. What is more, bluegill, shad and crawfish are spawning on the flats, giving the largemouth everything they need for survival.
That setup has good and bad scenarios for the anglers. Another unanimous comment resonating throughout yesterday’s interviews was the fishing pressure. Ross Barnett is 33,000 acres and there are 225 boats in the tournament. Textbook postspawn areas are the lake’s offshore flats near the creek channels and bays where bass spawn. Those bass are concentrated in specific areas, and all are getting pressured by anglers.
“There’s no room to spread out,” said fellow Texan and Elite pro Keith Combs. “The good news is more bass are coming into the postspawn pattern.”
Even so, and with so many boats keying on the same number of limited areas, Combs said boat positioning will be key. Finding the sweet spot, or a something subtle that stands out from everything else, will be a game changer.
“It’s one of those deals where you need to pay attention to what everyone else is doing, and find something different that will produce bites,” Combs said.
There was talk of a shad spawn during the early morning, low light conditions. If that pans out the narrow window of opportunity could be the outlier of the tournament.
“Capitalizing on an early morning bite to get some momentum will be huge,” said Joey Nania. “That will take off some of the pressure during midday when you are out on the flats with everyone else.”
The other option, beside fishing in the crowd on the main lake, is choosing to venture up-lake and into the Pearl River. Elite pro Justin Atkins checked it out, and reported the water clarity was improving, while inflow has slowed.
“You will have to relearn it every day, because the current slowed down so much,” Atkins said. “The bass don’t have the current they need to set up on the breaks.”
That leaves the lake for the more dependable option. Nania knows that not all of Ross Barnett’s largemouth spend the summer around the main lake flats. Some live year-round in shallow water, and he planned to focus on those areas. Even that presents its own challenges.
“I don’t like dropping water levels in shallow water,” Nania said. “An area that produced one day might be inaccessible the next day.”
“Accessibility is difficult when you know an area has potential, but you can’t get to it as the water continues to drop,” he said.
Back to the choices at hand. Will it be prespawn spawn or postspawn? The odds are in favor of the latter option being the game winner. The challenge will be fishing through the crowded areas holding those postspawn bass to get the weight needed to fish on Saturday.
