Table Rock Lake Elite Series

Tournament Recap
Saturday, April 5, 2014

Brent Chapman
It was a so-so tournament. It was nice to get a money finish and get some good points to hopefully get back in the hunt, but I'm also disappointed, too. My big fish all week was barely 3 1/2 pounds. I just didn't get any quality bites and that's frustrating. At the same time, though, I didn't lose any that hurt me. There were a couple lost fish that hurt the first two events. I executed good this week. I just didn't get a big bite.

I probably should've fished down the lake when the conditions were conducive – when it was windy and cloud. There were less pressure and it seems like that's where the bigger fish were coming from. That was the key here – those 4-, 5- and 6-pounders. I just never had one of those this week. I caught one on a dock on Wednesday and thought I could get something going on docks, but I never got bit there today.

I'm looking forward to Toledo (Bend). It's always fun and it sounds like there are a ton of fish being caught and a ton of big ones being caught, too. I have a title to defend there so I'm excited to go back. It's been good to me over the years and I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Practice Recap
Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Brent Chapman
I feel pretty good about it, but it's been hard to get a quality bite, that's for sure. I got one quality bite today and that was it for 3 days. Maybe I'm due for more in the tournament. It's typical Missouri fishing in April. You get nice fishing weather one day and the complete opposite the next. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

I think we'll see some good bags tomorrow and then it'll get considerably tougher. I'd say a lot of the lake isn't producing like it should be. I know this lake pretty well and some key areas, but it's been pretty sporadic. Things are changing by the hour. I just hope to get a few big bites and hope more are starting to pull up.

I'm going to make a decent run. I'd rather stay close, but staying close has been rather inconsistent. I think if a guy can average 16 or 17 pounds a day, that'll probably win it.

Aaron Martens
I'm catching a lot of fish, but not a lot of keepers. I'm catching a lot of 14- and 14 3/4- and 14 7/8-inchers. That's what the high percentage of fish seem to be. No matter what I do – swimbaits, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, jigs – they're all the same size. It's crazy.

I've gone to different spots and fished different depths in different parts of the lake and all I catch is small fish. That's how it is, though. I haven't caught any more 7-pounders, but the small ones are biting pretty consistently. It's irritating.

Practice Report – Day 1
Monday, March 31, 2014

Brent Chapman
It feels good to be back fishing a lake I love to fish. It was a little tougher today than I thought it would be. I wanted to get a feel for the clarity and water temperature in some areas and I eliminated some water and started to narrow my search down.

Crankbaits, jerkbaits, jigs and grubs will probably be the deal. I was worried when they first announced this that they'd be on beds, but that definitely won't be the deal this week. A couple warmer days would sure help. I think we're on the verge of it getting really good. We just need some warm days for that.

Table Rock is a little more versatile than Bull Shoals. They're both big lakes, but it should fish quite the same as Bull Shoals. There will definitely be some deeper fish caught and that's probably one of the areas that I'm most unfamiliar with this time of year. I wish I understood it more because I think it would help.

I was shocked at how many little fish I caught today and not any good ones. I know there's a lot better fish here than what I saw.

Aaron Martens
The fishing's a little weird right now, but I did catch a good one today (click here for photo). I didn't weigh it, but it was beautiful, healthy fish. I'd like to catch one of those a day during the tournament.

We had some rain and some flurries and quite a bit of wind and cloud cover today. There's not much to say, but there's a pretty good-sized shad kill going on right now. There's a ton of birds around and the fish are fat and gorged out. I don't like fishing during a shad kill, but there are so many 1 1/2- to 2-inch shad coming up and spinning around and doing their thing.

The fishing was good at times and then it got tough when the conditions changed. I'm hoping it'll stabilize because the water's colder than what I thought it would be. It was around 47 or 48 today and I was hoping it'd be up around 52 or 54. It'd be real good there.

I learned a little bit today, but I didn't learn as much as I wanted to. I like this lake. It's like my old home. It reminds me some of Lake Shasta or Oroville, but it's so dang big you can never cover it in 2 1/2 or 3 days. You can maybe see one-eighth of it if you're going at high speed. It's massive and you hope you're picking the right areas to be in because there could be other areas that are way better.