Norman FLW Tour

> Day 1: 5, 10-12
> Day 2: 5, 7-07
> Total = 10, 18-03 (46th)

At Lake Norman, you go out and catch a limit and hope you get some decent bites. But this lake has gotten a lot tougher. Thirteen pounds was leading yesterday, so this lake's on a downhill slide. It doesn't have the fish it had the last couple of years. Those big fish are key, and there were only a few caught each day. That's what it takes.

I fished some stuff I had in the past, but about half the time I fished new water. I've been here so many times, there's not much I haven't fished in the lake. I tried some of the same areas where I know there are some good largemouths, and tried for some big fish with a big bait.

I also spent a lot of time looking for bedding fish too. I found some new fish that moved onto beds, but I wasn't so fortunate to find any big ones.

I'll get a break here soon and catch a big fish and get a Top 10.

We've been here 3 years in a row this same week of April. The first year it was post-spawn, last year it was right in the middle of the spawn, and this year so far it's been a little earlier in the spawn.

There's been some fish on beds the last 2 weeks, and there's fish on beds now, but I feel the majority of them haven't spawned yet. I think there's still a lot of fish left to spawn.

With that in the background, I'm looking at the weather – nice and warm and sunny – and I'm thinking new fish are going to be moving on beds during the event. I think that's one way for a guy to make the Top 10.

I had a couple of 5-pounders in practice – throwing big baits and trying to catch a big one. Of course there's no guarantee with that, but that's what it takes here – those types of bites.

I'm like everybody else. I can catch 10 pounds a day. Hopefully I can catch a big one. That's what Lake Norman's all about – catch your 10 pounds then hope for a big bite.