Jay Yelas – Practice
Thursday, April 26, 2007

FLW Outdoors/Jeff Schroeder
Photo: FLW Outdoors/Jeff Schroeder

I fished a couple of BASS tournaments here in the early part of May in the early to mid 1990s, and it seems that the fishing has gotten better, at least for numbers. Tons of limits will be caught, but 3-pounders will really be at a premium. I think it'll take 13 pounds a day to make the Top 10, and then 13 or 14 a day after that to win.

Most of the good spawning fish are done – there's a lot on beds, but they're mostly 1 1/2- to 2-pound bucks. It's a day-to-day thing. You might find a 4-pound female on a bed, but she probably won't be there the next day.

My plan is to fish a lot of boat docks and try to catch fish that are feeding up after the spawn. I had 3 good days in practice where I caught enough to where I think I can do well, so I feel like I've got a good shot.

I'll have a big bait on trying to catch big fish, but the little ones will bite it too. I won't be thinking about how to catch a limit, because you can do that just fishing for the big ones.