Judging by early reports, spring has sprung at Table Rock Lake, site of next week’s FLW Tour Major.
The event will mark the third time in the last 4 years Table Rock has hosted an FLW Tour stop in March, and this year’s tournament had the potential to turn into a springtime shootout before rain this week brought the lake up 3 feet since Monday. Additional rain is forecast today and tomorrow so there’s no telling how much higher the pool will rise by the time the full field pulls into town.
Before the rains came, though, Arkansas pro Robbie Dodson, who won the Table Rock Central EverStart last November, was anticipating it would take a 20- to 22-pound average to win the 4-day event. Compare that to the 69-11 Brent Ehrler caught to win the 2010 FLW Tour Major at the Rock and you get the idea about how hot the bite has been at the highland reservoir.
“The water temperature’s been about 55 to 57 on the big part of the lake,” Dodson said. “Usually, it’s still in the 40s this time of year. It’s too warm for this time of year.”
If not for this week’s rain, Dodson felt the Alabama Rig would be tough to beat. He noted that it took 30 pounds to win a buddy tournament last Sunday. He still thinks a 20-pound average will be needed to be in contention and that the A-Rig will come into play at some point next week.
“That thing was really catching them up here,” he added, “but now it’ll probably be a flipping bite because they’ll be up in the bushes. Spinnerbaits and shallow cranking could also come into play I think.
“If the lake was down at normal levels and we’d have a big weather change, sometimes that makes them come shallow. They really feed good on a weather change. This rain – who knows what it’s going to do. Sometimes, they’ll still sit where they were or they’ll come up as fast as the water does.”
