BassFan columnist Miles "Sonar" Burghoff is competing in the TBF National Championship this week at Bull Shoals Lake in Arkansas. He qualified for the event via his victory (along with University of Central Florida teammate Casey O'Donnell) at last year's BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship.
He filed the following practice report for the event, which gets under way Thursday and concludes Saturday:
"The 2012 TBF National Championship is about to begin, and the boat yard is humming with hum-bugs and high hopes. As is usually the case with major tournaments, conditions on Bull Shoals are very different from the conditions several weeks ago before the venue went off-limits. Before March 12, the water temps were in the mid to high 40s in the mornings and the low to mid 50s in the afternoons, and the water was at normal pool. Now the water is almost 70 degrees in the afternoon! Also, it's 8 feet higher than it was 3 weeks ago.
"Before, the Alabama Rig was the deal. If you had any dream of making a good check, you had better be lobbing that thing around all day. Now, with the warming trend and the high waters, the fish have been spread out and are harder to catch on the A-Rig. I found limited success with the A-Rig during the 1 day of official practice, and I don't feel very confident that I can throw it all day long and catch a good sack.
"I did find what seemed to be a pretty strong bite doing something completely different today, which I hope will pan out. I'm basically fishing the same areas I found during my pre-practice, but approaching them differently. However, I was not able to staple down one particular pattern, so I'm doing a bit of junk-fishing. With a 1-day practice period, you're forced to do quite a bit of refining on the fly.
"From what I saw today, I still feel that it should take around 16 to 18 pounds a day to be in contention for the "Living The Dream" prize package, but I still have to refine things a big to get to that size bag.
"I look forward to giving it my all tomorrow, and hopefully you won't have to scroll down too far to find me in the standings."
