Dave Lefebre thought he had Wheeler Lake figured out. In fact, he was almost sure of it.
But when the weather conditions changed for day 1 of last week’s FLW Tour Open, the area he’d gained so much confidence in during practice went cold and he brought just four fish for 5-06 to the scale. He was mired in 69th in the standings.
“I had one of those practices where I was kind of excited,” he said. “It was one of the best practices I’ve had in a long time. It was rainy and windy and pre-frontal conditions.”
By Thursday, the weather had cleared and a high-pressure system had settled in over northern Alabama with bluebird skies and little wind.
“We hadn’t seen those conditions in practice and I had all of my marbles in one basket in one little area,” he said. “I had a bunch of different spots in there, but it was all one pattern.”
He lost a couple quality fish, but he was expecting everyone else to struggle due to the drastic change in weather.
“I stuck with it all day and didn’t adjust at all,” he said. “I adjusted in the area, but I didn’t leave. I stayed and tried to figure out where the fish would go or where they went or what would trigger them to bite. It was just a rare mistake. I don’t usually stay long, but I had so much going on there in practice and there were so many big fish around that area and no other competitor was around there. I knew I just couldn’t leave.”
After a disappointing day 1, he capitalized on the wind that picked up the next day and nearly tripled his catch by dredging open-water shellbeds with a Rapala Clackin’ Crank, the same bait that helped him finish 17th at the Detroit River Tour Open. His 15-06 stringer carried him from 69th to 31st on the leaderboard and allowed him to stay in the Top 5 in Open points with one event remaining.
“I decided to basically start over and cover water,” he said. “I was fortunate to catch a small limit and just about the time I caught my fifth one, the wind started to blow. Instead of adjusting completely, I knew I needed a big bite, so I went back to where I was on day 1. Lo and behold the fish were on everything. I culled everything I had and had an opportunity to weigh in a 19-pound bag, but lost a real big one.”
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