By the time the 201 pros launched on Beaver Lake for day 1 of the recent Wal-Mart Open (Beaver FLW Tour), the water had been worked harder than a diesel pump in rural Oklahoma.
A massive local tournament ran the weekend before, and the FLW Tour field showed no mercy throughout its extensive practice.
There are few secrets on Beaver, and wherever there were fish, there were boats. Yes, Jay Yelas and Andy Montgomery did find a magic dock, but in the end, two boats on those fish proved to be too much.
Instead, it was the veteran Andy Morgan who carried the day. He fished a heavily used area for parts of the first 2 days, but after the cut, he camped there.
He figured out something a little different in the used water – an overlooked area, a few different baits – and was able to catch more than 8 pounds every single day.
And the biggest surprise is that he did it with a spinning rod – a tool he used to shun.
It was the 12-year pro's first-ever tour-level win, and it netted him $200,000. It also moved him up to 2nd in the FLW Tour Angler of the Year race.
Here's how he did it.
Practice
Anglers seem to have a hate it or love it relationship with Beaver. It's cruel to some, kind to others, and Morgan has historically struggled there.
This year, though, the Tour visited a month later than its typical early April date, which put the conditions well into post-spawn. Also notable was the water level – it was at least a foot above normal summer pool, and much higher than in past events. That put a lot of the shoreline trees and brush into play.
The obvious pattern that nearly everyone found was morning schooling fish, then jigworm fish in the afternoons. A lot of anglers also found hunt-and-peck fish along the shore in the bushes, but concentrations were rare.
About his practice, Morgan said: "I found one little area that had fish schooling it in, and that was basically all I found. I found a couple other little spots here and there where I could get a bite or two.
"I basically found one section of the lake that had fish – where I knew I could go and get bit. I had no idea if I could make the cut, or if I could catch enough fish to even do well."
He added that there was "a tremendous amount of boats" in his schooling area. But he did find one key spot there that he felt was overlooked.
About that spot, he said: "It was one saddle – it came off an island and went to the mainland – and it had one 90-degree bend in it.
"Every morning the spots and whites would push bait into that bend. I could catch one on my first cast every morning, and maybe get 10 (total) bites. But you had such a small window to do it. I'd get out there and in 20 minutes, it'd be over. You could pick up (something else) and maybe get another bite or two, but that was it."
And that's really all he had as the event began.
Days 1 and 2
> Day 1: 5, 12-15
> Day 2: 5, 8-03 (10, 21-02)
Morgan caught his limit first thing the morning of day 1 from his schooling fish. He caught a few good spotted bass, and two largemouths.
"Those are golden here," he said of the largemouths. "With those, I got off to a good start, and that kind of sums it up. If you get off to a good start at Beaver, with a limit of at least 7 or 8 pounds, you can go out and run around and junk-fish all day long, because if you get a couple more keeper blacks (largemouths), you're going to make the cut."
He caught another limit of schooling fish the morning of day 2, then pulled out of there. He knew he was safely within the Top 10 cut.
After that, he junk-fished and caught four or five more keepers, but mostly he was "looking around and trying to expand" on what he'd already found. He didn't find much though.
He made the cut in 2nd, and decided that with only 10 boats left fishing, he'd spend days 3 and 4 entirely within his schooling-fish area.
Morgan's key schooling spot was a saddle with a 90-degree bend that he said was overlooked.
Days 3 & 4
> Day 3: 5, 9-06
> Day 4, 5, 8-00 (10, 17-06)
"On day 3, I stayed in that one area – within 700 yards of where I originally found the schoolers on the saddle," Morgan said.
"I was throwing a War Eagle shakey-head to catch the fish that were no longer eating. I was just grinding it out. I was staying in that one area, and fishing 'Larry Nixon slow.' I'd watched Larry do well in tournaments over the past year, and recently the last couple of weeks, and when he gets in an area, he'll milk it.
"Nobody milks an area better than Larry, and I've been trying to observe that when I can, and that's what I did here," he added.
Notable is that once the fish were done schooling, they didn't head deeper and suspend. Instead, they went shallow and buried up in the grass.
Also, he was able to extend the schooling bite a little. He caught active fish on a Jackall Mikey, but as the bite dwindled, he'd switch to a Sworming Hornet Fish Head Spin, which usually caught an extra fish or two.
"The lake's been low for quite some time, but it came up," he said. "There was basically grass growing around the bank – your standard Johnson grass and stickweed. (After they schooled), they were right on the edge of that grass, so I'd work the bait to the edge. They'd run out after it and you'd get bit."
On day 4 his schooling bite was a bust, so he went to the back of the pocket, to an area that had a gravel-bottom drain, which he said was like a 7-foot-deep ditch.
On day 3, he'd lost a 3- and 4-pounder there, and when he fished it the final day, he caught a 2 3/4-pounder.
"That got me on my way," he said. "I caught a couple of swimbait fish in there, then did the grind the rest of the day.
"I stayed around and threw at grass points and caught 7 or 8 keepers on the day," he added. And he made one quick run outside the area to a log and caught a 1 1/2-pound spot.
Winning Gear Notes
> Shakey gear: 6'8" medium-action 2-power G. Loomis 822 dropshot rod, Shimano Symetre spinning reel, 10-pound Spiderwire Original braid with an 8-pound fluorocarbon leader (either Berkley Vanish or Seaguar fluorocarbon), 1/8-ounce War Eagle shakey-head, 4" Zoom finesse worm (watermelon-candy).
> He threw the 3/16-ounce Sworming Hornet Fish Head Spin on the shakey-tackle. His trailer was a Zoom Tiny Fluke. Both the Fish Head Spin and the Fluke were pearl white.
> About the Fish Head Spin, he said: "When they'd go down, everybody else would give up. But I'd catch two or three every morning on that Sworming Hornet. At least one would be a largemouth, and every spot I caught on it was a good one."
> As noted, he caught some of his schooling fish with a Jackall Mikey, and he also caught a few fish on a California Swimbabes Tiny "E".
The Bottom Line
> Main factor in his success – "Just staying put – not panicking, staying in one area, and just milking it."
> Performance edge – "I'd definitely say it was the shakey-head. It's old reliable. You can really catch them on the shakey, especially at Beaver Lake, where I've really got a lot more confidence in it than anything else in my boat. And it's hard to beat a Zoom finesse worm."
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