High Rock Fish Moving, Tough To Pin Down

It rarely takes huge weights – by Bassmaster Elite Series standards, anyway – to win a tournament at North Carolina's High Rock Lake. That's one of the reasons the Alcoa Aluminum-operated impoundment has been the site of three Bassmaster Classics – it can be a real challenge to catch five bass that measure 14 inches or better.

Averaging a double-digit limit in a multi-day event is a nice accomplishment even when the fish are in a specific seasonal mode, as they were during those summertime Classics. Right now, most of them are transitioning from the spawn, and there's nothing predictable about them.

The lake will host its first tour event in nearly 9 years beginning today when the Bassmaster American Major gets under way. The top prize for a Major victory ($250,000) is 2 1/2 times the amount doled out for an Elite Series win, and that seems appropriate this week, considering that a bag of quality fish is probably at least twice as hard to catch.

"It usually gets a little bit tough in the latter part of May," said Maynard Edwards, who's guided on High Rock for the past 14 years. "The fish tend to scatter out and suspend.

"There's a few fish every way you look, but not a lot of fish any one way. They'll bite for you just about however you want to fish, but there won't be a lot of bites."

The full 51-angler field will fish High Rock today and Friday. Those among the Top 12 after the day-2 weigh-in will advance to fish the six-hole course on Lake Townsend, a 1,500-acre municipal lake adjacent to a park complex and golf course in Brown Summit, a suburb of Greensboro.

The field will be cut to six after Saturday's weigh-in, and the winner will be determined by highest weight over the final 2 days.

Before getting into more specifics about the High Rock bite, here's more about the lake itself.

BassFan Lake Profile

> Lake name: High Rock
> Type of water: Lowland reservoir
> Surface acres: 15,180
> Primary structure/cover: Boat docks, rocks, laydowns, bushes
> Primary forage: Gizzard and threadfin shad, along with a few blueback herring
> Average depth: 12 feet
> Species: Largemouths
> Minimum length: 14 inches
> Reputation: Often a very good numbers lake, but big bites can be scarce
> Weather: Was clear and calm earlier this week, but a cold front has moved in. Temperatures likely won't exceed the low 70s, and there could be some showers on Saturday
> Water temp: low- to mid-70s
> Water visibility/color: 1-2 feet/stained
> Water level: A foot or two below full pool, which is significant because it puts some shoreline bushes on dry ground
> Fish in: 1 to 15 feet
> Fish phase: Mostly post-spawn
> Primary patterns: Anything might work, but flipping or throwing spinnerbaits around docks will be popular choices
> Winning weight: 22 pounds (final 2 days)
> Cut weight (Top 12 after 2 days): 20 pounds
> Fishing quality (1=poor, 5=great): 2 for High Rock
> Biggest factors: Versatility – the ability to combine some shallow fish with a few away from the bank might be the key to making the Top 12
> Biggest decision: Whether to fish for a limit or just a few better-than-average bites
> Wildcard: A 5-pounder

One This Way, One That Way

Most of the anglers BassFan spoke with had a tough time getting bites during their 2 1/2 days of practice for the event. And when they did get one, they couldn't get another doing the same thing.

"There's no rhyme or reason to it," Mark Tucker said. "The fish ought to be biting, but I don't know what they're doing, unless they're offshore roaming around.

"Maybe it'd be better if we got the right weather conditions. It's supposed to cool off, and I'm not sure what that'll do. At this point, I'll take anything different than what we've had the last 2 days, just to see if it'll trigger them to bite."

Jared Lintner described his practice as "frustrating."

"The first day I thought it was just me. I've never been here before, but I've watched videos and read articles about the lake, and they made it seem like a decent fishery.

"Then I'm 3/4 of the way through the day and I've caught two bass on two entirely different baits. I wish I had a creek or a couple of areas where I knew I could go and get five or six bites, but the places I have, I could fish for 4 hours and maybe get one bite. I'm not too confident in catching numbers of fish."

Tougher than Before

Denny Brauer won the 1998 Classic here and found good fish in practice on both other occasions (1994-95). That hasn't been the case this time.

"It seems to me to be a lot more difficult," he said. "It may just be the timing – you can get on a good lake at a rough time and they can be tough to catch. A lot of fish are in transition to the (offshore) humps and most of them haven't made it yet."

He'll of course do some flipping, but he might also throw some spinnerbaits and topwaters.

"I'll just have to go fishing. I'm rigging up a lot more rods than I'm usually comfortable with, but I have to be prepared for anything."

Davy Hite is another High Rock veteran who can recall better times. He fished two Classics here and finished 14th ('94) and 23rd ('98).

"I thought I knew a little bit about this place, but it's been tough. I didn't have a good practice, so I'm not locked in on anything.

"I'll just go out tomorrow and try to get on something that'll hold up."

Swing from Both Sides

Dave Wolak, who won the American last year on Lake Wylie, thinks a combination of deep and shallow fish will be the key to a Top 12.

"It presents a challenge, but I'll just try to make the right moves at the right times and bust them both ways," he said. "I've got some schooling fish that I'll try several times during the day, and then I have one other deep spot.

"Other than that, I'll be running and gunning in the shallow water."

Conversely, red-hot rookie Derek Remitz is among those who'll stick to a specific depth range.

"Just about everything I've caught has come from 3 to 5 feet of water. I've found a few brushpiles and ridges (offshore) that I've marked, but I haven't been able to graph any fish and I don't have any confidence in them.

"At some point, they'll be out there. But that might still be a week or 2 away."

Top 10 To Watch

Here are BassFan's recommendations for the Top 10 to watch at this event. In no particular order, they are:

1. Kevin VanDam – The stained water could produce a good reaction bite, and he's the best at capitalizing on that type of situation. He won the most recent Elite Series event at Guntersville, and BassFans will recall that the last time he snapped a winless drought, he won three straight events.

2. Terry Scroggins – He's just too hot to keep off of this list right now, and he seems able to adapt to whatever conditions are presented. A tough-bite event might be tailor-made for him in his current mode.

3. Jason Quinn – He probably has more experience on High Rock than anybody in the field, and he typically turns in a strong finish inear his home state.

4. Steve Kennedy – If there's a strong offshore bite anywhere on the lake, he's likely to find it. He's made the Top 10 in seven of his last 12 tour events dating to last August, but has missed two in a row since his victory at Clear Lake. He's due.

5. Mike Iaconelli – He's finished in either the 50s or 60s in the last four Elite Series tournaments, and that sort of mediocrity won't go on forever. There are no Angler of the Year (AOY) points at stake here, so he can forget about his 39th-place standing on that list and just fish.

6. Tommy Biffle – He's fished two Classics here and hasn't fared worse than 6th (he was the runner-up to Bryan Kerchal in '94). Those fish that are still in the shallows could be in trouble.

7. Jeff Kriet – He's fishing this year with the mindset that he'll let the fish tell him what he should be doing. That's a good way to go into an event as tough as this one.

8. Davy Hite – He's a semi-local who's seen this lake in both good times and bad. His practice wasn't good, but that doesn't mean a whole lot here.

9. Derek Remitz – The rookie seems to catch fish everywhere he goes, and his confidence is buoyed by 1 good practice day.

10. Edwin Evers – If Alcoa pulls water to its downstream smelting plant today and tomorrow, that'll help the crankbait bite. And he'll be right there to take advantage.

Launch/Weigh-In Info

Anglers will launch at 6:15 a.m. on days 1 and 2 from Abbots Creek Marina (1 Wildlife Recreation Access Road, Southmont, N.C.). On days 3 and 4, those who survive the cuts will launch from the Lake Townsend Marina (6332 Townsend Road, Brown Summit, N.C.).

Weigh-ins will be held at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex (1921 West Lee St.) at 4 p.m. on all 4 days.

Weather Forecast

Here's the forecast for the tournament days. For more weather news, including radar and satellite imagery, visit OutdoorsFanWeather.com.

> Thurs, May 17 – Mostly Sunny – 73°/50°
- Wind: From the N at 9 mph

> Fri, May 18 – Mostly Sunny – 73°/50°
- Wind: From the N at 9 mph

> Sat, May 19 – P.M. Showers – 69°/47°
- Wind: From the S at 13 mph

> Sun, May 20 – Partly Cloudy – 73°/50°
- Wind: From the NW at 15 mph

Notable

> Brauer caught 46-03 over 3 days en route to winning the '98 Classic. That total was bolstered by a 7-pounder.

> Tucker wasn't too discouraged by his tough practice. "When it's like this, it really doesn't help if you did catch them. It could be that you just happened to get your bait in front of one. It doesn't mean you're doing something right."

> Edwards, the local guide, said he's fished the lake for 30 years and has never caught a 10-pounder. "I've gotten a couple of 9s, and as many as five 8s in one year."