The recent FLW Tour Walmart Open at Beaver Lake in Arkansas was an interesting study in what it takes to win at this tough, but oft-visited venue.
The answer turned out to be largemouths, along with a healthy dose of new water.
Ray Scheide targeted big-heads every day, and fished new water the final day. In the end, he edged Mark Rose (who weighed largemouths, smallmouths and spots) by a little more than a pound.
Here's how Scheide did it.
Practice
For the second year in a row, the FLW Tour launched onto Beaver to find the lake as much as 8 feet above full pool. This year, though, the water was clearer than expected, and the fish weren't as far toward the post-spawn as they'd been in previous visits.
Scheide set himself a goal this year to win a Tour event, no matter his points standing. He thus decided to target largemouths exclusively. But that's always a gamble at Beaver, since the minimum largemouth length's 15 inches and a limit's never a guarantee.
"I practiced 3 days and actually only caught maybe three fish in practice," he said. "I spent most of my time flipping, but I'd just shake them off. I could kind of tell which fish were okay, and which fish where good. I just got a pretty good feel for what was going on and I figured out the area I wanted to fish."
He chose to forego the final day of practice. "I just went to the boat yard and had my trolling motor and graph tuned up and ready," he noted.
He did try to locate a shad-spawn area to fish in the mornings, but never found one, and exited practice with "five main areas" where he thought he could get bit.
"But I didn't know whether I'd get to fish any of them with all the fishing pressure," he added.
Another key to his practice was he visually marked areas he wanted to fish, but were blocked by floating debris. There was significant piles of floating logs and flotsam in the lakes from the floods.
"In practice I kind of eyeballed it," he said. "I didn't want to clear out the lanes in practice, but I knew that in the tournament, to make the cut, I'd have to do that."
Competition
> Day 1: 5, 11-07
> Day 2: 5, 10-09 (10, 22-00)
> Day 3: 5, 8-13
> Day 4: 5, 12-04 (10, 21-01)
Scheide flipped up plenty of keepers on day 1 and culled his way to 11 1/2 pounds. And he worked his way back to some of the blocked areas, he said, by jumping over logs and pushing his way into areas he felt no one else would fish.
"I just smoked them," he said. "I caught probably 20 keepers, and we just had real good fishing conditions. There was a big front passing through, and the fish on Beaver always seem to bite when it's rainy and cloudy."
He found the most fish that day on flooded willow trees along the bank in 6 feet of water.
The next day was sunny and his fish changed. He went a long time without a bite, but then got one that clued him in.
"I was going down a bank, and I don't remember if I saw a bass or what, but I was still fishing willows and I flipped over to a viney patch along shore and caught one. Then I got my second bite from a viney area too and thought, 'Let's skip everything and just fish those viney areas.'
"You wouldn't think the fish would move shallow in that sun, but they did."
He ended the day with 10 1/2 pounds and made the cut in 7th.
He got nine keeper bites on day 3, but again from different cover. This time "they were on the buckbushes in 3 feet of water," he said. "And the ones that had the most plumage and a good shade canopy were better. Shade was a significant factor."
Scheide said his line, 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, was the main factor in his success.
He caught 5-13 on day 3, which put him in 4th and a little more than 4 pounds behind leader Jason Christie.
Things changed again on day 4 and he caught his fish on flooded trees in 7 to 8 feet of water. He thinks the fish were relating to the old bankline that day, and the trees he fished would normally be dry in full-pool conditions.
"Again, most everything I caught was on trees that had a lot of green foliage and shade," he noted. "And a big wad of vines didn't hurt either."
Everyone above him struggled and his 12-04 was enough to clinch the win.
Winning Gear Notes
> Flipping gear: 4'2" medium-heavy Fenwick Elite Tech Flippin' Stik, Abu Garcia Revo STX casting reel, 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, 5/0 Gamakatsu Superline hook, 1/4- and 1/2-ounce tungsten weights (pegged with bobber stopper), 4" Berkley Crazy Legs Chigger craw (watermelon/candy).
> "I was fishing some of the gnarliest stuff ever, but it was clear water, so I felt like I should be using that lighter line," he noted. "I never broke a fish off and I think the 15-pound got me a few extra bites each day."
> He used the 1/2-ounce weight on day 1, but went to the 1/4-ounce after that. "They wanted a slower fall," he said.
> About whether he swam the bait or soaked it, he said: "I never got bit swimming it. Most of the time I'd flip it and once it got to the bottom, I'd snap it a couple times before I brought it in. That seemed to trigger some bites every once in a while."
The Bottom Line
Notable
> Although Scheide lives a few hours away in Russellville, Ark. he doesn't fish Beaver much. "The only time I've been to Beaver is the five previous times the Tour went there," he said. "It's just not my forte. I like to throw a frog and flip a big weight. That's what I do for fun, so I don't go to Beaver to practice or play."
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