Scarce Bluebacks Making Clarks Hill Tough

Skeet Reese brought more than 100 pounds worth of bass to the scale over 4 days en route to winning the last Bassmaster Elite Series event at Guntersville. It might take a guy – even one who's as hot as Reese is – a couple of weeks to compile that weight at Clarks Hill right now, and it might also require the abolition of the five-fish-per-day limit.

Practice for the sixth stop on the eight-event circuit was neither entertaining nor educational for many in the 93-angler field. The big impoundment on the Georgia-South Carolina border is exhibiting few signs of piscatorial life as spring continues its progression toward summer.

Clarks doesn't kick out huge bags under the best of circumstances and, according to many who'll compete this week, it's presently nowhere near its best form. The blueback herring spawn seems to be finished for the year and the bass are already either in the summer mode or transitioning to it. Without schools of baitfish to provide a roadmap, many of the anglers are lost.

Before delving deeper into the tough bite, here's some info on the lake itself.

BassFan Lake Profile

> Lake name: J. Strom Thurmond Reservoir (Clarks Hill)
> Type of water: Lowland reservoir
> Surface acres: Approximately 70,000 (1,200 miles of shoreline)
> Primary structure/cover: Points, channels, ditches, hydrilla
> Primary forage: Shad, blueback herring
> Average depth: Fairly flat and tapering (sharp breaks are rare), averages 30 to 40 feet
> Species: Largemouths (that act like spots)
> Minimum length: 12 inches
> Reputation: A numbers lake with lots of 2-pound fish
> Weather: Warm, with a chance of isolated thunderstorms on days 2 and 3
> Water temp: High 70s to low 80s
> Water visibility/color: 2 to 3 feet/slightly stained
> Water level: Full pool
> Fish in: All depths
> Fish phase: Post-spawn
> Primary patterns: Jigs, plastics, Carolina-rigs, jerkbaits, small swimbaits, crankbaits, topwaters, finesse baits
> Winning weight: 62 pounds (4 days)
> Cut weight (Top 12 after 3 days): 39 pounds
> Check weight (Top 50 after 2 days): 20 pounds
> Fishing quality (1=poor, 5=great): 1 for Clarks Hill
> Biggest factor: Offshore action – one group of quality deep fish could make all the difference
> Biggest decision: Spend time looking for hard-to-find schools of herring, or grind it out for post-spawn bites?
> Wildcard: 4-pounders – they're few and far between, but just one can turn a lackluster day into a great one

Previous Visits

BASS's premier circuit made visits here for 4 straight years prior to taking last year off. Kenyon Hill was the most recent winner – he averaged 17 pounds a day on his way to the top slot in '08.

Mike McClelland won in '07 with an average that was about a half-pound higher than Hill's. Davy Hite, a native of the region with vast experience here who was the runner-up to Hill 2 years ago, prevailed in '06 win an 18-pound average.

In '05, Mike Reynolds triumphed with an average of just 13 pounds a day. That was a prespawn event held in early March, whereas the other three stops centered around the spawn (bass, bluebacks or both).

A Little Late This Time

Most of the anglers BassFan spoke with believe that the blueback spawn is over with, and that's the primary reason that practice was so difficult. And some aren't sure whether it's just their imaginations or the current conditions or what, but there seem to be fewer bass than there were on previous stops.

Although the water level is 8 or 9 feet higher this time, there appear to be scant few fish using the shallow cover. On the other hand, they don't seem to be grouped up in any great numbers on the deeper spots, although there have been reports of striper anglers catching them incidentally on live bait.

Many competitors have encountered a lack of both quantity and quality.

"I never thought I'd get homesick for the Ohio River, but I'm ready to go," said Bill Lowen. "At least I know I can get a bite there."

This is the Elite Series, though, and somebody will devise a way to catch them to the tune of 15 pounds a day or so. A lot of others will have to scrap for a paycheck and start dreaming about going to Kentucky Lake in 3 weeks.

Field Notes

Here are practice notes from some of the anglers who'll be competing this week:

Alton Jones
"This was probably the most difficult practice I've had this year. Usually you can develop a little something in practice and then expand on it as you go, but this time I've found myself saying, 'Okay, I just wasted the entire morning and didn't learn a thing. What do I do now.' This is cruel and unusual punishment.

"When these blueback herring are done spawning, they go out and suspend in open water and they don't use structure, and that means the bass aren't in predictable locations. You have to hope that a school comes up around you.

"I think the predominant thing is still going to be catching schooling fish off the points, but predominant is probably too strong of a word. I think most of the good fish will be caught that way, but it's not like it's happening all over the lake."

Brent Chapman
"It's a lot different than last time we were here. The water's higher and it's a lot warmer and it seems like the fish are more into a summertime pattern.

"These blueback herring have always stumped me. Every time I think I've figured them out or that I understand them, we get different conditions and I have to start learning all over again. About all I've got is shallow stuff and I certainly haven't set the world on fire with it."

Boyd Duckett
"My practice was very poor. (The fish) don't seem to be up on the points where I need them to be. This isn't a great fishery anyway, and it can be tough without the herring bite going on because there aren't multiple patterns you can turn to.

"I might have to try fishing deep or try to catch one out of a brushpile in the back of a creek. I've got a lot of experience here, but it's experience at getting my butt kicked. I always struggle here."

Bill Lowen
"I can't remember having a practice this tough – everything's difficult. I think we missed the bluebacks for sure, they're out deep and that's why we're having troubles.

"I got three keeper bites the first day and three the second day, and then some other bites that were like 8-inchers. I think you're just going to have to pull up right on a point when a school comes up and catch them, and it's tough to do that right now."

Jeff Connella
"It's been tough on me, real tough. I've caught a few keepers, but some of them were 12-inch fish that I'm not sure would've weighed half a pound. They look like they're about dead, they're so light and thin.

"I don't know what's going on. Every now and then you catch a nice one that looks real healthy, but then others look like they haven't had anything to eat. I don't see them doing what they should be doing and what bait I'm seeing is shad.

"There aren't very many schooling fish at all. I think you'll just have to get on a little wad of them and try to catch a few big ones every day."

Bobby Lane
"This lake has definitely been better. The only good thing is I just came from Smith Lake (for a Bassmaster Open) so I already know what tough is.

"I have no idea what the weights are going to be. I've caught some fish, but nothing serious. I think we're a little late for the bluebacks and these fish have been pounded so hard for the last month or two that I think they're tired of seeing the same baits.

"It's definitely not like last time, when you could just cruise around the banks and catch them. I haven't seen hardly anything around the banks."

Billy McCaghren
"This is my first time here and I didn't really know what to expect, but I thought it would be a lot better than it is. I've caught a few, but not many.

"I hope to figure something out. As of right now, I'm worried about even catching a limit. We had a pretty tough practice last year at Iowa (on the Mississippi River), but this one is right there with it. At least at Iowa, even though I wasn't catching many, at least I was fishing the way I wanted to fish."

Top 10 to Watch

With the above in mind and more, here are BassFan's recommendations for the Top 10 to watch in this event.

1. Skeet Reese – He finished 9th here last year and 6th in 2007, and those numbers appear mediocre compared to what he's done through five events this season. Until he cools down somewhat, he has to remain at or near the top of these lists.

2. Davy Hite – He has a win and a runner-up finish among his last three appearances here and knows this place as well as anyone in the field. Will have to bounce back from the disappointment of a tough final day at Guntersville, but that shouldn't be a problem with his even-tempered approach to the game.

3. Kevin VanDam – He's had more than a fair amount of success in low-weight tournaments during his career and often excels in baitfish-oriented events. His ledger here is mixed (a couple of Top 12s, a couple of placements in the 50s), but he's coming off his first single-digit finish of the year and could get on a late-season roll.

4. Mike McClelland – He won here in 2007 and his other finishes have been solid. He's having a solid season but has yet to post any of the really high finishes he's become known for. With most of the fish away from the banks, this one sets up well for him.

5. Mike Iaconelli – He's struggled here on his last two visits, but logged a couple of Top 12s prior to that. He's very adept at finding offbeat ways to contend in difficult tournaments. He's coming off a 66th at Guntersville and he rarely has two bad events in a row.

6. Derek Remitz – He's on a nice roll this year and has thoroughly avoided the extremely low finishes that plagued him each of the last 2 seasons. He loves to fish deep and will be looking for his second straight Top 12.

7. Edwin Evers – He's in the midst of a superb bounce-back season after sitting out this year's Bassmaster Classic and is riding a streak of four straight finishes in the Top 20 (including three of 11th or better), Loves tough-bite tournaments because he believes they're the easiest to win.

8. Jeff Kriet – Had his first lackluster event of the year at Guntersville and will look to rebound in order to get back inside the Top 12 in the points race. He's always tough when the fish have to be coaxed into biting.

9. Gary Klein – He has a couple of Top 20s here in four visits and is putting together another strong season. He can hold his own with just about any style and is likely to come up with something that nobody else is doing.

10. Casey Ashley – He'll need to rally a bit to make his third straight Classic, and this should be a good place for him to start. He has a 5th and an 8th in his two Elite Series visits here and another Sunday appearance would be just what he needs.

Launch/Weigh-In Info

Anglers will launch each day at 6:10 a.m. ET from Wildwood Park (6212 Holloway Road, Appling, Ga.). Weigh-ins will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the same location.

Weather Forecast

> Thurs., May 20 - Mostly Sunny - 86°/63°
- Wind: From the NE at 7 mph

> Fri., May 21 - Isolated T-Storms - 86°/64°
- Wind: From the E at 8 mph

> Sat., May 22 - Isolated T-Storms - 84°/65°
- Wind: From the E/SE at 4 mph

> Sun., May 23 - Partly Cloudy - 87°/66°
- Wind: From the E at 3 mph

Notable

> BassFan Big Stick John Murray had a difficult practice, just like most of his fellow competitors. To read his practice report, click here.