Official practice for next week's Forrest Wood Cup at Lake Lanier near Atlanta, Ga. opens soon. Contestants aren't allowed on the water until practice begins, so the lake's had a few weeks to sit.
But it's never too early to begin to dissect probable patterns and strategies for the championship.
Obviously, the fish are in a full summer pattern. Temperatures this week are scorching at near 100, with surface temperatures likely into the low-90s.
Lanier itself is about a foot below summer pool – it's dropped some recently through the heat and lack of sustained rain – but daily downpours have helped prevent a precipitous drop in water level.
What about the bite? Of course, none of the Cup competitors know what's happening this second, but there's a general sense of how the event might play out. To help sketch an idea of what'll take place next week at Lanier, BassFan enlisted the help of Cup competitor and Lanier expert Jason Meninger.
Meninger qualified for the Cup through his rookie FLW Tour campaign, and has won some of the biggest local and regional events held at the venue.
The River
According to Meninger, there'll definitely be a contingent of pros that'll target the rivers. That's where the best largemouths live, and it's where color enters the water first.
"Whether it's the Chestatee or the Chattahoochee, some guys will head up there and try to catch largemouths," he said. "There are a lot of flooded willows, laydowns and lots of trash in the water up there. And every day it rains for an hour or two so there's some stain up there."
He's not convinced a river largemouth bite can last more than 2 days, though.
Main-Lake Spots
The bite that most in the field will likely target is the famous main-lake population of spotted bass. That's where cover like deep brush and presentations like shakey-heads, dropshots, and jigs come into play. And for suspended fish, the swimbait and the locally popular Fish Head Spin should get heavy play.
What's interesting, though, is Meninger's comment that the main lake perhaps has too much brush in it right now.
"There's a lot of people putting brush out – competitors and I'm sure locals too – and it doesn't matter where you go, there are multiple brushpiles on every point or hump. To me that's kind of a bad thing because it seems to scatter them out more. Brush will definitely play a role, but the fish are going to be a lot more scattered because there's so much of it."
About Docks
Several major summer championships have been won on docks, and Lanier will offer that pattern too.
Meninger noted: "I think the decent largemouths docks are in less than 12 feet of water with either some brush or some color if you're up the river. But there's also the deep-dock deal. Some of the floating docks here are over 35 feet of water.
"With the brush around docks, and the bluegill up there now, somebody could get on a decent dock run, and throwing a swimbait around docks will probably work in the mornings too."
Plus, competitors who opt to fish shallow but only get a dock bite for a few hours have the option of fishing shallow shoreline cover right now like flooded willows and grass, he added. But he's of the opinion that the event might be won with a deep/shallow combination.
"It's not like there's any one big concentration of fish doing one thing, so you should be able to kind of junk-fish in this deal and catch them both deep and shallow."
Additional Notes
Lake Lanier features two major river arms in its upper portion and lots of deep water on its lower end.
