Muddy Grand Setting Up To Fish Small

By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor

It's only June and already it's been a historic year for bass fishing at Grand Lake.

In the last 4 months, the Grand River impoundment situated in the western foothills of the Ozarks has played host to the Bassmaster Classic and kicked out a lake-record 12.3-pound largemouth shortly thereafter.

Now, the FLW Tour gets a shot at the lake that's been off the tour-level radar since 2007.

Less than ideal conditions have greeted the field of 150 or so anglers for the penultimate tournament on the 2013 schedule. Heavy rains, a product of the storms that spawned several deadly tornadoes across the Midwest over the last couple weeks, have brought the lake up several feet past summer pool level and there's untold amounts of trash, logs and new vegetation in the water.

The high, dirty water coupled with post-front conditions expected later in the week are certain to present some unique challenges, especially since the fish are still working their way through their post-spawn routines and migrations.

It was very much the same scenario back in 2007 when the Elite Series visited Grand in the third week of June. While the timing isn't identical, a significant amount of mud pushed down the lake and diminished the deep bite then as it has this week. It's also put a big dent in the amount of fishable water that's available. Clarity in areas where it's common to see down 4 to 5 feet is now negligible at best and that's thrown a wrench into the plans of those who arrived at Grand with designs on fishing deep structure. That means the creeks, which tend to harbor a little less mud, will be jam-packed with boats.

The high, murky water certainly could play to the flippers' strengths, but even the willows and bushes aren't a sure thing this week for big bites as the fish continue to adjust to the rising water. Community holes like Horse Creek and Honey Creek figure to attract plenty of attention in the mid-lake section because of the amount of shoreline cover in both areas that's now in the water. Many will hug the bank in search of limits, but the better bites, albeit not as numerous, are more than likely going to come away from shore.

The Grand Lake Dam Authority, which operates the Pensacola Dam at the lower end of Grand, had 13 of the 21 floodgates open last Saturday and Sunday. On Monday, nine were open even though the lake came up a foot from Sunday. Five gates were open Tuesday, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it expected the lake to crest at about 3 1/2 feet above normal pool.

It appears that a combo attack of fishing the old and new shoreline and some offshore rocks, brush or ledges will need to be employed in order to haul in stringers that will contend for top honors. A lot will depend on how quickly the water clears up, if at all. Another few inches of rain was in the forecast for today and Thursday morning.

Kevin VanDam won the flood-fest in '07 with a deep-diving crankbait (others in the Top 5 mixed cranking with flipping, Carolina rigs and swimbaits) while Mike McClelland captured the Elite Series win in 2006 by dragging a jig around points and ledges that fell off into the main channel.

Before getting into more about the bite, here's the lowdown on the lake itself.

BassFan Lake Profile

> Lake name: Grand Lake O' the Cherokees (Grand)
> Type of water: Lowland impoundment
> Surface acres: 59,200 at full pool
> Primary structure/cover: Points, ledges, some laydowns, riprap banks, tons of docks, brush piles
> Primary forage: Gizzard and threadfin shad, crawfish, bluegill, crappie
> Average depth: 35 feet
> Species: Largemouths, smallmouths and spotted bass
> Minimum length: 14 inches
> Reputation: A super lake for numbers with potential for 25-pound-plus bags, but big bites can be hard to pattern
> Weather: Potential for more rain Thursday, then clearing up mostly for the weekend with temperatures pushing into the 80s
> Water temp: High 60s in the morning, warming into the mid-70s later in the day
> Water visibility/color: Significant stain and mud throughout the middle and upper portions of the lake. Some creek arms are cleaner than others
> Water level: 3 1/2 feet above summer pool and rising
> Fish in: 0 to 25 feet
> Fish phase: Mostly post-spawn
> Primary patterns: Topwater, jigs, flipping, spinnerbaits, big worms, swimbaits, crankbaits, docks
> Winning weight: 78 pounds
> Cut weight (Top 20 after 2 days): 33 pounds
> Fishing quality (1=poor, 5=great): 3.5 for Grand
> Biggest factor: Current. Combined with cleaner water, it'll loom large
> Biggest decision: When to go deep in search of a 4-pounder or better
> Wildcard: Finding a sweet spot in cleaner water that replenishes

Unique Set of Conditions

Bobby Myers is pretty in tune with the habits of Grand Lake's bass. The former Elite Series angler annually spends about 100 days on the lake and thinks this week's event is a toss-up as far as where and how it'll be won.

He believes the high water and recent string of fronts have blunted the post-spawners from truly setting up offshore, and therefore the fish are scattered all over the place.

"It's going to be tough to assemble a really good game plan," he said. "I think the reason for that is the lake was up and came back down and now it's coming back up again. That, in itself, throws a wrench in it. Then, they're forecasting rain every day this week starting Tuesday."

While he believes about "98 percent" of the fish have spawned, he says the post-spawners can be broken up into different groups that behave differently under the current conditions.

"You're going to have a whole bunch of different groups of fish that maybe spawned a month ago that are going to want to move out," he said. "Some of those fish might come back in and get in the willows. Then you'll have some from a week and a half or 2 weeks ago that are still recovering that didn't go that far out.

"I think about half of those fish are going to want to go out and the other half will want to go back and get in the willows. It's going to have the fish scattered all over the place."

So how would he attack the lake this week?

"I think it could be won either (deep or shallow)," he said. "It's going to be really hard to say at this point with the weather that's coming and not knowing the inflow. It could make for a mess in general.

"If it were me fishing the derby, I'd probably fish my first couple hours in the willows, flipping or frogging or throwing a buzzbait. The rest of my time I'd probably be out fishing offshore stuff knowing that I might bomb. Knowing what I know about the lake, if you get six bites a day fishing off the bank, you're going to catch better quality fish than if you stay in and fish willows all day long."

Current's The Key

Myers says current will be a big factor this week, especially on the main lake.

"If you can find fish that are somehow setting up based on the current, you could really catch 'em," he said.

Unlike Tennessee Valley Authority dams that pull water from the bottom of the reservoirs, the Pensacola Dam pulls from the surface and that changes how the current moves through the system.

"When you pull from the bottom of the lake, you tend to get current through three-quarters of the lake or more depending on how much they pull, whereas with a skimmer-style dam, you don't get the same amount of current being pulled throughout the lake," he said. "It makes it just a whole different ball game in those situations. It's an important thing to know, but you'd be surprised how many people don't know that."

AOY Chase Update

As expected, there was a fair bit of shuffling in the Angler of the Year standings behind leader Brent Ehrler after the last event at Lake Eufaula. Rookie Drew Benton went from 2nd to 6th while Michael Neal tumbled from 3rd to 17th. Meanwhile, veterans Andy Morgan, Jacob Powroznik and Bryan Thrift surged into the Top 5.

Ehrler's lead over Morgan is 17 points and it's 22 over Powroznik, so any kind slip-up on Ehrler's part could open the door for either to move to the top with only the Lake Chickamauga derby left on the docket. Remember, Ehrler hasn't been lower than 2nd in points all season.

Anglers who held the lead at the midway point of the season and never relinquished it have won the last three AOY titles. The last time the leader after three events didn't bring home the title was in 2009, when Ehrler slipped to 3rd and Clark Wendlandt claimed his third career AOY crown.

Notes from the Field

Following are practice notes from a few of the anglers who'll be competing this week.

Ish Monroe
"The lake right now is behind (schedule). The good part about that is it's setting up to catch them shallow or deep. The bad part is it's really dirty in some of the good deep places and the fish aren't biting as well.

"The 2- and 3-pounders aren't just chewing. You can catch them, but it's not like you can just pick up anything and go down the bank and catch 'em. I do expect to see a lot of limits caught, but I don't think you'll see 30- to 40-fish days.

"One thing about this lake is there is a ton of brush piles and the fish live in them. Figuring out the timing and bait are the two biggest keys there. You could pull up on them at the right time and have the wrong bait and not catch them or vice versa. You have to hit it just right.

"I think a combination of deep and shallow will come into play this week. I've been here when I've caught them shallow and went deep and culled everything and when I've caught them deep and culled everything shallow. With the lake being the temperature it is and with all the color, it's left it wide open."

Stacey King
"It's not my kind of fishing right now. The lake has come up real high and I was hoping for an offshore tournament. It's going to get hot and a lot of fish are moving shallow. I've caught one 5-pounder so far and the rest haven't been that big. I just don't know where the big ones are at right now.

"The biggest part of the lake is muddy, but there's some decent color in some creeks on the lower end. There's going to be a lot of different types of fishing available, but most will be shallow. That's not to say someone won't find them deep, but I don't think they'll be all that deep. I have just about conceded that I won't be fishing offshore. It's going to be stuff that's bank-related."

Mark Rose
"I am no threat to win this week. I feel like I wasted 3 days of practice. I did like I always do on a lake where you're supposed to catch them offshore – I spent all of my time out there. I knew with the high water the offshore bite maybe wouldn't be as good, but I was hoping I'd be able to find that needle in a haystack. I never did find it.

"I feel like I need to find a tackle store and buy all new stuff and take everything I brought out of my boat. I loaded up with deep-diving crankbaits and spoons, but the only spoon I'm going to be using this week is the one in my milkshake right now.

"The only thing I could mark out deep were white bass and I caught an occasional one here or there, but what blows me away is I know this lake is chock full of 3- to 3 1/2-pound bass. I know it's loaded with them. You can fish really hard right now for 4 hours and not catch one of them. That just blows my mind."

Jim Moynagh
"I came to this lake thinking I was going to fish ledges. I'd never been here before and as soon as I got here and started looking at the maps, I realized it doesn't really lay out like the ledge lakes I'm good at it. Ledge fishing was a struggle for me.

"The ledges here don't really set up like (TVA) lakes with the channels. I couldn't really figure it out much. The two biggest fish I did catch were deep fish, but I spent a tremendous amount of time on that pattern. It's just not there.

"I'm probably going to start shallow, but I didn't put in enough time to know what to do there. I might just go fishing and figure out what I can do. The first day or two, I saw a lot of guys out fishing deep. (On Tuesday), I saw very few so that tells me a lot of guys gave up on it."

Dave Lefebre
"I'm not doing that great. I'm still looking and praying. This water is so high and it's still coming up. It's high and muddy so the typical places, it's hard to find those offshore deals. They're out there, I'm marking them, I'm just not sure they're liking what's going on with the water.

"I'm going to be fishing by the seat of my pants because I don't have anything solid going. You can catch them flipping in the trees, but I don't know if that's good enough to win. There's just a lot going on. It's going to be a real tournament with a lot going on and those are the events I like because you can get five good bites even when you think you're not on something. The guy who wins it, unless he's a local, is going to have to change up every day."

Top 10 To Watch

With the above in mind and more, here, in no particular order, is BassFan's recommendation on the Top 10 to watch at this event:

1. Fred Roumbanis – Enters the week 50th in points so making the Cup is still within reach. He's had an up-and-down year across both tours and after a 126th at Eufaula, he's due for a crescendo on his home lake.

2. Jason Christie – Gets a second shot at his home waters this year, this time sans the thermal layer and parka. Hasn't finished higher than 64th in three events since back-to-back victories in April, so he's thirsty to put on a good showing.

3. Bryan Thrift – Docks, docks and more docks. Grand has plenty of them and Thrift is among the best at picking them apart.

4. Randy Blaukat – Knows Grand as well as anyone in the field, and he could use a strong finish to shake off a 133rd at Eufaula.

5. Tommy Biffle – A Grand veteran, he won't be afraid to dodge the trash in the river if it means having some water to himself. Probably fished his way out of the Cup with a 141st at Eufaula.

6. Jimmy Houston – Sentimental pick, but he could use a Top-40 finish at home to keep himself in Cup contention. He's been known to sling a spinnerbait from time to time and that could be the ticket in the dirty water.

7. Randy Haynes – The guy's on a flat-out roll, but don't look for him to be zig-zagging the flooded shoreline. His strengths lie out deeper and Grand offers plenty to look at out there.

8. David Fritts – If the crankbait maven can find some willing post-spawners, he could be in line for a second straight Top-10, which will almost assure him an 11th career Cup berth.

9. Todd Hollowell – As the year wears on, he seems to get better. Grand's offshore opportunities will give him a chance to strengthen his grip on a Cup berth.

10. Anthony Gagliardi – Has kicked it into gear with a career-best three straight Top-20s after a bomb at Okeechobee.

Launch/Weigh-In Info

> Anglers will launch at 6:30 a.m. CT all 4 days from Wolf Creek Park (963 North 16th St., Grove, OK 74344). Weigh-ins on days 1 and 2 will get under way at 3 p.m. at Wolf Creek Park (same address). Weigh-ins on days 3 and 4 will start at 4 p.m. at the Walmart store in Grove (2115 South Main St., Grove, OK, 74344).

Weather Forecast

> Thurs., June 6 – Morning Rain, Then Cloudy - 77°/58°
- Wind: From the N at 5 to 10 mph

> Fri., June 7– Mostly Sunny - 77°/56°
- Wind: From the N at 5 to 10 mph

> Sat., June 8 – Sunny - 81°/63°
- Wind: From the SSE at 5 to 10 mph

> Sun., June 9 – Chance of Rain - 88°/75°
- Wind: From the SSW at 10 to 15 mph

Notable

> Each day of practice meant having to find new locations with cleaner water for Jay Yelas. Luke Clausen thinks daily adjustments will be paramount to having success. To check out their practice recaps in BassFan's Pro View Reports, click here.