By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor
Under typical conditions, Grand Lake is considered a mostly clear body of water. Following the three-day practice session (last Friday through Sunday) prior to this week’s Bassmaster Classic, it appears there will be nothing typical about the water conditions at the Oklahoma fishery.
Despite a recent mild weather pattern across northeastern Oklahoma, water temperatures are still generally in the 40s and the water is muddy to severely stained across much of the lake, creating a scenario that wasn’t conducive for building much confidence for the 55 Classic qualifiers. With the mild weather expected to last through the tournament, many are focused on how much it will bring the water temperatures up and if the turbidity will subside at all.
There are some locales where less stained water can be found, but it’s not on the lower end of the lake (towards the dam) where most would expect it. If a significant clear up doesn’t occur before Friday – it appears unlikely considering the lake is still recovering from historic flooding in December – it could lead to some crowding around the cleaner water or force some anglers to roll the dice in the cold, stained areas.
Following are some reports from the initial practice period.
Boyd Duckett
“Everything else is just what I expected, but I’m shocked it was 44 degrees. I guess it takes longer to warm this water up than I thought. Even with it being as stained as it is, I thought it would warm up quicker. We still have all week and it’s going to change dramatically.
“I’ve never zeroed here, but I zeroed two days in practice. It’s a phenomenal fishery, but the turbidity of the water has changed everything. I looked at everything I wanted to look at, but I’m looking forward to Wednesday more than most Classics. Usually, it’s a knock-around sort of day, but after fishing for 3 days, I have no idea where I’m going. Wednesday is going to be big for me.
“I found an area with fish, but it’s a completely different part of the lake than I like to fish. The area I want to fish I can’t get bit in. The bottom half is where you want to be. That’s where the bigger fish live and that’s where most tournaments are won on this lake, but I cannot get a bite there. There’s a ton of bait in 20 to 22 feet and there’s a lot of fish down there with them, but I couldn’t figure out how to catch them. I want to catch them shallow moving up.”
Brent Ehrler
“I eliminated a bunch of water. I’m not excited about it. It wasn’t easy out there. I think I fished wrong for a long, long time. It was not what I was hoping. When they scheduled this, my biggest fear was that the water would be muddy. Cold and muddy water is not good. Cold and clear is fine, but when muddy enters mix it doesn’t bode well. That’s where we’re at.
“If the water was warmer we would absolutely smash them, but it’s still too cold. It’s 43 degrees for the most part. What I’m shocked at is how dirty it is throughout the entire lake, even up the river. You can get cleaner water up the one river arm, but I don’t know what’s clean or dirty for this lake. I know down toward the dam it’s usually cleaner, but it’s muddy everywhere.
“Wednesday a big day for me. I am convinced I’m going to have a run a lot of new water. I hunkered down where I thought it was right on one day of practice and I thought I was running through stuff too quickly. I need one little key to get me going into the right direction.”
Russ Lane
“About 90 percent of the lake is dirty and cold. That makes it challenging and it could bunch a bunch of boats up, but with the weather it could make the whole lake explode at the same time. Either we’re going to be on top of each other or they’re going to bite all at the same time and we’re going to kill ‘em.
Chris Zaldain said practice was challenging, but the bites he did get were quality fish.
“I covered a lot of water, but didn’t get a lot of bites. This time of year you’re not going to get a lot of bites, but the quality was there and that’s encouraging, especially heading into some stable conditions. I don’t think any one guy feels totally confident because the water is so cold and dirty. I think guys will be pleasantly surprised when they get to first spot Friday and get to catching them. I just hope I’m one of them.
“If the wind would quit and the sun would come out that could make the (water) temp jump to 51 or 52. That would make a huge difference. There’s something about that 52-degree mark. If we put in Friday morning and the water’s 52 degrees, eyes will light up because guys will know what that means. If not, it’ll be a grind for most everybody.”
Chris Zaldain
“This place is normally clear and things like swimbaits and umbrella rigs and jerkbaits play a huge role this time of year. Being a Megabass pro, I had all my Ito Shiners and Vision 110s tied on, but jerkbaits require visibility. They’re hearing it and feeling it, I’m sure, but they’re not seeing it because of how dirty the water is. Clarity is the biggest thing as far as lure selection goes andI see cranks and jigs being big players this week.
“It’s the weirdest thing I’ve experienced. The is a river lake with lot of pockets and cuts off the main river. You can pull into a cove or creek and see 47-degree water, then go into the cove next door and it will be 51. They look exactly the same, but there are these weird pockets of warmer and colder water. Hopefully, the stable weather will everything to even out.
“Out of the 55 guys here I don’t think the guy who’s going to win knows he’s going to win it or how he’ll win it. I really see the patterns and areas developing on day 1. It’s anyone’s game right now. I didn’t catch a lot of fish in practice, but the ones I did catch were quality fish.”
Josh Bertrand
“Going into practice, I was watching the weather and I was confident that we’d have a stable lake that was warming and cleaning up. (Sunday), it felt like a hurricane blew through.
“It’s hard to rule anything out. Fish live across the whole lake and the whole lake is dirty. Some areas are clearer and it’s no secret where those are. Some guys have a decision to make whether to go to the clear water where all the boats are or try to figure how to catch them in the dirty water.
Keith Combs had a frustrating practice so far.
“A lot of practice was frustrating. I didn’t get a lot of bites so it was tough to learn from because there was a lot of randomness. When you get three bites a day, you don’t learn a whole lot. You tend to learn more when you’re catching more than I did.
“The lower lake is where I started and I thought it would be clearer, but when I threw my jerkbait out there, there was maybe 6 inches of visibility. The clearer water is in the rivers and creeks. It’s the opposite of what you’d think it should be.”
Keith Combs
“I didn’t get a bite on day 1. That was pretty brutal. I sat back that night and tried to think of what I didn’t try. Maybe it was just an area of the lake because when I fish lakes like this or Bull Shoals or Table Rock or Beaver, for some reason there’s a hot section and maybe I wasn’t in it.
“On day 2, I had five random bites with a couple good ones mixed in so I started thinking maybe I’m on to something then on Sunday it was back to the same old couple bites. It was pretty frustrating. I want some kind of change because I don’t have anything going.
“Wednesday will be important for me. I really need to come up with a game plan. The main thing is I have to realize these fish are several weeks away from spawning and back home, if you get a warm trend, those fish want to come to the warmth in anticipation of the spawn. I’m not sure the fish here are that far along. They seem pretty set in their winter deal so I have to consider some fish coming in, but I can’t get caught up in that.”
