Beaver Lake has been pretty respectable in recent events, giving up lots of bass and a few limits. As summertime comes around it really starts to test anglers in finding decent fish. Leading up to this event pre-fishing was pretty tough, but someone usually finds a way. Shout out to Las Fajitas for sponsoring this event. I’ve eaten there for years and every time it’s the same thing – beef fajita tacos. yum.
Tournament Results
Summertime, vacations and such kept the total number of anglers a bit down on this one, with 43 hitting the water. Out of the 43, a solid 70% turned in a limit, although many of them were in the small category. It seemed that Prairie Creek was the place to be on this one, many of the top 10 caught their fish at PC. Kyle Long took the win with 88.50″ followed by Clay Johnson with 82.75″. Anytime you break 80 in the summer on Beaver is a very good day! Dwain Batey took third with 78.50″ and then the curve dropped down to where 74.25″ put you at 10th place. Check out TourneyX for the rest of the standings.
Dwain Batey caught a solid 20″ largemouth for Big Bass on this event.
Angler Roundtable
The top three bass catching dudes of the event shared how they did it in this roundtable. Kyle Long, Clay Johnson and Dwain Batey break it down:
Where did you go and why?
Kyle – I went to Prairie Creek. I pre-fished a couple other places with no real luck so I decided, why not go to the place that’s likely to be the most stained and that “should” have the best population of quality fish in the lake. I was nervous though because I’ve also blanked in there this time of year so I had a backup spot prepared.
Clay – I put in at Prairie Creek. Prairie Creek is not as clear as other parts of the lake and I have more confidence in dirtier water. I knew I could go there and throw a jig all day and get a limit and possibly a good limit.
Dwain – I chose Prairie Creek because it’s my favorite area up North, I only caught a small limit in my bracket match and lost fishing there, and that was all of the pre-fishing I had. I just felt like going in blind that area was my best shot.
Weather changed that week and got cooler and rainy. How does changing weather impact how you fish?
Kyle – Honestly I don’t pay that much attention to what the weather has been doing if it’s in the middle of a season. Early spring and late fall trends I’ll watch it close, but I really pay the most attention on what it’s doing that specific day. If there’s weather in the area, I’ll watch it close and go somewhere that I like to fish close to the launch and I always make sure I’m not in a dangerous wind. The best part about iffy weather though is it holds back the wake boats which means you can fish areas later in the morning that are generally not fishable then. Short answer…I pay a ton of attention to it on the actual day of competition and adjust accordingly.
Clay – I figured the weather change would push them to deeper water. I was sitting in 40ft of water throwing up on the bank and slowly working a jig back to me. I lost several fish but was fortunate to be able to get some good fish to the boat!
Dwain – I really didn’t change for that, the water was high already, so I had an idea of what I would do no matter what the conditions were.
What were your key baits for the day?
Kyle – Shaky head. Caught a few on a couple other baits but four of my five in my final bag were on the shaky head.
Clay – My key bait was a 1/2 ounce football jig.
Dwain – I threw a Taylor Man’s Finesse Jig, a Fluke, and a Taylor Man’s Swing Head with a Yum Spine Craw.
What do you do mentally or physically when you haven’t gotten a bite in a couple of hours during a tournament to adjust?
Kyle – I like to start dissecting what I’ve been doing and why it hasn’t been working. Usually at a macro level and work my way down. My first question is usually…Is it what I’m doing, or is it where I’m at? Then I start fine tuning those questions. If it’s what I’m doing, I probably go to depth/bank type first, types of cover or structure second, then maybe lure third in order of how to change my approach. That said, I change baits often if I haven’t caught anything recently, but a full on reset after hours of nothing will cause me to get out the confidence baits and keep them in my hand and figure out where to throw them to get bit. But if I feel like it’s where I’m at, I’m not afraid to pull the plug on an area and move. Sometimes during the drive it’s like a reset and I can clear my head and start over. But I never give up.
Clay – Last year in the tournaments I would always get discouraged and basically give up if I haven’t gotten a bite in 2 or more hours. I learned a lot from that not to ever give up! You never know when that next cast could be a good one!
Dwain – I had several hours multiple times where I didn’t get a bite, starting off with early that morning, I didn’t get a topwater bite, and it took me a while to find my first fish. Then I had a long stretch after that where I couldn’t find the second fish. I just keep covering water and looking for a good stretch, changing baits some, but still junk fishing, throwing several things as I come to different kinds of banks or cover that requires each bait I have tied on.
AOY Race
Six events in the books and the AOY race is clearing up a bit. There are still some contenders for the top spot with zeroes who can make up ground. Dwain is going to be very hard to catch for the overall AOY, and the top 25 is still going to change a lot before the end. Here’s the Top 25 as of today:
Heavy Hitters Update
The Heavy Hitters race continued in the same direction it has all year with Kyle Long maintaining his lead. As I know from last year though, he’s in a tough spot now where it is hard to cull, while others will gain ground each event. Still think this could be a semi-close finish.
Using the best five, he has 96.5″ total, followed by Tyler Zengerle, Terrill Standifer, Ryan Paskiewicz and Devon Esry.
