No complaints

You’ll not hear any complaints about the Table Rock tournament from me. I didn’t make Sunday’s cut but I did make Saturday’s. As best I can remember, that’s the first time I’ve ever made a cut on an Ozark lake.

You’ll not hear any complaints about the Table Rock tournament from me. I didn’t make Sunday’s cut but I did make Saturday’s. As best I can remember, that’s the first time I’ve ever made a cut on an Ozark lake. It feels pretty good.

I had my chances. I’ll not tell you that I was in a position to win. I wasn’t. I was in a position to catch better bags, though, and that makes a big difference. 

Basically, I threw a red, Lucky “E” Strike crankbait along the bank. I targeted the usual stuff — rock, wood, drops, flats or a combination of them. That’s about as ordinary as it gets. There was no magic spot and no magic pattern. It was just a matter of moving down the bank, covering water and trying to upgrade my weight as the day rolled along.

I suppose the lesson for all of us is that you don’t always have to do anything dramatic to catch bass. If we follow what we know and fish with quality baits, we’ll catch our share when all is said and done. It’s spring so that means shallow, aggressive prespawn bass in most of the country. It’s fishing, you know. Sometimes I think we make it too complicated.

That was last week. Now I’m home enjoying the family and a little downtime. I don’t think we’ll be doing anything special beyond the usual stuff like getting ready for the rest of our spring and then the summer.

If possible, I’m going to see if I can cut loose a little time to play some golf. There’s really not much to hunt in the spring, other than turkeys, and you can only spend so much time in front of the grill so I need something to occupy my time between fishing and working around my house.

The Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year race is in full swing right now. How about Mark Davis! He’s only missed five points out of a possible 300. That’s pretty darn impressive if you ask me.

I’m in 4th place; it’s my best start ever. It’s still early. I’m within striking distance with five tournaments remaining. That’s a lot when you’re talking about the AOY standings. Still, it’s important to get off to a good start. By the time the last couple of tournaments are here, it gets tougher and tougher to make up ground.

That said, it’s an award that’s based on all of the events. To win it, or even to make a credible run on it, you have to do reasonably well in all of them. There are exceptions to what I just said but they are the exceptions.

We’ll just have to wait and see how things unfold, but as of right now it’s looking like I have a chance. That’s about all you can ask for in this business of professional bass fishing.

That’ll do it for now. Next time we’ll talk about how to fish crankbaits in shallow, clear water situations. 

Chris Lane’s column appears weekly on Bassmaster.com. You can also find him on Twitter and Facebook or visit his website, www.chrislanefishing.com.