Today is a carryover of Friday when the anglers were faced with the quandary of committing to a bedding fish until it bites, or passing it up for another.
Here’s the situation. The shorelines are basically flooded with 2-pound class largemouth (males). Those fish most likely are prepping the beds for the females to come. They are coming but nothing like the sight-fishing-fests when the biggest females in the lake are the target. Or I might be wrong. It could happen today at any time, and if it does, it’ll be later this afternoon when the water warms and the fish are easier to spot.
Here’s what some of the guys had to say when interviewed prior to takeoff.
Patrick Walters: “On a big day like this it’s kind of tricky, because to catch the bigger fish you must cover a lot of water. You have to ask yourself whether or not it’s worth catching that 2-pounder, knowing you’ll only cull up a couple of ounces.”
And also blow the chances of catching a female after her spawning mate gets caught and disappears from the bed.
“The fish are constantly pulling up, males and females, so to me it’s a wiser move to cover water to keep your options open.”
Brandon Lester agreed.
“You have to keep covering water. There are a lot of 2-pound males already on the beds and I have marked a ton of those on the GPS. And I plan to go back today and check them to see if the females move up and pair up with them.”
A pattern emerged as I worked down the takeoff line at Green Pond Landing. Everyone agreed that covering water—at least early until the sun improves sight fishing visibility—is the name of the game. Then later today we might be treated to the sight fishing whack fest we all enjoy watching on LIVE.
What else came up was how many beds and 2-pound males have been discovered and GPS-marked as stated by Lester. Some of the anglers even left females behind yesterday, opting to save them for today.