Chris Johnston will ‘lean hard’ on his spots

Chris Johnston this morning told me he plans to “lean hard” on his fish today. That made sense to me, considering what he’s in store for tomorrow.

“We have really nice weather,” he said. “The big thing for me is that after making a couple of stops on the river, is that I can run out into the lake if I need to because it’s so calm.”

Tomorrow will be different. National Weather Service forecasters are predicting southwest winds at 11 to 16 mph, with gusts to 29 mph. What that means is just getting to his spots on the lake could take one hour or more. Then, there is lure execution in the 4-foot rollers.

From my decades of experience covering tournaments here, the wind-driven current makes smallmouth more aggressive, as baitfish get swept about in the current.

“When it gets windy here, your options on the lake get very limited,” he continued. “You can only hit two or three spots.”

That is why today is going to be so important to avoid any failures in execution.