The Okie factor

BASSTrakk shows three Oklahoma anglers battling for the lead. Those are Jason Christie, Edwin Evers, and James Elam.

The same scenario occurred yesterday. Think that’s a coincidence? No way.

Lake Hartwell is somewhere between a lowland and highland impoundment due to it’s close proximity to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Grand Lake O’ The Cherokees falls in the same category, drawing from its nearness to the Ozark Mountains. Of course, Hartwell is deeper and clearer, but they both share sloping shorelines and myriad winding creeks conducive to spawning bass. However, the prevailing fishing conditions lean more toward what could go on at Grand Lake. Not so coincidentally, Christie, Evers and Elam all live near Grand and of course, Evers beat out Evers at the Classic held there.

What also sets up in favor of the Okies are how Hartwell is lining up with their skill sets. Those are intercepting an inbound migration of prespawners coming from the main lake into the creeks. On both lakes, the bass use floating boat docks as final staging areas nearest the spawning sites. All three anglers are targeting docks during part of the day. The combination of dialing into spawning bass and how they relate to specific elements of a boat dock is a science within itself. Knowing precisely which side or piece of the dock structure most attracts the moving bass and how to play the sunshine hitting those docks, are keys to success.

As the water warms more bass are moving shallow. That puts the odds heavily in favor of the Okies to continue battling it out for the lead.