Britt Myers was hoping for rain today, and his wish has come true. It was raining and about 60 degrees at the 6:15 a.m. takeoff for the Top 12 at Douglas Lake. And it’s supposed to rain off-and-on under dark skies until well past check-in time. Myers had an ulterior motive in his rainy day wish: Keep the locals off the lake.
Douglas Lake may have more “community holes” per acre than any other lake in the country. The deep structure spots where post-spawn bass school for the summer are well-known. Every angler in the Top 12 was anticipating this day when the other 138 boats in this tournament wouldn’t be on those spots. And local weekend anglers might wait for Sunday’s sunny forecast now, rather than Saturday’s rain.
“I don’t want to fish in the rain, but I don’t want all the locals out here,” Myers said. “The deal here is you’ve got to catch some on one spot and leave. If these fish know you’re there, you might catch some but they’re real small ones. They just keep making you think that if you stay long enough, you’ll get a big one to bite. Very, very rarely does that happen in offshore fishing.
“They bite on the first cast, and sometimes the second one. After that you’ve got to go to the next spot.”
That’s if you’ve got a next spot to go to that doesn’t already have someone on it. The Top 12 anglers might have a little more room to roam today.