If you look at past trends here, smallmouth bass tend to be the difference-makers at the top of the standings. However, largemouth bass will make up the bulk of the overall catch-weight. An angler can target one or the other during the course of a day, or just go with the flow and see which species targets him, so to speak. Greg Hackney did some of the latter during this week’s practice.
“The river is coming up, there is lots of current, but the water didn’t get dirty,” Hackney said. “You can still see 3 1/2-feet deep in the main river. The conditions are setting up right for smallmouth to dominate the tournament.
“Now will they? I don’t know. I fished places that have both. It’s not that I targeted either one in practice. I just wanted to see which one was the dominant fish for me. There seems to be more 4-pound smallmouth that live here than 4-pound largemouth. But there’s probably more 2 1/2-pound largemouth.
“I just feel like the conditions are setting up more for smallmouth. More (top 50) checks will come on largemouth, but I get the feeling that the guys at the top might be largemouth dominant.”