Toledo Bend Reservoir is a great fishery, and the Elite Series Toledo Bend Battle will probably be one of the best tournaments of the year. My guess is that bass will be caught on offshore ledges, offshore grass and shallow grass. The Elite field should all be able to spread out and not have to share spots with all three patterns in play. Toledo Bend is a huge lake, and there are fish all over the place.
Most of the bass are in a postspawn phase with some of the early spawners already locked into their summer patterns. The lake is only a couple of feet from full pool, and there is an abundance of shallow grass and bushes. That’s one reason why many of the bass are still shallow.
Wind will play a huge factor in fishing success this week, too. If the main lake gets really rough, the offshore ledge bite will dwindle and the shallow bite in the protected creeks will be key. Last year, the wind was horrible and guys had to seek shelter in the creeks because of 4- and 5-foot waves on the main lake.
Since Toledo Bend is one of the biggest reservoirs in the country, it also makes finding fish in 2 1/2 practice days a little harder. I had a pretty tough practice but, like much of the field, I’ll continue to work on figuring them out today and tomorrow. We’ll all get more dialed in with every fish caught.
My predictions for this week are that half of the top 50 will be fishing shallow and the other half deep. The shallow fish will be caught on swim jigs, frogs, and stick worms around grass; the deep fish will be caught on crankbaits, swimbaits and big worms on grass and ledges. I think the winning weight will be 74 pounds with the Day Two cut weight being 25 pounds. I think that the winner will catch fish both deep and shallow.
The key this week, and every week really, is being versatile and being able to adjust to the changing weather conditions everyday.
Remember to chase your dreams!