It’s hard to believe it’s already time for stop number three on the Bassmaster Elite Series this year. They say the older you get the quicker the years go by, and I don’t think of myself being old, but I would agree with that statement for sure. This week we are back on Toledo Bend. We were here last year as well but last year we were about 6 weeks later, and the fish were mostly all postspawn and on their full summer patterns. This time around I think we have fish in all phases of the spawn. The majority have probably already spawned due to the mild winter they’ve had down here, but there are a few still spawning and I have caught a couple in practice that looked like they were still prespawn.
With the fish being in all stages they are really scattered, and it’s been really hard to find what “the deal” is so to speak. I’ve gotten bites several different ways but getting more than one or two bites in an area has been difficult. I think this will be one of those tournaments where a guy is just going to have to fish the conditions in front of him and not get too spread out trying to do too many different things. I’m sure there are a few schools of fish already out deep on ledges and such and there’s always a chance that somebody will find the mother lode, but I have spent almost all of my time up shallow. It’s where I feel the most comfortable and confident. On a huge lake like Toledo Bend with just three days of practice you better be doing something you know instead of wasting time with stuff you don’t.
As far as techniques that I think will shine this week I expect to see guys catching them a lot of different ways from frogs and other topwater baits to flipping and even swim jigs and bladed jigs. As for me I’m sure I’ll throw some topwater and a couple other things, but one rod I’ll never leave the dock on Toledo Bend without having rigged is a flipping stick. There’s so much cover in this lake and you can flip docks, bushes, grass, whatever the fish seem to be on at the time.
My flipping and pitching setup this week starts with an MHX-EPS90HF for my rod. This rod is 7-foot, 6-inch heavy power with plenty of backbone to get fish out of heavy cover. Pair it up with a high-speed reel spooled up with 20-pound Vicious original fluorocarbon, a 1/4- to 1/2-ounce weight, and a 4/0 Mustad Grip Pin Max flipping hook and you’re ready to go. A creature bait in either black and blue or some form of green pumpkin will work. In my experience location is much more important than color.
It’s the No. 1 rated lake in the country and these are the best anglers in the business so it should be a shootout.