Elite

Dock talk at Smith Lake

Will boat traffic be a factor? What about a largemouth bite? Those are the questions posed at Smith Lake.

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Photography by
Andy Crawford
Captions by
Craig Lamb
Summertime, fireworks and spotted bass. All three will be in play during the TNT Fireworks Bassmaster Elite at Smith Lake. Spotted bass are king on the 21,000-acre lake that supports a healthy herring population, but there’s a hitch. Photo: Craig Lamb
During summer, the spotted bass gang up on points to stage and feed on their favorite forage, setting up ideal conditions for scoping. This tranquil scene will change dramatically on Semifinal Saturday and Championship Sunday, when recreational boat traffic will add a new dimension to the game. Photo: Craig Lamb
What will a boat traffic strategy look like? How will the largemouth bite play out? Those are the questions we sought answers to in this pre-Fourth of July weekend derby. We report. You decide. Is it truth or just dock talk? Photo: Craig Lamb
Kyle Welcher
“What is my boat traffic strategy? I can’t control that so I’m just going to give myself extra time. This place is narrow and windy, but you can get out of it. 
“How will the largemouth bite play? That’s one of those situations where you have to put yourself around them. There are also largemouth out deep, mixed with the spotted bass. 
“Largemouth are going to play but only by how much they weigh compared to the spotted bass. There are 4-pounders of each. I’m going to try to catch largemouth early, but I don’t think you have to by any means.”
Alex Redwine
“My boat traffic strategy? So far, it’s not been bad at all, but I’m sure it will by the weekend. 
“A guy might be forced to look for another area just to compensate. I have thought of that, because there are areas of the lake that really narrow down and hold fish. 
“Other than that, I plan to wear bright clothes to stand out (laughs).”
Jason Christie
“I tried and could not find a consistently good largemouth bite. Actually, the two decent largemouth I caught were mixed in with the spotted bass. 
“I couldn’t figure it out, but that’s not to say I won’t tomorrow.
“It will take a combination of both to make the cut.” 
Kyle Patrick
“A boat traffic strategy would be to stay within 10 miles of here. I think it’s super possible to have a good finish and maybe burn 5 gallons of gas and just stay literally within eyesight of the takeoff ramp (Smith Lake Park). 
“I haven’t seen the largemouth bite play. They are mixed in with the spots, out on the points. It’s so random though. I can put my trolling motor down, turn on my forward-facing sonar and catch one. 
“Forward-facing sonar will literally make or break someone who wants to cash a check. That is, if you don’t use it. Unless you are John Cox. I mean, come here and expect not to do decent here without it will be a trick.”
Matt Herren
“You can’t come to Smith Lake and expect to win a tournament without a kicker largemouth, or two, on any given day. 
“The average size of the spotted bass has gone down, so you need that largemouth to compensate for the lower size of the spots. 
“It’s possible, especially with these guys, for the tournament to be won on a largemouth kicker.”
Steve Kennedy
“You see all these guys out in the middle of the channel and they are looking down, just like zombies. They are just randomly going around out there (referring to forward-facing sonar). 
“I’m going largemouth fishing. That’s what I do. I think we’ll have some weather in the morning or tomorrow that will help with what I am doing. 
“I just don’t want to deal with the boat traffic, and I don’t like to scope. Beside John Cox, who else would stick it out for two, three or hopefully four days on largemouth that nobody else wants to fish for?”
Robert Gee
“I plan to not look up at all. I’m not concerned at all about the boat traffic. All it means is just moving slower between areas. 
“You can see fish everywhere on the screen. It’s a matter of homing in on the right size because on average, they are about the same. 
“Yeah, it’s definitely going to be won offshore, scoping. Boat positioning and reading the screen in the waves will be the only challenge, but not really. It’s all part of it.”
Chris Zaldain
“Boat wakes are not your friend when you are trying to focus on forward-facing sonar, because you have to stay focused on the screen. You get kind of a double whammy in those narrower areas when the boat wakes hit bluff walls and come back to you. 
“I was thinking about a strategy where you could go to get away from the boat traffic and not lose an edge. I intentionally looked for areas without boat docks because of the traffic.
“I’ve got one area where there’s not so much traffic. It’s just what it’s going to be. We haven’t really encountered anything like this before, on this scale, and it’s something we’ll have to deal with on the weekend.”
Clark Wendlandt
“The area of the tournament launch ramp has by far the most fishing pressure. There are more boats that are fishing close. 
“In the past, in the tournaments I have fished, this arm has been the most consistent. I think a couple of other arms have better fish in them, but a lot of checks will come out of here. 
“There is a lot of boat traffic, but it begins to significantly diminish if you go a long way.”
Kenta Kimura
“I practiced down here on purpose on a weekend just to experience the boat traffic, and there is no getting away from it. 
You just have to compensate for it by moving slow, looking for alternate areas, and being in the right place at the right time. 
By that, I mean getting on the best spots early, that will be most exposed to pleasure boats, and working out from there back to less pressured areas.” 

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