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Caleb Sumrall: “My biggest challenge this week has been getting bigger bites. I can get bit, but it’s going to be the guy who can constantly put two to three big ones in his bag each day (who wins).”
Photo: Andy Crawford
Matt Arey: “Consistency is the biggest challenge. I fished here for the FLW last March, and it’s a lot different (this year). The quality is still there, but you’re not getting as many bites. There are tons of 2-pounders on this lake, but getting the 3(-pounders)-plus is difficult.”
Photo: Andy Crawford
Scott Canterbury: “I think the biggest challenge will be getting a couple of kickers. You’ve got to have more than 2 1/2-pounders. I think 15 (pounds) a day is a great day, but you’ll have to have a couple of kickers to get there.”
Photo: Andy Crawford
Bill Weidler: “I think the cool weather is going to keep the fish deeper than people think. I’m catching fish — and some good ones — in 40 to 80 feet of water.”
Photo: Andy Crawford
Garrett Paquette: “Consistency is my biggest challenge. It seems like the fish are spread out right now. I don’t think it’s going to be your standard (spotted bass) lake, where if you can find a pile of fish and catch a bunch. I think you’ll have to move around and change presentations with the conditions.”
Photo: Andy Crawford
John Crews: The bite is very sporadic. I feel like a lot of the bigger spots are real deep and will be until they move up to spawn. To catch the bigger fish, you’re not going to catch a lot of fish.”
Photo: Andy Crawford
Steve Kennedy: “My challenge is catching a limit. I’ve tried to stay after the bigger (spotted bass), and I can go a long time between bites.”
Photo: Andy Crawford
Ray Hanselman: “It’s a dead sea from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. It starts with a flurry early, and then they’re gone.”
Photo: Andy Crawford
Gary Clouse: “It’s tough. If you get a bite, they’re good ones, but it’s a long time between bites."
Photo: Andy Crawford
Keith Combs: "I’m not very familiar with herring lakes. A typical Southern lake, I know how the fish react and what they’ll do. Here, I don’t know that.”
Photo: Andy Crawford
Brandon Card: “The fish are really scattered right now. You can catch them shallow all the way out to ultra deep. You can’t key on everything. You have to narrow it down.”
Photo: Andy Crawford
Hank Cherry: “The lack of baitfish in the upper part of the water column is one of the challenges. (The bass) want to look up, and if it gets cloudy the baitfish go down. It changes how you have to fish.”
Photo: Andy Crawford
Brock Mosley: “The changing conditions is the challenge we face. It seems like every day the fish are doing something different.”
Photo: Andy Crawford
Bill Lowen: "This is a really hard lake for the way I like to fish. It’s hard to read the contours. There’s a lot of flat spots, so it’s hard to find those channel swings I like to fish.”
Photo: Andy Crawford
Mark Menendez: “Replicating is the biggest problem I’ve found. “You catch one, and you think you have them keyed in and you go a long time without another bite. You can get a bite and chase that (pattern) for a couple of hours and not get a bite.”
Photo: Andy Crawford
Chris Zaldain: “Spotted bass are so fast to change with the weather. It’s not the air temperature or the water temperature — it’s mainly the light intensity and penetration. So changing with those spotted bass will be the biggest challenge because they change so fast.”
Photo: Andy Crawford
Derek Hudnall: “Consistency is the challenge. I don’t know when I’m going to get a bite. It could be in 2 feet of water or 40 feet of water. There’s no consistency.”
Photo: Andy Crawford
Greg Dipalma: “The past two days (of practice) the weather has changed so much. (Monday) it was foggy all day, and not only was it hard to fish but it was hard to drive the boat. When the sun isn’t shining I don’t think these fish are getting charged up to eat.”
Photo: Andy Crawford
Randy Sullivan: “My biggest challenge is finding enough of the right stuff. You can definitely get bit in the right stuff, once you find it. You’re going to definitely have to cycle your stuff."
Photo: Andy Crawford
