In years past one magical seven-mile stretch accounted for the heaviest 5-bass limits of the tournament. The area featured everything that smallmouth need to survive. Deep current created by underwater humps and points, and all of it near shallow water.
With fame and fortune comes exposure. And fishing pressure. The veterans I talked to said the notoriety has so exposed the magical stretch that it no longer supports viable catches. The place is just burned out, and the fish have wised up to all of the drop shot rigs put in their lair.
Chris Zaldain had this to say about the area.
“Fishing pressure has hurt it and that area has been exposed, graphed, waypointed and everything else.”
What he also said, which is of no surprise, is that a new area will get uncovered. Will it be like the now forlorn location?
Probably not. With the smallmouth in transition, we could see baits come more into play than locations.
My prediction for the week is this: Lures will be more of a factor than in the past. That’s the nature of fishing for transitional fish. Could there be more reaction baits and horizontal moving lures than drop shots? We shall see.