Searching for big bites in Arkansas

Our next event on the Bassmaster Elite Series will be one of the more unique events because we’ll be splitting our days between Bull Shoals Lake and Norfork Lake. These White River fisheries have a ton of potential, and I’m looking forward to this change of pace.

One of the biggest things that’s consistent about these two lakes is the deep, clear water. This is the event that has me putting away my big flipping baits, spooling fresh line on some spinning reels and downsizing from 25-pound fluorocarbon to 16- and 18-pound Sunline on my baitcasters.

This event probably won’t have any 8- to 10-pounders like we’ve had in the last couple of events. But I expect to see a lot of fish, so that makes it exciting.

What’s interesting is that this will be kind of the same mindset as Florida because a big bite will go a really long way. It’s just that a big bite in Florida is 7-9 pounds, while a big bite on Bull Shoals or Norfork is a 5-pounder.

In these scenarios, you have to spend the entire day concentrating and paying attention because you don’t know when that opportunity is going to come. Because I think there will be so many fish caught, one of those big bites is going to put you above a lot of people and two will put you up there at the very top.

As far as strategy goes, we’ll have three different species to work with — largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass. That means we’ll have a lot of different lures from shaky heads to drop shots to crankbaits. If we get the right conditions, I expect some topwaters like Zara Spooks to play.

There’s going to be a broad spectrum of baits, but the one thing that will tie this all together will be downsizing. You’re not going to throw full-sized flipping jigs; you’re going to throw smaller finesse jigs like the Booyah Finance Jig with a YUM Craw Papi. You’re not going to throw a giant crankbait.

For the most part, everything across the scale is going to be downsized. I think we’ll see a lot of the typical clear water spawning baits play.

What I like about these lakes is that the diversity of bass species gives us options. There are days with slick, calm and bright conditions where the largemouth tend to hunker down and not bite as well, but those are the conditions that smallmouth really like.

On the other hand, the largemouth like those windy, dark days and, of course, the spots bite all the time. So you can kind of play this in your head and when the conditions get right for one, you can go chase them. The big thing is that you’re not limited to one species.

Generally speaking, I don’t expect spotted bass to become a big factor for most anglers. I think they’ll mostly play the role of limit filler. You might see several mixed bags of largemouth and smallmouth with a spot mixed in.

I don’t think you’re going to see somebody win the event with spotted bass, but they’re going to be important because they can help you fill a bag whenever a guy can’t get five largemouth or five smallmouth.

I think largemouth and smallmouth can be competitive on these lakes, but if I had my preference, I’d want largemouth because they’re usually a little thicker and they weigh a little more. Also, I’m just more familiar with largemouth than I am smallmouth, so I’m more in my element.

As for the tournament format, we’re going to have to develop a strategy not only for the competition days, but for the whole week, which includes our practice days. You’re going to have to make some key decisions as to whether you’re going to practice two days on one lake and two days on the other; which one you’re going to practice on first; which one you’re going to practice on right before the event.

You know, fishing is a lot about momentum, and after the first day, the guys that are right near the top will have that momentum because they’ve found a good area and they have something going.

Well, B.A.S.S. has come up with a format that throws us a curve ball. Even if you’re leading after the first day, you’ll have to make some adjustments when we go to a different lake. I think you’ll see a little more leaderboard shifting on Day 2 than you would at a normal Elite event, but that’s going to make it even more interesting and exciting for fans.

As far as consistency, Bull Shoals and Norfork are similar enough and close enough that they should fish about the same way. It’s hard to estimate a competitive weight at this point, but I’ll say that both lakes have some good fish in them. If we get the right weather conditions, you could see some really good bags.

One thing I’m definitely looking forward to is some nice spring weather. It seems like every day we’ve fished so far this year has been windy, raining and cloudy. I’m happy I can finally put some shorts on and move into the warmer part of the year.