After decades of covering major bass tournaments from a distance, I’ll cover the first two days of the FLW Wal-Mart Open on Thursday-Sunday at Beaver Lake as a co-angler.
During the FLW Costa Series tournament at Lake Dardanelle, Joe Opager, FLW’s chief of communications, asked if I were interested in fishing the Beaver Lake tournament as an amateur. He said an inside perspective might generate extra interest for amateur anglers to compete in the non-boater side of the FLW Tour, Opager said, adding that there are still co-angler openings for the Beaver Lake tournament.
I always welcome an opportunity to freshen a routine with fresh perspectives, and this will allow me to present a side of the tournament experience that non-tournament anglers never see.
I used to ride with the pros during major tournaments in the 1990s, but the role of a press observer is much different than that of a participant.
Already it’s interesting how the different role changes the way I think about fishing a lake I’ve known well for nearly 30 years. Ordinarily, if you ask me how I would fish Beaver Lake in late April, I could give you a full game plan for every part of the lake and every stratum of the water column.
That information would be based on experience, but also from covering this particular tournament for 12 years.
Now that it actually matters, I’m second-guessing everything I thought I knew.
It’s the same old Beaver Lake, a deep, clear White River impoundment. The White River arm and its major tributaries — the War Eagle, Hickory and Prairie Creek arms — are riverine and turbid.
The middle section is wider, with a greater diversity of topographic features and structure. The lower end is deep and crystal clear, with lots of chunk rock, pea gravel and boulders.
There are long, sloping points, sharp dropoffs and standing timber in the coves, as well as artificial structure around boat docks.
I know what I would do if I were the boater, but the co-angler has no say in the matter. The boater calls all the shots, and the co-angler fishes in a manner that does not conflict or interfere with the boater while assisting the boater when necessary.
Anticipating all possibilities, I wrote a chart of fishing techniques and baits to use for the upper, middle and lower sections of the lake. I have an idea of how most of the pros will fish based on previous tournaments and current tournament trends.
They might want me to do something similar to give them a clearer picture of their area and help them isolate a pattern quicker, but most likely I’ll have to fish entirely different than they do.
That suits me because my style isn’t similar to that of anyone I know.
It’s also helpful that I have amassed a trove of specialty hard and soft plastic lures that have never been mainstream, as well as baits that haven’t been popular in ages.
I’ll probably rely on offbeat and oddball stuff that works for me in addition to more conventional stuff.
Mainly, I look at it as a learning experience. If you want to be a better fisherman, you need to fish with people that are better than you are. I can learn more about reading graphs, tying new knots, line and rod characteristics and tackle management in two days on the water with pros than I can from winging it on my own.
It also will be enlightening to watch the pros up close to see how they approach their targets, especially deep cover, and observe how they dissect their water fishing alone and in heavy traffic.
I spend a lot of time reading magazine articles about how the pros fish and watching videos on sites like Wired2Fish.com, but there’s no substitute for first-hand, on-the-water experience.
Who knows? Maybe I’ll even get lucky and cash a check.