FLW preview: Waiting for spawn on Beaver Lake

Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart Open, Beaver Lake, April 5-8

When the Wal-Mart FLW Tour makes its ninth visit to Arkansas’ Beaver Lake this week, competitors can expect to find a lake full of bass just waiting around to spawn.

According to Texas pro Cody Bird, who has three top-10 finishes on Beaver Lake, the next few days will determine what mode the bass will be in by tournament time.

“I think most of them will be prespawn, but that can change overnight with a few warm days,” Bird said. “They’re just sitting out there in the 8- to 14-foot range. They’re just waiting on the weather to get stable, and they’ll spawn.”

Beaver Lake’s Wal-Mart Open is an annual event, and in the past, the FLW Tour has scheduled it anywhere from the last days in March to the middle of April. This year, it falls on the second week of April, and the last time the trail visited at that time, pro Dan Morehead brought in more than 28 pounds the last two days to win.

However, temperatures that week in 2003 reached into the 70s, and the current projected forecast for the Rogers, Ark., area next week is calling for highs only in the mid-50s. Without a warming trend, the bass will not be on the move, and coaxing them to bite could be more of a challenge. Though sight-fishing can be a productive method in Beaver Lake’s clear waters during certain times of April, it will likely not be the go-to method next week.

“There could be some sight-fishing, but I don’t think it will be a major factor in the tournament,” Bird said. “In clear lakes, it usually takes the fish a little while to get adjusted to the shallow water when they move up, and they’re a little harder to catch. That’s what happened last year.”

Also affecting the bite this year are the low water levels on Beaver Lake, though that could work in the anglers’ favor. With a shallow playing field, Beaver may fish a little smaller, but as for Bird, he likes what low-water fishing has to offer.

“I like lakes when the water is low,” he said. “The boat pressure will probably get to the fish more than anything.”

Bird expects the crankbait bite to be red-hot next week, though he again cautions that the fish could change at any given moment depending on the weather. As it stands now, though, cranking will likely be the deal.

“I think it’ll be a crankbait bite and a jerkbait bite,” Bird said. “You still might catch a few on a shaky-head worm like always, but I think the cranking deal and shaking a worm deep will probably be the major bite.”

And though Beaver Lake houses a population of all three bass species, Bird believes it will be largemouths all the way next week, a la Rick Clunn in 2000, when he took home the trophy catching largemouths out of the mouth of the White River.

“When Rick Clunn won the tournament a few years ago, it was just about like it is now,” Bird said. “That largemouth bite could be good up the river.”

As for projected weights, Bird predicts the leaders will catch about as much as they have caught the last several years. Typically, a two-day weight registering in the low 20s has been about enough to make the top-10 cut, and Bird expects more of the same.

“I’m guessing to make the cut, you’ll have to have 22 to 23 pounds, and to make the top 50, you’ll have to have 17, maybe 18,” he said. “Every year we go up there, it gets better and better. Those fish are getting ready to spawn, and they’re not going to go anywhere. They may back out a few feet, but guys are still going to catch them.”

Lake history and facts

Picturesque Beaver Lake is located in northwest Arkansas’ Ozark Mountain region, offering 487 miles of natural shoreline to the competitive and recreational anglers it attracts 12 months a year. With its close proximity to Wal-Mart headquarters, it provides an escape to the thousands of people employed by Wal-Mart and the many companies whose products Wal-Mart sells.

In 1960, a dam was constructed across the White River to create Beaver Lake, which provided hydroelectric power to the citizens of northwest Arkansas as well as flood control. The 28,220-acre lake reaches depths of an average of 60 feet, with its deepest areas near the dam plunging to more than 200 feet.

Previous Wal-Mart Open Beaver Lake winners

2005 – Andre Moore of Alabaster, Ala.

2004 – Tim Klinger of Boulder City, Nev.

2003 – Dan Morehead of Paducah, Ky.

2002 – Andre Moore of Alabaster, Ala.

2001 – Clark Wendlandt of Leander, Texas

2000 – Rick Clunn of Ava, Mo.

1999 – Clark Wendlandt of Leander, Texas

1998 – Gerald Swindle of Hayden, Ala.