Top 5 Patterns from Lake Dardanelle Day 1
Rising water and critical adjustments determine the early contenders
Arkansas pro Jason Lieblong took the day-one lead in Rayovac FLW Series Central Division action on Lake Dardanelle with 19 pounds, 10 ounces. Flipping plastics produced all of his fish.
Click here to read about Lieblong’s leading pattern.
Here are the details of the rest of the top five.
2nd Place – Nick Prvonozac – 19 pounds
When Nick Prvonozac’s first move failed to produce favorably, the pro from Warren, Ohio, backtracked, dialed in a sweet spot and put together a limit that came within 10 ounces of the lead.
“We tried locking down [to the Arkansas River], and the water down there was kind of low,” he says. “We caught a few fish and then locked back up here [Lake Dardanelle] and caught a few more fish. Down there, it’s more wing dams and river fishing, but up here is more lake fishing.”
Prvonazac described his target range as an in-between zone – not bank fishing and not an offshore deal. He targeted thick grass and wood in 3 to 4 feet of water.
“The area I’m in has a lot of bait, and there are just bigger fish feeding there,” Prvonazac says. “I saw one fish blow up, and I caught that one on a topwater.”
Prvonazac complemented his topwater tactics with a Texas-rigged YUM Wooly Bug.
3rd Place – Toby Corn – 17 pounds, 8 ounces
With Dardanelle’s water level rising at least a foot today, adjustments were the assumption. For Toby Corn, the change was simply a more concentrated version of the same general game plan.
“The water fluctuation hurt one pattern, and it really helped another pattern,” says Corn, who hails from West Frankfort, Ill.
Essentially, the higher water pushed the fish deeper into grass he was targeting. Once he realized he was spinning his wheels in the outer edges, he adjusted positioning and tackle and got the job done by punching the thicker stuff.
“I wasn’t [initially] fishing far enough back,” Corn says. “I had one good fish early, but then I switched to 1 1/4-ounce weight in the afternoon and that made all the difference in the world.”
In addition to his punching rig, Corn also caught fish on a Rattleback jig. The latter he pitched into open areas within the grass.
Notably, Corn found himself unprepared for this type of fishing.
“I wasn’t expecting to do this, so I’m using monofilament,” Corn says. “It’s a solid canopy of grass, and they always bite on the initial fall. You just set and lean as hard as you can and don’t ever let up on them.”
4th Place – Jeff Keene – 17 pounds
Targeting shallow brush in about 3 to 4 feet, Vinita, Okla., pro Jeff Keene relied on his extensive local knowledge to identify what he knew to be a productive zone. Most who target brush, he says, will work deeper water, but he opted to stay closer to the bank.
“I’m 56 years old, and I’ve fished here since I was a child,” Keene says. “I’m a local, and I’ve always fished shallow.”
Keene caught his fish by slowly dragging a Texas-rigged 12-inch worm. A 5/0 hook and an 8-foot rod ensured that he boated anything that bit.
“I’m just looking for five bites a day, but I culled four times today,” he says. “I left my fish at 10 o’clock, and I feel like I can repeat tomorrow.”
5th Place – Wells Kaiser – 16 pounds, 14 ounces
Working with a combination of the changing lake conditions and sunlight was intrinsic for Wells Kaiser.
“I knew the big fish were here, and they moved tighter to the bank,” says the pro from Cuba City, Wis. “They were out in the shade this morning, but when the sun came up it put them tighter on the bank and I caught them all day. When the water came up, it put more fish in that grass, and it made a huge difference.”
Kaiser says he moved up tighter at around 10 o’clock and started catching the bigger fish around noon. He flipped Texas rigs and fished a frog. The latter produced a kicker that weighed 5 1/2 pounds.
The Rest of the Top 10
6th – Spencer Grace – Dardanelle, Ark. – 16 pounds, 6 ounces
7th – Kerry Milner – Bono, Ark. – 15 pounds, 14 ounces
8th – Austin Brown – Benton, Ky. – 15 pounds, 10 ounces
9th – Thomas Heintz – Waterloo, Ill. – 15 pounds, 9 ounces
10th – Jeff Fitts – Keystone Heights, Fla. – 15 pounds, 3 ounces