Norman preview: Full-on spawn

Water level up, clarity down

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. – When tournament officials announced the 2009 Walmart FLW Tour schedule last August, the National Guard Open on Lake Norman was seen as one of many postspawn tournaments. Fast forward seven months, and the bass are just now making their move to the bank.

Truth be told, the first wave of spawning bass on Norman has already come and gone. But the spawn in North Carolina is a tricky animal as it can last for months. The consensus among the local anglers is that the main wave has not arrived, and with a new moon scheduled for this weekend, the third FLW Tour event of the season promises to be a spawnfest.

When anglers think of the spawn, they immediately think of sight-fishing. While some sight-fishing definitely will take place, the high water this year has put a stain in the lake. Instead of water clarity of 7 feet throughout, parts of the lake have visibility of less than 2 feet. In other words, some prime areas will be impossible to sight-fish.

During practice, anglers were stunned to see so much color in the water. But the conditions in practice were not ideal for sight-fishing. The forecast for the next four days looks sunny and calm – absolutely ideal for looking at them. Not only will the bass flock to the warm water, but the lake’s visibility will gradually improve in stable conditions.

“Practice was both and good and bad for me,” said National Guard pro Tim Klinger. “It was good during the times I could see – but we had a lot of cloudy and windy weather.”

Klinger is an accomplished sight-fisherman and plans to look around some today. But as boat No. 111, he’s not going to exclusively sight-fish.

“The fish are too spread out to rely solely on sight-fishing. I don’t know how many I’ve marked, but I’ve seen gazillions. Not all are keepers, but there are a lot of fish up. I’ve heard some guys complaining about size, but there are a lot of 3-pound fish in this lake. And with this forecast we’ve got, I’m excited.”

Land O’Lakes pro Ott Defoe also plans to sight-fish for most of his day. Eighty percent of his time will be spent looking and the other 20 percent will be allocated for topwaters.

“I’d like to get 13 or 14 pounds today,” he said. “I’ve seen the fish to do it, and I think more will be coming up later in the day.”

In addition to sight-fishing with tubes and lizards, many anglers will be throwing finesse gear such as shaky heads and weightless Senkos. The neat thing about Norman is that tactics pretty much run the gamut. In addition to the finesse stuff, swimbaits are extremely effective as are topwaters and crankbaits.

“The crazy thing right now is that the fish are hitting literally everything,” Klinger added. “You’ve just got to throw what you have confidence in.”

As always, the key to making the top 10 at Norman is finding two kicker largemouths over 3 pounds. Nearly every pro in the field will have a five-bass limit, most in the 8- to 10-pound range. To get 12 pounds or more, two of those five have to have some shoulders.

The wild card in this tournament is schooling fish. On occasion, groups of quality largemouths will bust the surface to chase shad. When the shad spawn along marina docks, they congregate and provide an all-you-can-eat buffet for the bass. Typically, the shad spawn takes place after the bass spawn. But there have been a few isolated reports of schooling fish. If an angler can identify and locate this rare pattern, they can catch 15 pounds in a hurry.

Logistics

Anglers will take off at 7 a.m. each day from Blythe Landing located at 15901 North Carolina Highway 73 in Huntersville, N.C. Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will also be held at Blythe Landing beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Cabarrus Arena & Events Center located at 4751 Hwy. 49 North in Concord, N.C., beginning at 4 p.m.

In conjunction with the weigh-ins Saturday and Sunday, FLW Outdoors will host a free Family Fun Zone and outdoor show at the Cabarrus Arena & Events Center from noon to 4 p.m. each day. The Family Fun Zone offers fans a chance to meet their Fantasy Fishing team anglers face-to-face and review the latest products from Berkley, Lowrance, Ranger, Evinrude, Yamaha and other sponsors while children are treated to giveaways, fishing themed games and rides like the Ranger Boat simulator. Children 14 and under visiting the Family Fun Zone on Sunday will receive a free rod and reel combo while supplies last. One lucky member of the audience will even win a new Ranger boat during the final 4 p.m. weigh-in Sunday, April 26. Admission is free, and you must be present to win.

In FLW Tour competition, pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day, with pros supplying the boat, controlling boat movement and competing against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back deck against other co-anglers. The full field competes in the two-day opening round for one of 10 slots in Saturday’s competition based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are cleared for day three, and co-angler competition concludes following Saturday’s weigh-in. The top 10 pros continue competition Sunday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from days three and four.

The total purse for the National Guard Open event at Lake Norman is more than $1.1 million, including $10,000 through 50th place in the Pro Division. The pro winner can take home up to $200,000.

On the Web

For those who can’t catch the weigh-in action in person, FLWOutdoors.com offers FLW Live, an online application that brings fans real-time weigh-in results, streaming video and audio.

Thursday’s conditions

Sunrise: 6:40 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 44 degrees

Expected high temperature: 78 degrees

Water temperature: 62-66 degrees

Wind: W at 9 mph

Maximum humidity: 38 percent

Day’s outlook: sunny