Winding down on Ouachita

Cloudy, wet conditions will diminish sight-fishing options

MOUNT IDA, Ark. – An old angling truism says that if you can see a fish, he/she has already seen you. Well, the way conditions have stacked up for the final day of FLW American Fishing Series Central Division action on Lake Ouachita, it’s unlikely that anyone will see anyone.

The sunny skies that warmed anglers and illuminated the shallow bedding areas yielded to thickening cloud cover by late afternoon on Day Two. Today, the top-10 pros and co-anglers launched into windy, dim conditions with the likelihood of rain by midday.

The lower light will all but eliminate the sight-fishing game upon which many have made their mark this week. Flipping lizards, tubes and creature baits to bedding bass has delivered big results, but spotting beds will be a tough chore with no sun and surface distortion caused by the wind and rain. Nevertheless, third place pro Stetson Blaylock said the shoreline deal is not done.

“There’s a lot of fish spawning on deep stumps and if you find the stumps, you may have to make repeated casts to them, but there are fish on nearly every stump,” he said. “You just have to pick them apart and cover lots of water.”

For the past two days, Blaylock has kept a Carolina rig handy in case the bed fish give refuse to cooperate. Flipping beds produced 19 pounds, 10 ounces on Day One and 15-5 on Day Two. He’ll fish beds today with the same Texas-rigged green pumpkin Berkley Chigger Craw that got him to the final round. Sitting 3 pounds, 3 ounces off the lead, Blaylock knows he’s within striking distance if he can find a quality kicker fish.

“As long as I keep catching those solid 3-pound fish, I’m going to keep (bed fishing),” he said. “One big fish can win this tournament.”

Pro leader Matthew Jones of Spokane, Mo. brings a 38-2 total into the final day. He’s also prepared to work around the weather. “I have three or four fish that I don’t need to see to catch. I know where they’re at.”

More, who has lead the pro field since Day One, caught all of his fish by flipping beds with a Texas-rigged green pumpkin Zoom Critter Craw with a 5/16-ounce tungsten weight. Today, he said he’ll start by throwing a crankbait early and then work with a swimbait and a jerkbait for part of the day, while keeping his flipping rig ready for the right moment.

Starting the day in second place, Utah pro Roy Hawk will fish some topwater with a Super Spook and bump the bottom with a Lucky Craft RC 2.5 DD crankbait. He too has bed fish located that he can target in low visibility, but Hawk said he’ll focus much of his effort on main lake points in 5-10 feet. If he decides to pursue the bed fish he has marked, he’ll flip a green pumpkin Yamamoto craw.

Fourth place pro Cody Bird hopes to tempt quality bed fish with what he calls “not your typical shaky head.” Actually, the key to his presentation is a Hole Shot finesse worm that he helped design for Kicker Fish baits. With holes in the tail, the worm collects pockets of air that increase buoyancy and make the bait stand tall in the water.

In the co-angler division, 19-year-old Keeton Blaylock hopes to generate some early productivity with a spinnerbait. Although he and older brother Stetson are competing in separate divisions, Keeton said they’ll definitely compare scorecards.

“I think this is pretty awesome,” he said. “We give each other pretty good grief whenever one of us does better than the other one.”

Keeton said their family pep talk is short and to the point: “We tell each other, `Just don’t stink.'”

Logistics

Saturday’s final weigh in will take place at Allen Tillery Chevrolet located at 4573 Central Ave., Hot Springs, Ark., beginning at 3:30 p.m. Weigh-ins are free and open to the public.

The Lake Ouachita American Fishing Series tournament is being hosted by the Hot Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Pros will fish for a top award of $25,000 plus a 198VX Ranger boat with 200-horsepower outboard if Ranger Cup guidelines are met. Co-anglers will cast for a top award of $10,000. If the co-angler meets the Ranger Cup guidelines, they will earn an additional $5,000.

Saturday’s conditions:

Sunrise: 6:02 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 57 degrees

Expected high temperature: 64 degrees

Water temperature: 60 degrees

Wind: NE 10-15 mph

Humidity: 78 percent

Day’s outlook: Cloudy, rain by midday