Top 5 Patterns from Beaver Lake Day 3

Running and gunning key to overcoming tough day

Andy Morgan didn’t light up the world on day three of the Walmart FLW Tour event presented by Rayovac on Beaver Lake, but he caught what he needed to maintain the lead and put a 1-pound, 9-ounce cushion between he and Matt Arey.

Most of the rest of the top 20 scrambled today, abandoning their patterns and trying new options to try and make the final-day cut. Here’s how the top five got it done.

2: Matt Arey – 37 pounds, 9 ounces

Morgan might already have a Beaver Lake crown to his credit, but so does Matt Arey, his closest pursuer in second place.

Over the years, the Quaker State pro has also learned quite a bit about playing differing daily conditions on Beaver Lake to his favor. Today he proved it with a 10-pound, 7-ounce catch, which will keep him within striking distance of Morgan on the final day.

Arey’s strength in northwest Arkansas is knowing how to utilize the whole lake on any given today. After spending the first two days up in the river section, Arey made a bold call to bring the clear water into play today in the lower end of the lake, and it paid off.

“I started in Prairie Creek, caught a couple there,” Arey says. “I headed up the river for a bit and caught a couple there. And once the sun got up, I headed all the way down the lake to the clear water to catch a few off beds.

“I weighed in three spotted bass today, and I’m afraid that’s going to be my demise,” Arey regrets. “I don’t like it when I have to weigh spots here. It’s like going backward slowly. In order to keep the winning pace you have got to be bringing limits of largemouths and smallmouths every day. Those spots just won’t cut it.”

3: Stetson Blaylock – 37 pounds, 3 ounces

Up until 1 o’clock this afternoon, Stetson Blaylock was on the crash-and-burn path with just one fish in his livewell. In the last two hours of the day, he righted the ship and sacked up a limit weighing 11 pounds, 2 ounces to stay in the race.

“I figured I was out of bedding fish today, so I just went out and tried to fish Beaver Lake like it was Beaver Lake,” Blaylock says. “And that did not work out too well at all. I only caught one keeper ‘just fishing’”

Out of necessity, Blaylock ran back to some of his sight-fishing spots, and a small miracle had occurred.

“Either new ones had just pulled up or I could see some I had missed with the sun shining brighter,” he says. “Maybe it was a little bit of both. But I started seeing decent keepers hanging around the logs, bushes and stuff where I had caught them the first two days. It’s like the place reloaded. I caught all five of my weigh fish in the last two hours from those areas.”

4: John Cox – 37 pounds

John Cox rocketed from 13th to fourth with a 12-pound, 13-ounce catch today and might be poised to steal the show tomorrow.

Cox had hoped the sunshine today would bring new spawners to his areas, but it didn’t. At noon he found himself with just a single keeper.

“That’s when I put all my sight-fishing stuff up and decided to run to a place I remember seeing several years ago,” Cox recalls. “It was back when the water was down 10 feet. I remember looking at it and saying to myself, ‘That place ought to be good when the water is up.’”

Cox’s whimsical move resulted in an afternoon flurry that pushed him to fourth place.

“I’m really looking forward to going back there tomorrow,” he adds. “I think there are still a lot more fish in there.”

5: Cody Meyer – 36 pounds, 7 ounces

Cody Meyer scored his top-20 qualification down the lake in Indian Creek, but with his bite dwindling there, he decided to play the release card today to the tune of 11 pounds, 10 ounces.

“I stayed in Prairie Creek most of the day throwing a drop-shot and swimbait for release fish,” Meyer says. “I did make one run back down to Indian for a little while this afternoon and never caught a keeper. So I headed right back to Prairie and culled up a couple more times.”