Storylines: Lock-jawed Out Deep
Whether it’s the fish or their appetites, something is missing out on Pickwick’s ledges.
Whether it’s the fish or their appetites, something is missing out on Pickwick’s ledges.
Typically, the lake’s famed ledges would still be pretty barren around this time of year, but the warm winter and spring have made ledge fishing a serious pattern for this Walmart FLW Tour event which is presented by Quaker State and hosted by Florence/Lauderdale Tourism. Or at least it would be if things would “get right.”
Day one saw a few pros sack up big weights in short flurries early before the high winds made them unfishable. Day two saw far better weather conditions. Anglers just didn’t see any flurries or many bites or even any schools.
“It’s strange out there,” says Jason Lambert, who is widely recognized for his ledge expertise and finished 43rd. “Usually the first fish that get out to the ledges bite like crazy. I couldn’t get them to even bite, let alone get fired up.”
Most pros shared the same sentiments, as top ledges anglers like Michael Neal, Travis Fox and Brandon Hunter all bemoaned finding “winning” schools that simply wouldn’t bite.
“If this was Kentucky Lake, with the schools I found today, you’d just keep catching them all day long,” says Hunter, who located two schools today of more than 25 of the right-sized fish to win. “I couldn’t even get them to bite, and if I did catch one, that was it. Normally that would start a flurry. Not today.
“If you can’t get them to bite a drop-shot or react to big spoon, you’re not going to get them to eat.”
As aggravating as it was for anglers to find stubborn fish, it was equally frustrating to find schools that had just disappeared. Lambert says eight of his 25 schools have simply vanished. Neal bounced to five straight spots today without even seeing a fish, and Hunter also lost a number of schools.
Why did they leave? No angler could pinpoint a reason.
“Once those fish get out there and set up, they should stay,” says Lambert. “I’m thinking that strong north wind against the current did something, is all I can figure. It may have scattered the bait or something.”
So is the ledge bite done for this event? Lambert figures the exact opposite.
“I think the ledge guys are going to smash them this weekend,” says Lambert, who wished he would’ve made the cut. “The weather is going to get warmer and the wind is going to settle down. They’re going to catch them out deep.”