Usually, FLW pros are packing lots of light line and shaky heads when they gear up for the clear water of Beaver Lake. But this year with the water high and muddy, heavy action presentations seem to be making some noise in a big way.
Lots of limits came to the scale Wednesday, probably more than we’ve seen at Beaver in quite some time. That tells me that the anglers are having a little fun prowling around the banks at flood stage throwing spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jigs and such.
With conditions so different from the norm, you might expect a few new guys to creep up the leaderboard. But, counterintuitively, many of the same old Beaver Lake big sticks who’ve caught them in clear water in the past are still catching them in the high, muddy water this year, at least on the first day. Mark Pack, Dan Morehead, Shinichi Fukae, Alvin Shaw, Clark Wendlandt – they’re all in the top third of the field, which should delight fantasy players who looked at past results at Beaver to make their picks.
What that tells me is that knowledge of a lake outweighs any change of conditions. Simply: It pays to pick the guys who know where the good fish are. Apparently, at Beaver Lake, the fish haven’t moved around too much despite the high water. And no lake on tour has a longer tournament history than Beaver. That means, probably more than any other event, you can feel comfortable making picks from past results at Beaver.
Tracy Adams is one pro who knows where they are in Beaver. He’s been a top contender here during all those years of clear-water competition. Today, he caught another decent top-50-type bag and had some kind words for one of his favorite tournament venues.
“The weights are going to be a little higher this year,” he said. “I think I’d rather fish Beaver when it’s muddy than when it’s clear.”
If you need any more proof that Beaver’s fishing really well right now: Even Jimmy Houston and his spinnerbait caught a limit today. Diagnosis: ducks on the pond.