Fantasy blog: Big changes at Beaver

One week ago, northwest Arkansas was covered with over a foot of snow. Many of Beaver Lake’s major creek arms were frozen and the places that weren’t had water temperatures in the mid 30s. On Thursday, Feb. 10, the overnight low in Fayetteville was -18 degrees, setting an all time record low. Not exactly ideal conditions with the first Walmart FLW Tour Major scheduled to begin March 3.

Fast forward six days and the weather has mercifully done a complete 180. The high temperature today in Rogers is 71 degrees and all that white stuff, save for a few parking lot piles, is gone.

“It was cold and nasty here for over week,” said Aaron Jolliff, owner of Hook Line & Sinker bait shop in Rogers. “Now it’s gone from one extreme to the other. Tomorrow the high is supposed to be 74 degrees, which is close to a record. It’s been bizarre – absolutely wild.

“Everything from Hickory Creek up was frozen. Now we’ve lost most of the ice, except for the backs of a few creeks that don’t get any sun.”

Jolliff also said the cold front brought on a major shad kill. For FLW Tour pros, that means jerkbait fishing will loom large in the upcoming tournament. For Fantasy players, it might be time to dust off the angler profiles to see who favors the pulls and pauses of suspending jerkbaits.

“In general the fishing will be better if the warm weather continues,” Jolliff added. “But the water will still be relatively cold. Right now it’s cranking back up to 42 degrees and I suspect we’ll be in the upper 40s by the time the tournament starts.

Echoing many others, Jolliff predicts the anglers won’t receive as many bites as usual, but the ones they get will generally be bigger bass.