April 11, Beaver Lake, AR
Dan writes:
Today I headed down the lake, towards the dam. I went and looked at all of my best bed-fishing areas from last year. Water that was two feet deep then is now fifteen, but that’s okay. Certain pockets I eliminated, but others, specifically those with steep sides, still look like good bedding areas and should hold fish when they decide to make their move up to the bank. Water temps now are anywhere from fifty to fifty-five. Air temperatures are low to mid- seventies, though it was very cold, twenties, last week.
Today I fished mainly a crankbait in the flooded bushes. The original shoreline, where the bushes start, is eleven feet deep right now. I also fished a spinnerbait back in the shallower bushes. Never had a bite on either one.
Four years ago, the water was high like this for the FLW tournament and I got to follow one of the top-ten guys in the camera boat. He was flipping a three-quarter ounce jig in what they call trash pockets – places where pine needles, leaves, and floating wood collect and form a dense cover over the backs of small, steep-sided pockets. The key was high water, steep banks, and ultra-clear water. I have tried to duplicate this technique many times, but conditions were never right for it. They are now. I caught two fish flipping a TERMINATOR Jig into trash pockets late in the afternoon, including one three-pound spotted bass. That’s the other nice thing about this technique – it has the potential to catch huge fish.