We’re still roughly a month away from the start of the National Guard Open on Lake Norman, which is the third stop on the 2009 FLW Tour. Located just north of Charlotte, Norman has been on the schedule each of the past two years. Furthermore, both of those events were held in late April, which means there will be very few secrets for this event slated April 23-26. The big question leading up to the tournament, both for anglers and fantasy players, is whether or not the fish will be spawning.
Last year sight-fishing for bedding bass played a major role in Sean Hoernke’s winning pattern. According to a few Carolinians, the first wave of largemouths is already up making beds near the bank.
“The lower end of the lake turned on about a week ago,” said Conover, N.C., angler Brian Travis. “But there is a hot-water discharge down there. On the northern end the water is still in the high 50s and low 60s.”
Travis said the main wave has not happened yet, but it won’t be long.
“I think it is going to come the week before we get there (for the FLW Tour event). But it all depends on the weather. The thing about these Carolina lakes is that they spawn in several waves – the whole process can take more than a month.”
Barring a prolonged stretch of unseasonably warm weather, there will be at least some bass on beds come tournament time. But will they be tournament winning bass?
“The lake is a little bit behind overall,” added Travis. “That means we’ll hit at least part of the spawn, but those bedding fish will get beat to death. The quality bed fish are going to be the ones that move up during the tournament or just recently moved up – and there’s not going to be a ton of those. The guy that wins this one is going to need to be versatile.”
Despite only garnering 1 percent of the overall vote on the Fantasy Trend, Travis will be one to watch at Norman. He lives 15 minutes from the lake and has been fishing it for 20 years. Last weekend he took fifth place at the BFL event on nearby Lake Wylie with 17 pounds.
“Needless to say I’m pumped. I think I can catch a limit sight-fishing, but I plan to upgrade with other stuff.”
When asked if other stuff meant chasing an early-morning shad spawn along docks, Travis shrugged.
“I really think we’re going to miss most of the shad spawn – we’ll be too early. Last year during the tournament the shad spawn was strong on Wylie, but Wylie is always just ahead of Norman (in terms of seasonal movement).”