ANTIOCH, Tenn. – The Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine Music City Division will get its second crack at Percy Priest on April 11. Presented by Suzuki Marine, this event comes roughly one month after boaters Chris Fondren and Logan Stewart tied for the win with 19 pounds, 8 ounces, on a lake that has been fishing very well all year.
What to expect
Scott Brummett finished third in the first Music City Division event on Percy Priest, 7 ounces behind the winners, and he has a strong track record on the fishery. He said the lake has been fishing great and that all local tournaments are taking solid weights to win.
“This year, it’s been really good and taking some big weights to win,” he said. “The lightest I’ve seen it take all year has been 18 pounds, and typically if you don’t have low 20s, you aren’t going to win. The lake’s really healthy and producing some good quality fish right now.”
Largemouth and smallmouth should both be well represented in this tournament, and both species should be in different stages of the spawn, with the smallmouth just ahead of their largemouth cousins.
“I think you’ve got both species in all three phases of the spawn, and I think we’ll have a good many more on the bed by the time of this tournament,” said Brummett. “I think the smallmouth should be coming off the bed by then, but we’ll likely see a mixture of fish in this one. It’s always a mixed bag lake. Typically, the mid to lower section of the lake will produce the most smallmouth, and the better largemouth population will be at the upper portion of the lake.”
While forward-facing sonar is always a factor nowadays, Brummett says the impact will not be as great with so many fish up shallow.
“With the spawn going on and so many fish on the bank, I don’t think it will be as important as it usually is,” he shared. “They may use it to look for stumps and structure, which will be important, but there shouldn’t be a ton of targeting individual fish with it.”
Baits to bring
Brummett believes that swimbaits and crankbaits will catch a fair share of fish, but that standard soft plastics will be the way to go for both boaters and co-anglers.
“I would think a Neko rig will be really important, whether you are fishing from the front or back of the boat,” he said. “Baits like Senkos and things like that will catch plenty of fish as the bass start getting on plastics more. I could also see a shaky head or Carolina rig being a big deal in this one.”
What will it take?
As has happened in most events this spring, Brummett is banking on someone catching around 20 pounds and taking the win. With a healthy population of bass weighing 3 pounds and above, it could take upwards of 15 pounds to cash a check.