Grand Lake Midday Update Day 2
Wind-whipped Grand still stingy
You’d think that after putting on the pouty face yesterday, Grand Lake might be in a more generous mood today. As of midday, that does not seem to be the case, as anglers fishing the Costa FLW Series Southwestern Division event presented by Ranger and hosted by the City of Grove are mostly struggling to find a bite.
A pleasantly warmer morning bespoke the kind of stimulus that might rally the lake’s bass into an organized prespawn progression. However, overcast conditions tempered the sun’s influence, while steadily increasing winds complicated running and, no doubt, affected location decisions. Grand’s winding layout offers plenty of leeward shorelines, but when everybody’s looking for the same thing, a big lake starts to fish a little small.
Most of the anglers we saw were fishing boat docks with a mix of spinnerbaits, crankbaits, bladed jigs and flipping baits (jigs and Texas-rigged plastics). Brush piles, isolated rocks and the occasional laydowns added bonus cover.
We found day-one leader Toby Hartsell early, as he left the takeoff and turned directly into the docks right outside the off-limits boundary. He pulled a couple of small fish from this area and currently has three keepers.
Kevin Ledoux, who started the day in second, spent much of his time throwing spinnerbaits and crankbaits along riprap banks and into the small pockets in and around Horse Creek. We saw him miss two good fish that bit lightly.
Overall, we didn’t see many fish, but this is Grand Lake, and quality is definitely here. Mitchell Webb showed us a chunky 3 1/2-pounder that looked like she’d swallowed a football — a classic prespawn look.
We’re optimistic that the warming afternoon could stimulate more of those footballs into activity. Today’s weigh-in will likely see a good amount of fluctuation, but this lake’s inconsistency is exactly what can make things interesting today.
Weigh-in officially kicks off at 3:30 p.m. CT, but Tournament Director Ron Lappin opened check-in early to allow anglers to come in before winds build this afternoon, as the forecast predicts. You can watch the weigh-in live at FLWFishing.com.