If lakes were holidays, Grand Lake would be Halloween – full of tricks and treats. There are enough big bass to be had for the top-10 boaters to keep plugging along despite what has been a very tough week of fishing at the Costa FLW Series Southwestern Division event presented by Ranger and hosted by the City of Grove.

From fluctuating water levels and changing water temperatures, to a hard south wind yesterday and a colder north wind today – it’s no wonder anglers have struggled to find consistency. Tough as it is, Grand Lake is dropping hints that the major prespawn movement may by approaching go time. Yesterday’s weigh-in delivered three bags of more than 20 pounds. Pro leader Curt Warren caught 20-6, fifth-place pro Jeff Sprague nabbed 22-2 – the event’s biggest limit – and Tim Reneau, who missed the top-10 cut by 4 ounces, caught 20-13.

Most anglers are fishing boat docks in the backs of pockets or shallow wood. These are classic prespawn staging targets, and anglers are hopping from one pocket to the next, in hopes of running into a few big females moving up.

We visited Warren early and found him throwing an umbrella rig around docks and wood. His bite had not yet started when we left him around 8:30, but it’s likely the sunny skies that broke through persistent cloud cover in late morning will help him and others by positioning fish tighter to cover and making them more willing to commit to a bait.

A few nice fish bit early, including a 5-pounder and 4-pounder for Sprague, who improved from 61st to fifth yesterday. Ninth-place pro Kevin Ledoux and 10th-place pro Jeff Reynolds showed us 3-pounders.

We’re looking for a couple of big bags this afternoon, but overall, the rest of the day is going to be a grind.

Weigh-in begins at 4:30 p.m. CT. It'll be broadcast live from the Rogers, Ark., Cabela's store on FLWFishing.com.