FLW Preview: Beaver Lake, April 17-20

A beautiful sunrise greeted anglers as they made their way out onto Beaver Lake during takeoff. Photo by Gary Mortenson.

April 15, 2002 • Gary Mortenson • Archives

High water levels, staging bass could make for a wide-open tournament

J.T. Kenney. Larry Nixon. Wesley Strader. A rookie. A legend. An upstart turned champion. While Kenney, Nixon and Strader are about as diverse as any three anglers you will find on the FLW Tour today, they do have one very important thing in common: All three have won major FLW titles during the 2002 season.

2002 season already filled with big surprises, intrigue

During the first tournament of the year on Lake Okeechobee, Kenney, an FLW Tour rookie from Frostburg, Md., took home the grand prize with an incredible run through the tournament, punctuated with a hefty 21-pound, 13-ounce catch in the finals. Kenney, who had to borrow gas money in order to finish out an EverStart Eastern Division event the week before, got into the Okeechobee tournament off the waitlist – a precursor to one of the most unlikely finishes in FLW Tour history.

The very next month, legendary angler Larry Nixon showed us why experience is the most important defining characteristic of a bass-fishing champion. After winning the final event of the FLW season in 2001, Nixon used a 16-pound, 9-ounce stringer to capture the title on Lake Wheeler last February – giving him an amazing two wins (and $310,000 in prize money) over a span of three FLW tournaments. Nixon also made a daring strategy change during the final day of competition – abandoning his prime fishing hole for alternative waters with less than 5 hours remaining in the tournament. In the end, the bold move paid off. Big time.

In March, Strader of Spring City, Tenn., used a 14-pound, 10-ounce catch in the finals to win the title on Lake Ouachita and capture the first FLW Tour event of his young career. Strader, who had finished in ninth place at the Lake Wheeler tourney the month before, also had the distinction of winning the very first FLW tournament ever held on Lake Ouachita.

Who will be the next pro to hoist an FLW trophy?

While Kenney, Nixon and Strader were all able to taste the fruits of victory during the first three stanzas of the 2002 FLW Tour, one question remains: Who will conquer the fourth tour stop of the year on Beaver Lake?

Although sight-fishing techniques could come into play, as plenty of bass should be close to their spawning cycles, the higher-than-average water levels could muddy the waters literally and figuratively for the anglers during this week’s event.

“With the water levels up as high as they are, I’m not sure that these types of conditions favor any one angler,” said Strader, only one month removed from winning the first FLW Tour title of his career. “When the water level comes up, the fish disperse because they suddenly have a lot more room to roam. And they’ll be a lot tougher to catch. The key is going to be finding the areas where the fish are really aggressive. And whoever gets into those areas should do very well.”

Lake facts/history

With 449 miles of shoreline, Beaver Lake was formed in 1960 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed Beaver dam on the White River in a joint effort to control flooding and harness a source of hydroelectric power. An extremely clear lake, Beaver Lake intermingles with a variety of major water sources including the Indian, North Clifty, Clifty, Prairie and War Eagle Creeks. Overall, Beaver Lake meanders more than 70 miles through the Ozark Mountains, covering more than 28,000 acres. Beaver Lake also has an average depth of 60 feet and a maximum depth of 204 feet – near Beaver Dam.

Sight-fishing and the spawn

While Clark Wendlandt will most likely head into this tournament as the prohibitive favorite – Wendlandt won FLW titles on Beaver Lake in 2001 and 1999 and finished in 10th place in 2000 – it won’t be easy for the resident of Cedar Park, Texas, to repeat this year. Although Wendlandt is one of the undisputed sight-fishing specialists in the nation, high water levels and a late spawn could leave the Texan scrambling for alternative techniques in this year’s contest.

“A lot of the guys I talked to said that the fish aren’t up on the beds yet. Now that could change if the weather warms up during the week, but as of right now, they’re not there,” said Strader, divulging some of his pre-tournament scouting information. “And because of the high water levels, if the fish are up against the banks, the submerged trees are going to form a barrier that will make it very difficult for the anglers to target the shoreline. As far as I’m concerned, this tournament is going to be a toss up.”

With the tour’s tremendous history on Beaver Lake, many FLW pros will be extraordinarily familiar with the waters they will be attempting to conquer during this week’s contest. In short, unlike the Lake Ouachita tourney, there should be few surprises in store for the veteran anglers.

So who are the veteran anglers to watch out for during this week’s FLW tourney? In addition to Wendlandt, there are numerous big names who have all done very well on Beaver Lake over the past six years or so. For starters, there is Rick Clunn. While Clunn hasn’t done a tremendous amount of damage on the tour as of late, he did manage to walk away with the title on Beaver Lake in 2000. Legendary pro angler Gary Klein could also be a force to be reckoned with. Klein, who is fishing as well as anyone on the tour this year, finished in eighth place on Beaver Lake in 2001 and recorded a fifth-place finish in 2000. Then there is Gerald Swindle. In 2001, Swindle took second place. In 1999, he took 15th place. And he won the event in 1998.

And, as usual, there is Kevin VanDam. VanDam is not only one of the legends of the sport and one of the toughest anglers on any professional bass fishing tour, but he is also still looking for his first FLW win. And that can only mean one thing – VanDam is as hungry as anyone for a Beaver Lake title.