Get Outdoors. Go Fish! at Cordova High School
Date: Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Time: 10:40 – 11:20 a.m.
Students: Cordova Seniors & Fishing Team
FLW Pro anglers will visit Cordova High School and talk to the students about the various aspects of science and technology that apply to the world of professional fishing. Topics will include: Mathematics, biology on the water, advance sonar technology and also the business side of fishing. Anglers will talk to the seniors and fishing team for 40 minutes.
Leading up to the visit, (now until Friday, March 1, 2013), Cordova seniors and the Fishing Team are encouraged to write and submit an essay (500 words or less) on the following topic: “How does science, technology, engineering and math apply to the sport of fishing?”.
All students who submit an essay to Allie Gibbs at FLW, by 3 p.m. CST, Friday, March 1, will receive an FLW hat. The essays will be judged by members of the FLW Foundation Board of Directors and two winners will be announced at the angler visit on March 6. The two winners will each receive an autographed FLW team fishing jersey as well as a half day of fishing with an FLW pro on Lewis Smith Lake on Sunday, March 10 along with a parent or guardian.
Greg Bohannan (Photo by David A. Brown)
Prespawn bass fishing is widely known as a “zero-or-hero” season for many anglers. While it might be relatively simple to locate fish, it’s not always easy to make them eat. Pop-Tarts pro Greg Bohannan of Rogers, Ark., lets us in on the prespawn crankbait arsenal he uses to pry open the lips of tricky prespawn bass.
3-inch Storm Original Wiggle Wart
“When I am around rocky points or flats, I have found that you can’t beat this crankbait,” Bohannan says. “It digs into the rocks with an unparalleled ricochet action that drives fish crazy.”
Bohannan has found the Wiggle Wart to be especially effective on main-lake channel swings, deep banks and backs of pockets where the bottom is covered by baseball-sized or bigger rocks. He prefers the 3-inch model in the naturalistic green crayfish color.
No. 5 and No. 7 Rapala Shad Rap
When prespawn bass get into their occasional funk, Bohannan instinctively reaches for his trusty Shad Raps in red crawdad color pattern.
“Something about the subtlety of a Shad Rap is unbeatable in tough conditions,” the pro claims. “A No. 5 Shad Rap is great on shallow gravel points, while a No. 7 Shad Rap is money on deep clay banks in the backs of pockets.”
Technique is based on water temperature. When the water is about 47 degrees, Bohannan burns the Shad Rap as fast as he can. When it’s below 45 degrees, he’ll throw the more subtle No. 5 model on a 5:1 retrieve ratio cranking reel to move it along more slowly.
Strike King KVD 2.5
“In the late spring prespawn season, especially on sunny days, I love throwing a Strike King 2.5,” testifies Bohannan. “I’ll throw it around shallow rocks a ton once they have been warmed up by the sun. When the water reaches the low 50s, it’s game time with the 2.5”
Bohannan suggests using a 6:1 reel and 15-pound-test fluorocarbon for abrasion resistance when cranking around shallow rocks. His favorite color is chili craw.
Norman Deep Little N
“For deeper fish, perhaps in the earlier prespawn stages, I’ll throw a Norman Deep Little N almost exclusively,” Bohannan says. “It runs just a tad deeper than the Wiggle Wart, but sometimes prespawn fishing can be a game of inches.”
The Arkansas native loves to fish this crankbait around deep rock bluffs and deep channel-swing banks. In order to obtain the premium depth, action and speed for the Little N, Bohannan suggests retrieving it with a low retrieve ratio cranking reel. His favorite color is black with a red belly.
Strike King Red Eye Shad
“If the lake is in the middle of a prespawn warming trend, a 1/2-ounce Strike King Red Eye Shad is outstanding,” says Bohannan. “It’s even better with a little bit of wind and a bluebird sky.
“I love to burn it across the back flats of short pockets when the water temperature is in the 46- to 49-degree range.”
While most anglers prefer to fish lipless crankbaits around grass, Bohannan has a different approach. He targets gravel flats, roadbeds, hard-bottom creek beds or any other hard bottom, working the Red Eye Shad at a fast clip to keep it above the fish. His go-to color is chili craw.
… Read more in our March 2012 issue of FLW Bass Fishing magazine.
Editor’s note: This is just a sample of the kind of great content readers will find when they open the pages (or navigate through the online edition) of the March issues of FLW Bass Fishing and FLW Walleye Fishing magazines, both offering many articles to help improve your fishing.
Pro Lessons: Greg Bohannan's adaptations for big water
FLW Tour pro Greg Bohannan has learned a few tricks about big-water bass fishing.
Courtesy FLW Outdoors
29.Nov.2011 by Paul Strege
Editor's note: This article is from FLW Bass Fishing magazine, offering tips, techniques and tackle reviews for anglers of all skill levels plus in-depth features on the pros of the sport.
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Pop-Tarts pro Greg Bohannan of Rogers, Ark., has enjoyed remarkable success on the Walmart FLW Tour, having scored 13 top-10s. In July, I shared a picturesque summer day with him as he prepared for the EverStart Series Central Division tournament on Detroit River/Lake St. Clair and collected several pointers. Among other things, I also learned that Bohannan isn't just a threat on the lakes of the Ozarks.
Angler: Greg Bohannan, Rogers, Ark.
Fishery: Detroit River and Lake St. Clair, Mich.
Month: July
Where to start?
Considering Lake St. Clair's reputation for producing lots of trophy-class smallmouths, the task of finding quality fish hardly seems a challenge. Wrong. Virtually all of St. Clair's 430 square miles of water is fishable, with a natural maximum depth of 21 feet. Finding "better" fish among millions of "good" ones often intimidates even the most experienced anglers.
We depart the Elizabeth Park boat ramp at 5 a.m. and make the half-hour run up the Detroit River toward Lake St. Clair. The view of the GM Renaissance Center against the backdrop of a crimson dawn is worth the early wakeup call.
Don't overlook the obvious
Shortly after entering the main lake, Bohannan shuts down his Ranger Z520 in a channel leading toward a west shore boat harbor. Seconds later, he's rhythmically dancing a MegaBass Vision 110 jerkbait off the edge of a 10- to 20-foot break.
"Although some places like this are obvious, they can still hold a 3- to 4-pounder," Bohannan says. "If I find myself struggling or needing a fish in the tournament, I might stop here. It's also on the way back to the launch."
Bohannan crisscrosses the drop-off, up onto the flat and back. We catch and release several fish, but none of the size he hoped for. He works toward the northeastern edge of the riprap harbor break wall where he lays down his jerkbait rig and grabs his drop-shot rod. The current is noticeably pulling Pop-Tarts pro Greg Bohannan boats a smallie.around the corner of the break wall, and with his first toss of a 3-inch black Berkley Gulp Leech he connects with a smallmouth. Over the next 10 minutes, he catches a half-dozen fish up to 2 pounds in size, seemingly on every cast.
"Lots of fish, but no big ones here this morning," he quips. "Let's make a move."
Drop-shot drifting
By 8 a.m., a northwest breeze gains strength. Bohannan drives us out to a 15-foot-deep main-lake flat. He starts one of several drifts with his drop-shot Gulp Leech, occasionally alternating among a drop-shot, deep-diving crankbait and jerkbait.
"Back home, the best smallmouth fishing days are cloudy and rainy," Bohannan explains. "Up north, I find just the opposite. In my experience, cranks and jerkbaits work best on sunny, calm days. Light penetrates better under those conditions, and reaction lures are most effective. When the wind is strong or the skies are overcast, it seems like the fish need to be finessed into biting."
We drift with the drop-shot, the goal being to cover large distances of water until specific fish-holding areas are located.
Big water, small signs
After combing the flat for nearly an hour without much success, Bohannan stows his Minn Kota Fortrex, fires up his engine and heads a short distance to a similar area. With sporadic weed clumps and baitfish scattered throughout the lake, he believes that his main objective is merely finding where the fish are at that moment in time. Shortly into his second drift, Bohannan connects with a 4-pound smallmouth, but loses it boatside while attempting to lip the frolicking fish. He observes that the surface is clouded with the shucks of mayfly nymphs.
"I've noticed throughout the week that some of my better fish have come from flats with a bunch of these mayfly sheds on the surface," he says.
Bohannan picks up the pace, limiting each drift to about 20 minutes in duration. Now that a good-sized smallmouth has been revealed, he's refining his search to locate additional fish and identify any subtle structural differences in the area.
"On these drifts, I'm really looking for one of three things: [depth finder] readings of fish, thicker pods of grass or any change in the bottom," Bohannan says. "When you have a lake that is so consistent like St. Clair, even the slightest bottom change or isolated weed clump will have fish on it."
Great Lakes electronics
Electronics can speed up searches for big bass in big water.
For big-water, big-bass exploration, Bohannan relies heavily on his electronics to expedite the search. His Pop-Tarts wrapped Ranger is equipped with three Humminbird 998 color side-imaging graphs, two at the bow and one at the helm. One graph up front is dedicated solely to GPS display and provides ample room for detailed small- and large-scale electronic base maps, while the second graph is utilized simply for 2-D, downward sonar.
"Many successful offshore anglers, guys like Mark Rose, Shin Fukae and Brent Ehrler, rig their boats this way," he says. "You have so much more detail with multiple screens than you have with splitting the screen on a single unit. This is my first boat rigged this way, and I really like it."
I quickly buy into his electronics rigging theory as we drift over a 1-foot bottom rise and connect with a 3-pounder. When peering over at his helm GPS, I notice the flat is littered with waypoints of differing symbols.
"I like to group waypoints from past trips with a common symbol," he explains about the system. "That way, I can quickly identify what locations are best from one year to the next."
Change of pace
While the majority of anglers would be satisfied with our midmorning results, Bohannan is restless and heads north to the Metro Beach Metropark to explore some shallow water.
He uses a spinnerbait and Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap to work a channel, rocky shoreline and nearby offshore weed flat. With the exception of the boat channel, most of the water he fishes is less than 5 feet deep. He catches several bass, but none are of competitive tournament quality.
If in doubt, try it again
Shortly before noon, we head back out to the main-lake flats, this time a little deeper in 17 to 18 feet of water. The wind has increased in strength, and waves have started to build. We begin another drift a few hundred yards off of a prominent breakline. Within five minutes, he connects with a 4-pound smallmouth on a drop-shot Gulp Leech. He marks the spot with a waypoint, re-rigs and continues with the directional drift.
"When you are drifting and see fish on the graph, don't just reel up and try to drop on top of them," Bohannan explains. "You will eventually drift through them like we did for the last fish, and you will get bit. "ll definitely come back here during the tournament. I marked a bunch of fish."
The pro decides this is a potential tournament spot, with the caveat that an angler has to be willing to drift it all day.
I can only agree. Bites are not coming fast and furious, but recur steadily. We go on to catch four more smallmouths, most weighing more than 3 pounds, until deciding to call it a day at 2 p.m. Though Lake St. Clair doesn't match up in characteristics to his regular Ozark haunts, Bohannan has demonstrated he knows how to find fish here.
Bass anglers traverse the Detroit River on their way back from Lake St. Clair.
Lake St. Clair conditions
Weather conditions preceding the outing on Lake St. Clair are relatively stable. A midweek thunderstorm breaks up the monotony of several consecutive days of typical summer weather. The wind is light to moderate, the skies are generally sunny and the surface water temperature hovers around 80 degrees. One variable that Bohannan identifies as unusual is the late spring, which might be preventing bass from congregating in substantial numbers on their favorite summertime haunts. A clue: the recent mayfly hatch, occurring two weeks later than most years.
Forage and cover
Lake St. Clair's primary form of cover is weed growth. Weedbeds range in size from small clumps to large fields, and host many varieties of baitfish, smallmouth bass and other predatory species. Perch and gobies populate the weed clumps that Bohannan targets and mayfly nymphs likely attract baitfish to the area.
Postscript: Bohannan's Lake St. Clair results
Greg Bohannan caught nearly matching limits of 14-10 and 14-7 to finish 57th. Mark Modrak of China Township, Mich., won with a three-day weight of 58-15.
Lessons learned
- Utilize your electronics. Technological advancements in GPS mapping in addition to sonar imaging can assist in locating productive areas, especially on large and unfamiliar waters.
- Fish-holding structure, especially on lakes devoid of bottom contour, is relative. Pay close attention to subtle depth and bottom composition changes.
- Fish with courage. On days that catch rates might be down, the most successful approach might be simply to cover large areas of water.
- Look for surface water signs. Insect hatches, such as mayflies, often reveal productive sections of water.
by Brett Carlson
Stop me if you've heard this tune before. The weather recently in Branson, Mo., the host city for the upcoming FLW Tour event, has been unseasonably cold, so cold that water temperatures are in the upper 30s. That's the bad news. The good news is that Table Rock Lake has a hydro-electric dam, which prevents dangerous flooding.
By no means is the Table Rock tournament in jeopardy, but the cold water will certainly affect the fishing. The 2009 qualifier, which was held March 12-15, featured an unbelievable largemouth bite. And the first few days of the event were frigid. But leading up to the tournament the weather was surprisingly warm.
"Last year we had a pretty mild winter and the fish stayed relatively shallow," said pro Greg Bohannan. "When we have those types of winters the fishing is easy because they don't move very far off the bank. Basically the warmer water kept them shallow and then the cold air during the tournament made them more aggressive."
Bohannan says 2010 has been anything but mild in the Ozarks. And he would know; he's experienced the conditions firsthand. Bohannan lives in nearby Rogers, Ark., and spent time practicing on Table Rock before it went off-limits Feb. 15.
"The fish are still fat and healthy, but they're much more difficult to find. We won't see as many limits this year, but there will be a couple giants caught on a jerkbait. And when you do find them, they can be grouped up pretty good. So we're still going to see some heavyweight bags, just not as many. I am guessing 15 or 16 pounds a day will be enough to make the cut."
Bohannan's pre-practice wasn't stellar, but he hasn"t lost confidence. After all, he top-10d last year on Table Rock and finished second at the 2008 American Fishing Series Championship.
"I like fishing in the Ozarks when its nasty, but I would really like to see the water temperature rise a little bit."
I enjoy some of my best fishing around Christmas. When I think about fishing this time of the year, I think about rocks.
In cold water the bass in the highland lakes like Bull Shoals and Table Rock hang around boulders that have 5 to 20 feet of water over them. It might be because the water is typically clear and the rock absorbs and holds the sun's warmth a little bit more than other types of structure. That in turn kick-starts the food chain as crawfish and minnows are drawn to the rock.
Whatever the reason, the bass are there, and I like to throw three types of lures: a suspending jerkbait, a crankbait or a jig. One of these might produce the most fish on any given day, but you'll catch fish on all three of them. A Wiggle Wart is my go-to crankbait. I fish it slowly on 8- to 10-pound-test Berkley 100% Fluorocarbon line with a 7-foot, medium-action Razr Rod cranking model. If the water is really cold and the fish seem to be a bit sluggish, I go to a 3/8-ounce BassX spider jig in green-pumpkin with a Berkley Chigger Craw of the same color. The best boulders will come off a bluff or be along a ledge that might stair-step into deeper water. Clear water is a key, and so is sunny weather.
-- Ranger pro Greg Bohannan of Rogers, Ark.
Bohannan blasts into third
Greg Bohannan of Roger, Ark., was Captain Comeback at Table Rock. On day one, he found only two keepers for 5 pounds, 10 ounces and landed in 26th place. A day later, the Kellogg's Pop-Tarts pro came charging back with 11-13 and earned a final-round berth in ninth place. On day three, Bohannan put the exclamation point on his statement by sacking up 13-9 the day's heaviest catch and jumping up to third place with a total of 31 pounds worth $6,895.
"I really shot myself in the foot the first day," he said. "But after having trouble the first day, I decided I'm going to fish my strength, so I put a crankbait in my hand. I love throwing a hand-painted Fall Creek Wiggle Wart."
A motor problem handicapped Bohannan today, but he made the most of what he could do and obviously fared well.
"I had a spark plug go bad in my engine, and I couldn't run very fast, so I just chased the wind today. Wherever the wind was, that's where I fished. It didn't matter if it was a bluff or a flat point; I just burned up the trolling motor today. I had that Minn Kota on 70 to 80 percent all day and just covered a lot of water."
Bohannan fished his crankbait on a 7-foot medium-action rod with a 6.3:1 Abu-Garcia reel carrying 10-pound 100-percent Berkley fluorocarbon.