Believing the Bass

FLW Tour Smith Lake winner Dave Lefebre. FLW photo.

I enjoyed reading the account of Dave Lefebre's FLW Tour win at Smith Lake. He finished day one in the 20s, worked his way higher each day, began the final day in 7th place and brought in nearly 20 pounds of fish on the final day to win by about 2 pounds. He did so by being keenly observant, seeing what the bass were doing, and trusting what they were doing, not what they should be doing.

I wasn't there and haven't talked with Dave, so I won't try to report details. Rob Newell does a great job of that in the final story about the win on the FLW website. Basically, though, Dave found some very specific spots where blueback herring were spawning first thing in the morning, and he caught his best fish from those exact spots later in the day. Strange thing was that the bass were nowhere to be found early, when the herring they love to eat were everywhere, but they were in the exact same spots thick and feeding aggressively later in the day, when the herring were nowhere to be found.

It didn't make sense to Dave, but that is the very thing that impresses me. Bass pros have to understand normal bass behavior and use that as a starting point. However, the best ones know how to observe and figure out what IS going on, whether or not it SHOULD BE going on. Dave Lefebre chose to trust the bass and to build his pattern based on that trust, and the result was victory in the second tour event of the season and a check for $125,000.

FLW Tour Hits Smith Lake Tomorrow

Smith Lake, Alabama - FLW photo by Brett Carlson

FLW pros have spent this week practicing on Alabama's Smith Lake, where the second stop of this year's tour begins tomorrow at first light. Smith presents quite a contrast from Okeechobee, where the FLW Tour season began with shallow water, endless-seeming grass and heavyweight Florida largemouths. Smith is deep, clear and mountain shrouded, and spotted bass are the main attraction.

Practice reports, pro Tweets and Facebook posts I've seen suggest that the lake is in good condition and that the bite has been strong. Major factors will be weather, with wind and clouds probably producing a better bite overall than bluebird skies, and fishing pressure, as many of the anglers will be trying to work some of the same patterns. Smith's largemouths stand out as sort of a wild card. An angler who targets the green fish is might just come to the scales with a monster bag, but the likelihood of repeating quality bags for four days with largemouths is skimpy simply due to a limited number of largemouths and a limited amount of largemouth habitat in the lake.

Visit the FLW website for more information, including video reports with top pros following practice days and details about how to watch the weigh-ins live.

Smith Lake Bassmaster Open Underway

Kevin Hawk leads the Bassmaster Southern Open at Smith Lake after the first day. B.A.S.S. photo by James Overstreet.

The final B.A.S.S. Open of 2012 began yesterday at Smith Lake in Jasper, Alabama. Like the final Northern and Central Open events before it, this Southern Open finale has major ramifications for various anglers in terms of 2013 Bassmaster Classic qualifications and invitations to fish the Bassmaster Elite Series next year.

Kevin Hawk, who sprang into prominence in the bass fishing world in 2010 when he won the Forrest Wood Cub at Lake Lanier, leads the three-day event after one day of fishing. Hawk, who said he caught his fish a variety of ways, brought 16 pounds, 7 ounces to the scales on Day 1. Hawk has fished all three Southern Opens, so a win would earn him a berth in the Bassmaster Classic. Going into this weekend, he was second in the Southern Opens points race. Whether or not he notches the win, it will be interesting to see whether he takes a shot at the Elites in 2013 if he finishes high enough in the standings to get an invitation. He has fished the FLW Tour for the past four years (two as a pro and two before that as a co-angler).