ON TOUR
FLW TOUR
detaIlS
april 27-30, 2017
presented by general tire
hosted by visit Rogers
McCOMBS MASTERS THE FLOOD AT BEAVER LAKE
ANNUAL OZARK DERBY SERVES UP VALUABLE LESSONS IN RISING WATER
By Rob Newell
Q
Johnny McCombs’ strategy was to follow the fish toward flooded banks as the lake rose. It worked and earned the Alabama pro his first FLW Tour victory.
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uickly rising water is the profes-
sional angler’s bane when try-
ing to catch bass in competi-
tion. The scenario is perhaps even
more perplexing than dealing with
severe cold fronts in Florida or the
late-summer period on clear highland
impoundments.
FLW Tour pros got a true test of
their rising-water savvy during the FLW
Tour event on Beaver Lake presented
by General Tire April 27-30. Never
before in the Tour’s nearly two-decade
history of going to Beaver had pros
dealt with such a meteoric rise in water
level over the course of practice and
the tournament.
When it was all said and done,
Beaver Lake rose 12 feet in nine days.
The most severe rises occurred just
before practice started, when the lake
came up 3 1/2 feet in a couple of days,
and on the official off day on
Wednesday before the tournament,
when the water came up another 4
feet. It came up another 3 feet over the
final two days.
In addition, anglers had to endure
severe thunderstorms and downpours
throughout the event. Each day the
lake looked like a completely different
fishery than the day before. Alabama
pro Johnny McCombs, whose story of
redemption following struggles with
drug addiction went viral following the
tournament, returned to the Tour this
season for the first time since 2003
and proved that his skills are still sharp.
McCombs mastered the changing con-
ditions better than the rest of the field
to pull off his first-ever FLW Tour win.
However, among the top 10, four
patterns arose to counter the rising
waters of Beaver Lake.
Pattern no. 1:
chasing lawn lunkers
McCombs won by fishing newly
flooded flat areas, such as fields and
yards behind bushes and tree lines.
Every day, McCombs moved up with
flWfIshIng.com I july 2017