ON TOUR
COSTA FLW SERIES
LAKE DARDANELLE
RUSSELLVILLE, ARK.
By Bryan Hendricks
pHoToS By JESSE SCHULTZ
DETAILS
March 30–April 1, 2017
presented by T-H Marine
Hosted by Russellville Advertising
and promotions
Costa FLW Series Division: Central
Winning Baits
Houchin says he fished a Reaction
Innovations Sweet Beaver in green
pumpkin/red flake with a 4/0 Trokar
flipping hook most of the tournament.
He also caught two key fish on a yel-
low/chartreuse Lucky Craft 2.5 square-
bill crankbait. He used 25-pound-test
Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon with the
Beaver and 15-pound-test Seaguar
InvizX fluorocarbon for the crankbait.
Target Areas
Winning Angler
Quincy Houchin, Mabelvale, Ark.
Winning Weight: 45-04 (15 fish)
Stat Line: The Dardanelle tournament was Houchin’s first foray into the Costa
FLW Series. Houchin is known in Arkansas for his versatility in highland reser-
voirs and river systems. He thrives on shallow-water tactics that encompass
the full range of bass behavior in close-quarter environments. His versatility
with a frog has earned him the nickname locally as the “Frog Man.” He’s won
three T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Arkie Division tournaments.
CONDITIONS
Weather | pre-frontal and cloudy on day one; post-frontal, clear and sunny
on days two and three
Air Temperature | highs in the 70s in practice, followed by a cold front and
lows in the upper 40s, highs in the low 70s during the tournament
Water Temperature | 60 to 62 degrees
Water Clarity | 2 to 3 feet in sheltered backwaters
Wind | east at 25 mph
Moon Phase | waxing crescent
Predominant Lake Features | flooded timber, various grasses, creek chan-
nels, ditches, ledges, backwaters
Fishery Type | highland river impoundment; part of the McClellan-Kerr
Arkansas River Navigation System
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Houchin targeted a large backwater
in the upper, riverine portion of Lake
Dardanelle, upstream from the Scranton
Bridge and about 25 miles northwest of
Lake Dardanelle State Park. Getting in
required jumping sandbars, which dis-
suaded the rest of the competition from
joining him. The backwater is one of the
few prime spawning areas remaining in
the upper part of Lake Dardanelle,
where most of the backwaters have
been cut off and silted in by the jetties
and revetments that divert water into
the navigation channel.
The banks are sandy with a variety
of grades. Portions are steep, while
others are level, and there’s assorted
wood cover in depths of 2 to 3 feet and
8 to 9 feet. Houchin’s targets included
blowdown trees of various sizes, as well
as full treetops and scattered branch-
es. Houchin caught his biggest fish off
the smallest pieces of cover.
“Basically, I’m a target fisherman,”
Houchin says. “At first I pitched to wood
underwater that I could see, and then
I’d go to the deeper stuff.”
Most of his targets were logs, but he
paid equal attention to smaller branch-
es, or “twigs” as he calls them, because
they are often connected to tree crowns
in deeper water.
“I caught some of my bigger fish by
the twigs,” Houchin says. “You really
don’t know what’s under there. I just
went through there flipping what I saw.”
FLWFISHING.COM I MA Y-JUNE 2017