STIRRINg THE POT
Reynolds ran northeast of the takeoff area and mostly fished between Platter Flats and the Sunset Camp Public Use Area. getting on his best bank early was essential for capitalizing on narrow windows of opportunity.
“ The smallmouths tend to get up shallow during the night and just sit there,” Reynolds says.“ You usually have about 30 minutes to an hour, depending on whether it’ s cloudy or not, before they start backing out.”
On the final day, Reynolds’ first fish was a 3 1 / 2-pound smallmouth that nailed a topwater about 45 minutes into his day.
Presentation Keys
Surface busts and scattering baitfish frequently indicated smallmouth feeds, but Reynolds says he also monitored his forward-looking sonar to track bait schools and bass to anticipate shallow feeding.
Reynolds made extremely long casts with his topwater to avoid spooking bass in the skinny water. He used a 7-foot, 2- inch Cabela’ s Xml rod that he helped design principally for swimbaits. The balance of substantial backbone and a softer tip gave him the leverage to launch his bait great distances.
Reynolds paired his rod with a Cabela’ s Arachnid reel( 8.1:1) and 65-pound-test braid.
He also used his electronics to spy on offshore brush piles when largemouth fishing, which helped him maximize his time by picking out the spots with better fish and dialing in exactly where they were positioned.
For the Texas rig, Reynolds used a 7-2 Cabela’ s mediumheavy rod, the same reel and 20-pound-test fluorocarbon. He’ d drag the rig around until he felt something solid and then slow down and work the structure.
Keys to victory
Texoma is known for its temperamental nature, and the lake showed anglers a different mood each day. Reynolds says he did his best to maximize his potential when it was windy.
“ I knew when the wind blew really hard the fish were going to bite,” he says.“ I knew some places that had some good ones, so I concentrated on those areas really hard during the windiest weather.”
Reynolds knocked out 16 pounds, 12 ounces on a blustery day one, but he got that fairly early and decided to lay off some of his better spots and save the quality for the next two rounds. Day two brought calmer winds, but clouds blanketed the sky through noontime, and this likely influenced his best day of the event – a limit that went 19-4 and moved him up from 10th to first.
“ On day three, it got dead calm, and I knew it was going to be tough. It was a struggle,” says Reynolds, who closed the tournament with 15-9.“ I probably only caught eight or nine keepers, but I was fortunate to get enough.” photos by davId a. bRown
CONDITIONS
Weather | mostly sunny on days one and three; partly cloudy on day two air temperature | mid-90s on day one; upper 80s on day two; low 90s on day three Water temperature | 79 to 82 degrees Water clarity | approximately 1 foot of visibility Wind | light day on one; SSE at 15 to 20 mph on day two; south at 7 to 10 mph on day three moon Phase | new Predominant lake features | points, bluffs, riprap, docks, shallow wood and shoreline vegetation fishery type | 89,000-acre reservoir on the Red River
A finesse Texas rig fished in deep brush worked well for largemouths on Lake Texoma.
CO-ANglER CHAmPION name: Dan Wilson hometown: Pilot Point, Texas Winning Weight: 37-15( 15 fish) Winning Program: Wilson caught his fish the first two days on a square-bill crankbait on windblown rocks. In the final round, he selected a shad-colored Strike King KVD Splash popper and fished it on 10-pound-test fluorocarbon that Wilson says helped tug his bait downward for the aggressive pops he desired.
STIRRINg THE POT
Staying near the bait meant he was probably near the fish, but tournament winner Jeff Reynolds says it wasn’ t enough simply to mark shad on electronics or visually observe them near the surface. He wanted to see frantic activity. He figured baitfish know that danger increases as predators approach, so they’ re not going to stay still while bass move in for the kill. So where there were frantic baitfish, there likely were hunting bass. moreover, there’ s something about a fleeing baitfish that brings out the beast in a bass, especially smallmouths. That’ s why Reynolds often took it upon himself to stimulate the show using a HydroWave and more manual methods.
“ When you see those big bait balls just sitting there, the fish are not feeding on them,” he says.“ I’ d actually pull up to those bait balls, turn around and hit my trolling motor and flush those bait balls. That would make those fish come up and start feeding, and you could catch one now and then.”
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