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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