/// 2019 FLW cUP
According to Dakota
Ebare, the best time to
get bit in the tailrace
was when the current
was strongest.
Whenever the current quit, the
water mixed, and conditions changed.
“The water would actually back-
flow,” adds Ebare. “As soon as they
would quit flowing current, it would
backflow. The grass would actually
lean back toward the dam. That’s
what was causing that warm, dirty
water to flow back there.”
Ebare estimates that the flow
dropped off by about 75 percent by
the final day, and it kicked in later
each morning.
The Pattern
Ebare spent his tournament keying
on the first two miles or so of the
lake, whereas in practice, he was able
to get bit clear down to the first
bridge. One reason for sticking close
to the dam was the current, but it was
also to counter fishing pressure on
the first day. Ebare figures 10 to 15
boats fished through the area Friday
morning. Once he found an opening
directly below the dam, he focused on
it for most of the tournament.
A couple of long, narrow creeks
that snake in from the east side also
FALL 2019 I FLWFISHING.com
held fish. There was some flow in
each creek (one of them connects to
the main river via a culvert), and
Ebare claims to have seen 20 pounds
swimming around in a wolf pack dur-
ing practice. During the tournament,
the creeks were mostly places for him
to catch a few little ones before the
current started moving. Once the
alarm sounded, indicating that the
flow would start, Ebare shifted back
to the main river.
He and Martin both had their best
luck on the main drag. With 10 or so
feet of visibility, the fish were easy to
see and tough to fool, but they were
most catchable when the current
forced them to set up in eddies or
current breaks.
Ebare and Martin targeted the
inside grass line in 3 to 5 feet, “sand
spots” that formed where any little
creek or wash flowed into the lake
and scoured a depression, laydowns,
and docks.
The Hawgs
Overall, the tailrace had the poten-
tial to produce the winning fish. They
were there, and so were the right
ingredients, including bookoo
bluegills, big gizzard shad and a
smorgasbord of crawfish.
Ebare saw gizzard shad up to 9
inches long up the two adjacent
creeks where he thinks runoff created
a situation of higher dissolved oxygen
that attracted the baitfish. Anywhere
he saw big gizzards (including the
backs of some creeks in other parts
of the lake) he found bass. The giz-
zards were less plentiful on the main
river, but bass in that area apparently
had a taste for crawfish. Each night,
Ebare’s livewell was full of craws that
the fish spit up.
All that food and what Felix figures
was a slower metabolism due to the
cold water led to some real bruisers
swimming around. Ebare and Martin
both saw 5-plus-pounders during
practice and the tournament.
On day one, Ebare had a 6-
pounder nose his Zoom Fluke, and a
4-plus nip at the tail three times. If
he’d caught those, he’d have been
right with Bryan Thrift, the eventual
winner.
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