Top 5 Patterns from Beaver Lake Day 2
Finesse plastics popular among the top five
At halftime of the Walmart FLW Tour event presented by Rayovac, the top five reads like a who’s who of Beaver Lake.
Leader Andy Morgan is a former Beaver Lake champion. Behind him, Darrel Robertson has been very close to winning here with a runner-up finish in 2005. In third is 2014 Beaver Lake champion Matt Arey. Bryan Thrift, in fourth, has never won on Beaver Lake, but has led here before. And finally, fifth-place pro Stetson Blaylock knows his way around this lake pretty well, too, with a couple of top 10s.
Here’s how this Beaver All-Star roster got it done.
2: Darrel Robertson – 27 pounds, 14 ounces
Darrel Robertson has had success sight-fishing on Beaver Lake in the past, but this week he has gone “old school” by casting a jig on channel-swing banks.
“I’m basically running two patterns,” Robertson says. “I’m throwing a wacky rig for keepers and then fishing a jig for my better quality fish.”
Robertson’s mix on his day-two catch of 13 pounds, 9 ounces was four largemouths and one smallmouth.
“I’m fishing the jig on channel-swing banks in the creeks,” he says. “For me, it’s the best way to get a quality bite, but the problem is it’s a long time between bites. I can pick up that wacky rig and catch some ‘just keeper’ size fish, but those 4-pounders come on the jig.”
Robertson says several of the jig fish he has caught this week have been fatter prespawn bass.
“Those better ones on the jig are thick and clean-looking – no bloody tails from a spawn,” he adds. “Those are the ones I’m going to fish for tomorrow.”
3: Matt Arey – 27 pounds, 2 ounces
As mentioned in the leader’s story, “hidden largemouths” have been a factor in this event. Case in point, Quaker State pro Matt Arey’s third-place standing.
“I had a few of those hidden largemouths found,” Arey says. “I had to use up a couple yesterday and a couple more today. I was struggling today at about 1 o’clock and had to go burn two more 2 1/2-pounders that were tucked up under a bunch of junk. I really wanted to save those fish for Saturday, but I had to use them today to make the cut.”
Arey says he has precious few hidden gems left and plans on using the forecasted sunny conditions tomorrow to find new fish so he can save his aces in the hole
“We are finally supposed to get sunshine tomorrow,” he adds. “That would be a big plus in finding some new ammo for the next two days. I might gamble and go down to the clear end and look for most of the day to see if any new ones pull up.”
4: Bryan Thrift – 26 pounds, 4 ounces
Though he is in fourth place, Bryan Thrift describes himself as “hanging by a thread” after day two.
“I had four run-of-the-mill largemouths and a bonus smallmouth that kept me in it today,” Thrift says. “Yesterday I had an opportunity for a phenomenal day, and today I was just trying to survive.”
Thrift’s one-two combo involves fishing a shaky head and a Damiki Anchovy Shad swimbait early in the mornings on deeper points and then hitting the backs of pockets with a wacky-rigged Damiki 4-inch Stinger in the afternoons.
5: Stetson Blaylock – 26 pounds, 1 ounce
Stetson Blaylock is also sparingly utilizing some hidden largemouths to bolster his daily catches, but like others, he is running short of those bonus bass. Yesterday he plucked two hidden largemouths, and today he had to dip into the hidden-fish well twice more to help his catch.
“I’ve got one more nice one left, but it’s so spooky that I don’t know if I can catch it,” Stetson says. “Other than that, I just have to sort of junk around to fill my limit.”
Interestingly, when Blaylock goes “junking around” he has decided to buck the trend of small worms and lightweight shaky heads.
“Everyone out here is throwing a 4-inch worm on a 1/8- or 1/16-ounce shaky head,” Blaylock reveals. “So I decided to go big with heavier weights and bigger plastics. I’m getting bit throwing that bigger stuff, so I’m not going to change.”
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