We just wrapped up stop number three of the 2023 Bassmaster Opens EQ season at Buggs Island (aka Kerr Lake) in Clarksville, VA. Buggs is a place that was famous for big bass decades ago before the Largemouth Bass Virus hit the lake and took its toll. Back then, twenty to twenty five pound bags were the norm and this flood control impoundment of the Roanoke River was a favorite stop for many a bass angler.
Fast forward to 2023 and you see a new lake. A lake that is on an upward trend, yet still recovering from a virus that hit it pretty hard not all that long ago. While most events now top out with weights in the 16-20 lb mark on the high end, it’s still a very diverse and cool fishery. Back in the day, the main draw was when the waters would rise to flood type stage, tons of flooded trees, bushes and brush would now be fishable and it seemed like every bass in the lake would flock to them. It’s a flipper and shallow water fisherman’s dream. In our event, we were fortunate as the water did come up through practice, which ultimately made it challenging to adapt each new day, but would stabilize pretty well during the event, which is generally what you are looking for. The lake also has a new element than it did years ago with the introduction of a new, nomadic/pelagic type baitfish, the blueback herring. A lot of lakes in the southeast have seen an influx of these baitfish and while they usually create a healthy fishery, it does indeed change the behaviors of the bass present. So, with those variables as well as some fish already having spawned and a good bit still needing to complete the task, you had a recipe to pick your poison on what to do.
In practice, I mostly focused on the mid-lake to the Nutbush Creek area. Nutbush is generally where most big events go out of so it gets stocked pretty regularly. It is another lake in itself, being such a wide, large creek with tons of fingers and arms off it. The main ramp for our event was the opposite direction however, at Occoneechee State Park, which is in the narrower, riverine section up the lake towards the headwaters of the lake. I spent a few hours the first morning launching there at the State Park, kind of waiting out the torrential rains we had when practice began. I started off looking for a shad spawn around rip rap, docks and banks off the main channel with limited success. I caught a handful of fish, most being shorts, on a chatterbait, jig, popper and smaller glide bait. Some were definitely eating on some shad, evident by their plump bellies, while others were more ragged and skinny, probably fry guarding (small clouds of their young) or just recouping from the spawn.
After the field of vision improved, I rode my way down the lake in search of some better fish and patterns, ultimately stopping in that mid-lake section and spending the rest of the day. I caught a couple off docks and could see a bunch of them on offshore type spots in 8-15’, but getting them to bite was a challenge. Most were in obvious places and I’m sure had 20,000 baits zing over their heads that day. I went up and fished some bushes and caught a few on flukes, etc, but most of the bushes did not have much, if any water. The water was clear and not super high, so I don’t think all of them were completely comfortable moving up yet until the water rose some more. In the evening I decided to use my Lowrance Active Target to pan around and found some brush and stumps that looked to hold some fish. Off one of those stumps I pitched a drop shot with an Owner Cover Shot hook and ¼ oz Angler Tungsten Combat Series Tear Drop weight and watched the fish quickly move toward it. Soon after I picked up, I felt that dead weight and set on a heavier fish than I’d had up to that point. The solid, big headed, post spawn 3.5 lb largemouth came up and jumped and I thought, hmm, maybe we found something. After releasing that one, I pitched out again and hooked another solid 3.25-3.5 lber before it jumped off in front of the boat. This was very encouraging and I spent the next hour scanning for similar areas to mark before it got dark and I headed in. Day one, not amazing, but we definitely got some clues.
The next couple days, the weather and water levels continued to change and adapting was a challenge. Saturday there were a few local events, with the weights being very low, 12-13 lbs to win. Post-frontal conditions and still dropping water is not ideal and this was my toughest day. The next day was my best.
My good friend, Justin Dodson, joined me as he fished the event as a co-angler and we ran around downlake trying to figure out a pattern. The water was coming back up that day and we had cloudy conditions with some intermittent sunshine. Our first few stops didn’t pan out great, only catching small fish up shallow and on docks, but I was hopeful as the water rose, more fish would start to show up and they did. I pulled into some small pockets in an area near Nutbush and started to see a few fish here and there before stumbling on a wad of them. Every five to ten feet there seemed to be one between 2-4 lbs either fry guarding, cruising or locked down on a bed. This was very encouraging. I took the hooks off my baits and got a handful of them to bite pretty easily. I ended up shaking off between 16-18 lbs without fishing the areas too hard either. I had two good ones locked on bed that I planned to start on come tournament time. I knew with the clouds, rain and rising water I got my window to pin down exactly where to cast as they’d be covered up soon.
The next day went well too, seeing probably 13-14 lbs mainly in the Nutbush areas on a very windy and cloudy day, fishing with my friend Jamie, who also was fishing on the co-side. Those days are the ones I’m so thankful to be running the wave flattener, the Phoenix 21 PHX. The last half day, I was treated to some more company on the boat, with my good friend, Pete Shandrick, of The One Cast podcast who came and shot some content and hung out for the day. We launched in a creek where I ended up catching a good bit of my fish in the event out of. It sported plenty of bushes, stained water and some willing biters. We started off on a couple good banks and small points with a spinnerbait, catching a few keepers quickly, but only shaking one off that was a solid 3 lber. Afterwards, we picked up “ol red” and went to getting bites regularly. I’m referring to a weightless methiolate trick worm here. Whoever made that color, whether it was a mistake or what, was a good man. The great thing about it, I could cover water fairly quickly and see where there were better concentrations of fish as well as how big they were while shaking them off too, in hopes of catching them in the tournament…which I did with a number of them. That day we conservatively shook off 14-15 lbs. I felt confident I could catch some bass whether plan A didn’t work, I have B and C as well. It’s always important to have multiple patterns going, especially at these flood control lakes that are always in flux.
Day one called for high winds coming right down the pipe which was a factor in not only my gameplan, but I’m sure nearly every other competitor’s as well. I started downlake near Nutbush in those pockets I found that were holding a great population of fish up towards the bank. The biggest one was on a bed right in the middle of a bush and I started on that one, flipping a ⅝ oz Angler Tungsten Combat Series Flipping weight, 4/0 Owner Jungle Hook and GP Magnum Rage Menace on 20 lb Gamma Edge (very important when flipping heavier cover for abrasion resistance). After Power-Poling down for a while and picking it apart, I worked down the bank with a trick worm and wacky senko throwing at targets and working off the bank to the old bank. I got a half hearted bite or two and caught a couple shorts. Not exactly a great start. I picked apart that pocket and hopped to the next couple, ultimately settling down on a spot I shook off a keeper. Once again he bit and I put the first one in the boat. Not a giant, but a start. After working some new water I intentionally didn’t hit in practice, I went to bed fish number two. I lined up exactly where I knew it was, made two casts with a ½ oz GP jig (a buddy had given me last year for Jordan Lake, NC) and saw that line moving off to the right, crack! Big head sighted and big mouth opening underwater trying to shake that jig out to no avail. Flop, a quality 3.25-3.5 lber landed in the bottom of the boat. Heck yeah.
I fished my way back toward my starting fish and scraped another keeper before locking down on it once again. After working it over, I swear I watched my line move, crack, nada. I kept working on her and finally found that sweet spot, crack again! Then we commenced four wheel driving into the bush to bear hug a quality 3+ lber that was pinned to a limb with my Owner Jungle hook keeping her there. I grabbed her, clicked the button on my reel to let line out and pulled her on board. Number four. I went back through the area again for a bit, before pulling the plug and heading back up river towards a creek I felt held a good population of fish and quality as well. I hit a couple pockets I’d shaken some off the day prior with no luck, before finally landing on “the one”. It was a large pocket with some stain in the water that I had a bite or two in practice in. I buckled down and worked it over, crack, another keeper, whew, we got five. I then proceeded to make culls with that trick worm and prayed for a big bite…ask and you shall receive. I watched that reddish/orange worm disappear in the big mouth of a hefty four pound Buggs Island bass and the fight was on. We even got a cheer from some crappie fisherman out in the cove once we cradled her next to the driver’s seat, jacked up and thankful for the bite. I acknowledged our crappie fishing friends and continued on, culling a little here and there ultimately weighing 13-4 and sitting in 24th out of 225 boats. Very solid start in my mind and I felt like I could do that or potentially better if we made some more good decisions day two.
Day two I decided to roll right into the area I left off at, forsaking my area near Nutbush and bear down on them and hopefully make some good adjustments if needed to come out of there with another 13+ and get in the top 10 cut. I started on a morning bank, quickly catching a couple barely shorts on the spinnerbait with a couple more short striking or slapping at it too. My co-angler caught one keeper behind me there on a wacky worm and I knew something had changed. Either the fishing pressure or some type of lake conditions. We hit the next bank and I caught my first keeper on a popper, a solid Buggs keeper. We continued working our way back and made it to the pockets I cracked them in day one. There was a local boat hopping a lot of the same stuff and throwing the same methiolate trick worm. I fished half of it without a bite and bounced to try and get back ahead and stop fishing hammered on water. It worked. Quickly after, I hit more straight aways with little notches, trees and cover and caught one about three pounds on the trick worm and another that just squeaked being a keeper (which I had to measure again before bagging it). So, I had three at this point. I began hitting inconspicuous banks and cover that would most likely get overlooked. I pulled up on an isolated big tree in the water and flipped that texas rig out there, picked up and it was swimming at me, swing and a miss. Dang it! I watched the fish (which looked like a good one on my Active Target) settle back into the base of the tree and commenced picking it apart to no avail. I came back later in the day too and no dice either. As I worked back up I saw some good bushes on the outside that looked like they had some good water. I threw in and picked the best looking one apart, pressure, crack! I hit another good keeper 2.25-2.5 lbs and thicker than most. The light clicked, new fish were pulling in and spawning, but would there be enough? I flipped every good stretch of bushes, trees, etc for the next two or three hours, with not a thing to show for it. I really felt like that was the right thing and as I would find out from my buddy, Justin, who fished as a co-angler, it was. They had about nothing at 2pm and he said he saw me driving by about then. They pulled on a random bank right across from where I’d been and got seven bites in a stretch of bushes, with his pro filling out a ten pound limit quickly and Justin breaking off a 4-5 lber after a very slow day. So close to landing on a good stretch, yet it wasn’t meant to be. I had four, my co had two. We both were one away from filling a limit. I considered going back by Occoneechee, but decided to ride back in the creek again and hit a historically good stretch. He threw a ned down it and missed a couple, I threw a shakyhead and ultimately began flipping a jig and letting it fall down the edge, tick, line moving out, crack! Number five flopped in the boat, thank you Lord! With only twenty or thirty minutes left we hit that one and breathed a sigh of relief.
It wasn’t a great bag, but that 9 lbs saved a ton of points and kept us up there, finishing 59th overall in the event and moving back up 22 spots in the EQ points to 49th. Slow and steady wins this race. My goal every event is to come in with five regardless of what I “want” to do, as points are essential to finishing the race strong come event nine at the Harris Chain. The year I finished 2nd in the points in the Eastern Opens and made the Elite Series, I only came in with four on two separate occasions. I always fish for the biggest fish I can, but sometimes I pass up smaller ones in order to do so. At times, I have to reset and try and catch those ones quickly to finish a limit, when needed, to save a day and/or an event in general. We had two solid points finishes with a 43rd and a 59th. The 129th at Toledo has to be my worst one of the season if I want to continue to trend upward towards finishing the season in that top nine. I knew Buggs would be a great “equalizer” tournament, as it provided unique challenges with a lot more shallow fishing and not quite as much utilization of forward facing sonar. I love my Lowrance Active Target and use it a ton, but there’s something about an old school, throwback type tournament that I love. I guess that’s why I actually like a place like the Sabine River (I know I’m weird).
We have about a minute to reset at home here, catch up on work and head back down the dusty trail to northern Alabama. Practice for Wheeler Lake begins this Saturday and we have a twelve hour drive incoming. Thankfully, on this trip, my good friend Mark Hughes will be joining me as he will be practicing with me and fishing the event as a co-angler, his first Bassmaster Open. I’m excited to get to fish with Mark as we met back in my first club, The Bassmasters of Crawford County and he’s been a great friend ever since. Wheeler will present a new set of challenges as this famous Tennessee River impoundment will offer many different options of what to fish, which species to target (largemouth, smallmouth, spotted bass) and changing currents controlled by the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority). Selfishly, I’d like to chase my bronze friends, but I’m staying open minded as four and a half days of practice will steer me in the right direction of how to maximize my skill set and apply it to this dynamic body of water. Needless to say, I’m tired, but excited to get back after them. Tight lines everyone!
