TW_Staff
03-31-2009, 05:00 PM
Any angler who fishes the minor leagues out West is bound to eventually launch at Havasu. This popular fishery is a Colorado River impoundment found directly downriver from Lake Mead.
Brent had competed in several Havasu events prior to last week's Western FLW Series, so he already had a solid command of how the river-run lake lays out.
While many anglers concentrated on a just a few prime fishing locations this week, Ehrler said that he learned a few years ago that staying too focused on too few areas can easily derail a tournament, especially on Lake Havasu.
"I really learned that you have to find new water every day. And that was the key for me this week. I’d catch a limit early and then spend the rest of the day running around looking for new fish to catch. The next day I’d catch those fish and do the same thing all over again.”
Winning Pattern:
“I was sight-fishing all week, but a lot of my fish weren’t on the beds,” said Ehrler, who targeted bass with a combination of 3-inch Berkley Chigger Craws and Texas-rigged worms. “I also kept changing up my baits all week. When the bass started to get used to one bait, I’d switch and go with something else.
I kept moving around every day, but I was mostly looking shallow. When I’d see some tules that were in a little bit deeper water, I’d drop a worm down. I also caught a few fish flipping reeds with a Texas-rigged worm. I basically fished all over this lake this week.”
A critical part of his pattern was the swimbait. The second day was very windy, which made sight-fishing difficult. So he ran banks and threw a swimbait. If a fish boiled on his swimbait, he'd watch the fish to see where it was bedding. "That gave me the opportunity to come back the next day and catch it. I caught two nice ones like that, two smallmouths that I found on day 2."
Winning Gear:
Bed-fishing gear: 7' medium-heavy Lucky Craft pitching rod (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=LCGSR), Abu Garcia Revo STX (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AGRSTX) casting reel (7.1:1), 20-pound Sunline fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SLSHF) line, 2/0 and 3/0 Owner Extra Wide Gap (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=O5139) hooks, 1/4- and 3/16-ounce Tru-Tungsten worm weights (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=TTCBW) (green-pumpkin and black), 3" Berkley Power Chigger craw (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BPCC) (green-pumpkin party) and unnamed plastic craw (green-pumpkin).
He also kept a 7'6" Lucky Craft flipping stick (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=LCGSR) handy for the tules. He weighed three flip-fish using the craws.
His searched with two swimbaits – a 6" Berkley Hollow Belly (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BPHB) in Tennessee shad and an unnamed swimbait in a similar style and color.
TW Staff
Brent had competed in several Havasu events prior to last week's Western FLW Series, so he already had a solid command of how the river-run lake lays out.
While many anglers concentrated on a just a few prime fishing locations this week, Ehrler said that he learned a few years ago that staying too focused on too few areas can easily derail a tournament, especially on Lake Havasu.
"I really learned that you have to find new water every day. And that was the key for me this week. I’d catch a limit early and then spend the rest of the day running around looking for new fish to catch. The next day I’d catch those fish and do the same thing all over again.”
Winning Pattern:
“I was sight-fishing all week, but a lot of my fish weren’t on the beds,” said Ehrler, who targeted bass with a combination of 3-inch Berkley Chigger Craws and Texas-rigged worms. “I also kept changing up my baits all week. When the bass started to get used to one bait, I’d switch and go with something else.
I kept moving around every day, but I was mostly looking shallow. When I’d see some tules that were in a little bit deeper water, I’d drop a worm down. I also caught a few fish flipping reeds with a Texas-rigged worm. I basically fished all over this lake this week.”
A critical part of his pattern was the swimbait. The second day was very windy, which made sight-fishing difficult. So he ran banks and threw a swimbait. If a fish boiled on his swimbait, he'd watch the fish to see where it was bedding. "That gave me the opportunity to come back the next day and catch it. I caught two nice ones like that, two smallmouths that I found on day 2."
Winning Gear:
Bed-fishing gear: 7' medium-heavy Lucky Craft pitching rod (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=LCGSR), Abu Garcia Revo STX (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AGRSTX) casting reel (7.1:1), 20-pound Sunline fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SLSHF) line, 2/0 and 3/0 Owner Extra Wide Gap (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=O5139) hooks, 1/4- and 3/16-ounce Tru-Tungsten worm weights (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=TTCBW) (green-pumpkin and black), 3" Berkley Power Chigger craw (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BPCC) (green-pumpkin party) and unnamed plastic craw (green-pumpkin).
He also kept a 7'6" Lucky Craft flipping stick (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=LCGSR) handy for the tules. He weighed three flip-fish using the craws.
His searched with two swimbaits – a 6" Berkley Hollow Belly (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BPHB) in Tennessee shad and an unnamed swimbait in a similar style and color.
TW Staff