Story by Ken Duke | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
As I write this, I have just put in 2 days of practice on Lake Eufaula in Oklahoma. This place is massive!
Stop 4 for The League is going to be a challenge. Most of this lake is blown out red mud with 1-2 inches of visibility. There are a few areas that are cleaner, but they are far from clean. I’ve seen 12-18 inches visibility at most. And I’ve looked at the lake to the tune of roughly 80 gallons of fuel in two days.
Have I mentioned that this place is huge?
I really haven’t fished much. I guess that’s obvious with the amount of fuel I’ve burned. Those of you that follow along know I am constantly tweaking my practice and tournament strategies.
At Douglas, I saw the entire lake. That made me feel like I had a better understanding of everything happening. I’m trying the same approach here. Specifically, I’m looking for unique high percentage places. The lake is hovering around 7 feet high, which means there is lots of water. Most places it stretches farther into the woods than you can see. Other places the shore is within reach. One thing that stays constant: bites don’t come easy.
With that knowledge, my theory is if I can find a few places with a congregation of fish, the chance of catching a limit every day goes up dramatically. And believe me, limits will not be guaranteed here. I had 76 places marked on Google Earth before I ever left Arkansas. These places consist of ponds, shallow roadbeds, culverts, a single boulder … basically anything that might generate multiple bites in a small area. I’ve been in full exploration mode. I even got stuck and had to get out of the boat and push. Thankfully fellow NPFL angler Charlie Apperson came by at just the right time and was able to pull me out.
Unfortunately, I’ve only found two of those spots that were productive, and they’re 40 miles apart. I’ve got one more day to find something. If that doesn’t pan out, I plan on getting in some areas that historically have been productive and will put my head down and grind it out.
I expect nearly all the fish to be caught shallow this week. The normal baits should play. Flipping, spinnerbaits and frogs will be at the top of the list. I really haven’t caught enough to gather an idea on weights, but I’ll fire a guess out there anyways. I think it’ll take 25 pounds to get paid and 43 pounds to win. I also believe we could possibly see a winner that does not weigh a limit every day.
The wildcard will be an offshore bite. If someone finds it, they’ll have it to themselves.
Follow along on the website starting Wednesday and see how it all goes down! I’ll give you a post tournament review next week.
Hunter Baughman – Angler Profile
