Bass Still In Summer Mode For Savannah River Bfl Final On Clarks Hill
With the official end of summer more than three weeks off and weather forecasters predicting simmering hot temperatures right up to the arrival of fall in late September, the bass in Clarks Hill Lake are expected to still be in the summer doldrums for the Savannah River BFL final Saturday and Sunday.
“The fish will still be somewhat in a summertime pattern with temperatures pushing 100 degrees next week so there is not going to be much of a fall bite,” said veteran tournament angler Scott Browning of Franklin, N.C. “It’s going to be a pretty tough tournament. It won’t take much to win it.”
Browning said a daily catch of 12 pounds will be strong for the tournament and 8 to 9 pounds the first day should be enough to advance to the second day of the tournament.
“There will be some fish caught on flukes over the top of grass on the lower end of the lake and there will be some fish caught off the deep grass edges on Carolina rigs,” said Browning who was the Savannah River Division Angler of the Year in 2009. That year he sandwiched an 8th place at Clarks Hill in February and a 6th place at Clarks Hill in September around a 1st place on Russell in May to win the points title.
Although he fishes all four lakes in the series – Keowee, Hartwell, Russell and Clarks Hill – Browning said he gets to Clarks Hill the least of all.
“I’ve been there twice this year. One tournament it was cold and the other time was in May or June and there was a herring spawn bite. But that was totally different from what it will be this week,” he said.
“The water has been dropping in Clarks Hill so that will take away some of the channel bite. The fish will suspend until the water stabilizes. A lot of cover the fish were in they won’t be in now.”
Browning said he plans to practice two or three days this week, keying on grass from mid-lake down towards the dam.
“I’m going to try to find a couple of areas that have some fish and that will take a lot of searching,” he said. “I’ll probably only find two or three places where you can catch some fish and I’ll have to cover a lot of grass to find those places.”
Browning said he will primarily throw a fluke over the grass.
“I’ll throw a Spook, a Sammie, stuff like that if the fish are schooling at all. But I’ll throw the fluke if I can call them up out of the grass,” said Browning who is sponsored by BassCat Boats and Greene Boat & Motor in Spindale, N.C.
The top 40 boaters and co-anglers from each of the 24 BFL divisions will qualify for a regional tournament and are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the Walmart BFL All-American presented by Chevy. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the Rayovac FLW Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.
Walmart BFL Savannah River Division
Sep 6-7, 2014
Clarks Hill Lake
Wildwood Park
