Jeremiah Jensen of Columbia, S.C., says he almost always has good practices on Lake Wylie, but then something changes on the day of the tournament and he doesn’t get it figured out until it’s too late. He hopes to change that pattern Saturday.

“Last year they bass were almost all in pre-spawn going into the South Carolina BFL tournament up there. We were having a cold winter, but the day of the tournament it was 80 degrees and super warm,” said Jensen who managed to catch only three keepers for the day and finished well down in the standings.

“But at the end of the day I pulled into a pocket and found fish paired in beds all over that pocket. I only had 20 minutes left to fish, but if I had got in there earlier I could have got a big sack of fish. In this game you live and learn.”

The situation is completely different heading into the tournament this Saturday, Jensen said.

“I have not been up there yet, but I plan on going a couple of days this week. I have been keeping an eye on local tournaments up there, watching fishing reports and so forth and the way it looks this week is that the temperature will be close to 80, if not 80 degrees. If there is not a pretty big wave of fish on the beds, I will be surprised. I think there will be a pretty good mix of pre-spawn and spawn fish this weekend.”

Jensen would love to build on the momentum from his fourth place finish in the S.C. BFL at Lake Murray three weeks ago. He weighed in a limit at 22 pounds, 11 ounces and won $1,076. His best finish in the South Carolina Division as a boater was in 2010 when he ranked 12^th with two top 10 finishes – a second place at Lake Murray in February and fifth at Lake Wateree in May. His best finish at Lake Wylie was a fourth place in September 2005.

“Two years ago was a really good year,” said Jensen. “Last year I had some good tournaments, but just not good enough. I even had 20 pounds at Santee Cooper, but it was not enough to get a check.”

Jensen, who has a degree in natural resources management, works with a Columbia landscape service to have the flexibility to take the time needed for tournaments and practicing for tournaments. He noted that his fishing time was limited last year when he and his wife celebrated the arrival of a new baby.

He has had excellent success so far in tournaments this year, including the Lake Murray BFL, but admits it is time to elevate his game in other venues.

“All the tournaments I have fished so far have been on lake Murray. I’ve had a couple of top fives in Carolina Anglers Team Tournaments and a top five in the BFL, so I have been doing pretty well. But now I have to translate that to other lakes.”

That opportunity comes Saturday on Lake Wylie and he believes he has a very good shot at doing well there.

“Going from pre-spawn to spawn could push things up quite a bit,” he said. “The question will be if the big females are still on the beds. There was a big moon this week so I know plenty of males are on the beds, but some of the females may have already pulled off.”

That means, he noted, that there may also be some post spawn females to target.

“I will be looking for sure. I am a pretty good topwater fisherman and I feel like topwater will come into play this weekend. I think I am pretty good at sight fishing, too, so I hope there will be at least a few females on the beds,” he said.

“You can’t plan the whole tournament on that unless it hits the moon just right and I think we are in between right now. With warm, favorable weather all week I look for fishing to be really good, at least numbers-wise.”

Walmart BFL – South Carolina Division

Sat, Mar 17, 2012

Lake Wylie

Buster Boyd Access Area

www.flwoutdoors.com