Throughout the tournament, anglers have observed vast numbers of tiny baitfish inhabiting the grassy areas they’re targeting. Bass will frequently bust and school on these diminutive baits and when that happens, it’s been tough to get their attention with artificial lures.
Matt Arey, who began Championship Monday in fifth place, said one of the keys to his success has been finding areas with larger forage.
“In the area that I’m fishing, the baitfish seem to be a little bigger, while a lot of the main river bait is really small,” Arey said. “In the backwaters, you’ll see some 2- to 2 1/2-inch shad.”
Getting around the right food supply yielded strong opening action.
“I had two flurries in the morning (Day 3) and caught four or five fish in each flurry,” Arey said. “I basically got all of my weight in the morning. After that it was a grind.
“I went and tried to explore a secondary pattern that I figured out in practice, but it wasn’t good for the same quality. I’m going to stick to my guns (today) because I think the fish to win are there.”
