The tour of historic fisheries continues this week as the St. Croix Bassmaster Opens visits Buggs Island, a venue B.A.S.S. has not visited since 1998. Mother Nature has thrown a curveball to these anglers in the return to the Roanoke River impoundment, with water rising in practice from heavy thunderstorms that have moved through the region the past couple weeks.
Winds have been high the last two days of practice as well and those are expected to continue into Day 1.
As far as the fishing goes, reports were mixed talking to anglers after official practice wrapped up.
“The first couple days of practice I was getting quite a few bites. Like 20 bites or so,” Elite Qualifier pro Miles Burgoff said. “The last couple days I’d be lucky to get a limit. The frustrating part is hearing about guys catching them on main lake stuff. I’m hearing some very valid rumors, and I know there will be some guys dialed in on that.”
While some days were tougher than others, bass are biting throughout the system, but the general consensus is this: One or two big bites will be necessary to separate from the pack.
Even playing field
The 1998 Virginia Invitational event was won by George Cochran with just over 41 pounds. That was long enough ago that a good chunk of the field was either in diapers or not yet born. Only a couple of anglers have put serious time in on Buggs Island while many are here for the very first time, making this a relatively even playing field for this week’s Open.
“I’ve never been here before,” longtime pro James Niggemeyer said. “My main recollection of this place is that Denny Brauer won a tournament here sometime in the 90s and I remember watching it on TV.”
One of the anglers working with history is Jack Dice, who was born in December of 1999. Dice has four top 10s in BFL competition on Buggs Island in his young career.
“For me, practice was about trying to look at everything, but also try to be open-minded and mix as much new stuff in that I have never done as old stuff,” Dice said. “I have found a little of both.”
With so much history on a lake that others are just getting familiar with, Dice said he is going to try and fish new water most of the time. One of things he has learned about Buggs Island is, it patterns very well.
“There’s a lot of fish in the lake and if you do anything long enough, you can get a bite,” Dice said. “This lake is (somewhat) a highland lake, so it is semi-conditional. To me, why I have loved this lake is, it rewards the angler that is open-minded and figures out what the bass are doing that day. They usually tell you. So I’m trying not to run history and let that bite me.
“You can get a bite doing almost anything. This is one of the best pattern lakes in this area.”
How high’s the water, mama?
It’s 3 feet high and risin’.
That old Johnny Cash song is the theme of the week. Though maybe not as dire as the lyrics depict later in the song.
Since official practice began on Saturday, the water on Buggs Island has been on the rise. On April 27, the lake was about a foot above full pool. The final day of practice, the lake rose to over 3 feet over full pool. While the upper end of the lake looks visibly dirty when you drive over the Highway 58 bridge, water clarity is still pretty clear closer to the dam.
Projections of how high the water will go are limited. But for now, the water is in the bushes, and Bobby Lane is loving it.
“Rumor is, when the water comes up, all you need to do is flip bushes. It has come up a little over 2 feet and the bass are biting in the bushes,” Lane said. “It is all about size. You get plenty of bites, but one fish is going to be a difference maker for sure. A pound is going to separate 50 guys.”
Lane has caught or seen several fish in that 5-pound class in practice, but he hasn’t been able to decipher when he will get a big bite or when he will catch a smaller bass. He will have two baits on the deck on Day 1 only, a Berkley MaxScent Creature Hawg and a Berkley spinnerbait.
Burgoff has been fishing shallow around bushes as well, but has yet to find the same success. He noted that the water has cooled down as it has come up.
“Flipping the bushes is something that has not come about,” he said. “I think there are a lot of things at play. The water rising as fast as it did has the fish in limbo. Oftentimes you see that. If you have high water that has been stable for a while, fishing is generally pretty good up shallow. Right now, we have the perfect storm of a cold front moving through, postspawn fish and quickly rising water which all together make for a tough shallow bite.”
If he had to guess, Burgoff said he expects the water to start falling by the end of Thursday. While he would like the water level to stay where it is at, the water falling just a little may not be the worst thing for Lane.
“When the water comes up, the fish come with it,” Lane said. “I’m hoping the trend continues. That the water is coming up and it is going to stay up and the fish feel like they have to go to the bank. I hope the wind blows and it is harder on the LiveScopers.
“Where the water is at right now seems to be about right. If they do drop it a little, it may push the bass back to where they were to begin with.”
Spawning bass and shad?
Several anglers mentioned that the bass are in all three phases of the spawn, with the majority of bass in a postspawn stage.
“The fish are kind of in all stages right now,” Dice said. “They are changing a lot because the weather has changed so much. The water temperature when we first got here in some of the creeks was at 73. When we had that cold rain, the water temperatures dropped five or 10 degrees depending on where you go.”
Before the water rose, Lane was seeing tons of fry in the areas he was fishing.
“The fry guarders are hard to see and there is trash in the water now,” he said. “There was a lot of fry the first day of practice and the bass guarding them. They have had a good spawn. Here is what is weird about this place, the spawners and the fry guarders are about the same size.”
In normal water conditions, a shad spawn would be kicking up as well. While anglers saw some of that this week, the cold muddy water has stifled the shad spawn significantly. Lows in the 40s the next couple of nights won’t help that shad spawn either.
“There are some baitfish up,” Niggemeyer said. “I don’t think it is a shad spawn, but they are in the place they should be to spawn and there are also some herring in places too. In places I have found both, I’m not catching a lot of fish. It is kind of bizarre to me.”
Will an offshore bite materialize?
In the first two Opens at Eufaula Alabama and Toledo Bend, there have been consistent offshore bites that guided anglers to victories and Top 10s. John Garrett, who is third in the EQ standings after two events, started the week thinking he could have a good tournament offshore.
“I saw a little rock pile offshore, went to it and had a big one follow my stuff out. So I thought I might be able to do some offshore stuff,” Garrett said. “I had an extremely good first two days of practice. Scary good. The water started creeping up and now it is 3 feet higher than when I was doing it. I stayed shallow the past two days, and it has been awful to me.”
While the size hasn’t been the same at the end of practice as the beginning, Garrett is going to stick with the offshore game to start the tournament. A deep and normally clear reservoir, Buggs Island should provide other opportunities for anglers to catch bass offshore using forward-facing sonar.
Anglers to watch
Ben Milliken
With a big win at Toledo Bend under his belt, Milliken leads the EQ points standings after two events and will be searching for his third Top 10 in a row. It will be interesting to see what techniques come into play this week and the big question for many fans will be: Can big baits play for Milliken at Buggs Island?
Jack Dice
A Bassmaster College Series champion on Lake Cumberland, Dice has proven he can catch bass everywhere. His stats on Buggs Island speak for themselves.
Jamie Bruce
If there is an offshore bite to be had, the Canadian standout should be able to utilize his forward-facing sonar to locate bass on Buggs Island.
Shane Lineberger
If there are largemouth up shallow, Shane Lineberger is going to find them. With water up in the bushes, expect Lineberger to have a good showing.
Oklahoma Bush Flippers
There are seven pros from Oklahoma in the field who are familiar with fishing bushes in high, dirty water. This event sets up perfectly for one of them to show out.
