St. Croix Bassmaster Opens

Open: Bobby Lane practices on Eufaula

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Photography by
Shaye Baker
The 2023 St. Croix Bassmaster Opens are set to start soon. We went out try to hitch a ride during practice to see how Lake Eufaula is setting up for the season opener.
Former Elite Series pro and champion Bobby Lane stops by to give us a tour during practice.
Lane has returned to the Bassmaster Opens for one primary reason. Though he has every intention to re-qualify for the Elites in time, he’s here because he wants a shot at the one event he hasn’t won in the sport — the Bassmaster Classic.
Lane wastes no time starting the tour of this famed fishery.
Bridges always play a big role here on Eufaula, as bass move in and out of the many creeks to spawn.
Shallow-running crankbaits, like Lane’s favorite Frittside 5, work well on bridges like these.
As the bass make their way towards the spawning grounds, they often travel along the riprap and feed on whatever they can find. A perfect place for the Berkley Frittside.
Spinnerbaits work well on Eufaula too.
With clearer and warmer water than he’s use to finding here this time of the year, Lane has opted for the tandem willow blades as opposed to the hard thumping Colorado blades.
He catches one quick on the blade.
It’s not the size he’s looking for.
But it does offer an obvious sign the bass are spawning. This small male is “peeing” as the anglers refer to it. But this is actually what a bass does to fertilize the eggs on a bed laid by the female.
Another telltale sign the spawn is on, once you start seeing the coldblooded turtles out and about, the bedding bass won’t be far behind.
We had one of the little guys hitch a ride for a bit.
Back to the bass fishing. Lane knows that the bass are bedding now, which means he can do his favorite thing.
Lane is a Florida boy, and Florida boys love to flip.
Using a Berkley Pitt Boss, he picks apart the shallows.
Lane prefers to practice without a hook, using a hitchhiker to attach his soft plastic to the line. This allows him to shake off fish during practice, that he can typically go back to and have a 50/50 shot of catching during the tournament.
As Lane makes his way down a line of thick vegetation…
… he keeps his head on a swivel, looking for any beds he can find.
The bass may spawn out in the open areas…
… but they really like to tuck up against isolated cover, like these reed clumps.
Cypress trees are another favorite spawning spot for bass on Lake Eufaula.
As are dock posts. Basically anywhere a bass can get its back up against some cover and make a bed on the hard bottom, that’s what you’re looking for.
Though the bass like to bed in the sun so that their eggs can stay warm, they’ll tuck under matted vegetation as they come and go.
There’s a wide variety of mats on Eufaula, some thin and some super thick. The weight needed to flip these mats varies widely, from less than a 1/2 ounce to over 2 ounces.
Lane likes to sample it all.
Here’s what he’s looking for though, as he stumbles onto a bedding bass.
One tool every bed fisherman needs is a push pole.
Lane uses it to ease around in the shallows as he looks for bass on bed.
Though the bass abound shallow, they are a little spooky and hard to catch. So stealth is key.
Back to covering water, as Lane looks for spawners along a seawall.
The dock bite can be good on Eufaula as well, as bass both spawn and stage on this type of cover.
Swim jigs are big-time players on grass fisheries like this. The nose of this jig come to a sharp point, so that it can slip over and through the dense vegetation.
Meaty hooks are necessary as well when trying to wrangle bass from this heavy cover.
Lane goes digging to show us another critical part of the arsenal if you want to have a chance of getting a bass into the boat here.
Braided line is an absolute must.
This 40-pound Dura Braid is about as light as you’ll want to go on Eufaula. The punching setups are spooled with 65 and even 80 pound braid.
Lane chats things over with fellow Opens Pro and Florida native Brandon McMillan. We leave the anglers to it as they wind down practice and make their final preparations for the start of the 2023 season.

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