The Toyota Series Plains Division will continue its 2022 season this week in Grove, Okla. (Thursday through Saturday with an event at Grand Lake.
Local pro James Elam of Tulsa, Okla. said Grand Lake makes for fun fishing in the spring and this event should be an exciting time for anglers to be out on the water.
“We’ve had a bit of a later year in terms of fish spawning, due to a warmer winter,” said Elam. “You might think that would make the fish spawn earlier, but we really need a hard, cold winter to signal wintertime to the fish, then a solid warming trend to move them up. That seems to make for a bigger bang for the spawn, and we just didn’t get that this year.”
Elam said some of the fish have been up at the bank for a long time, due to the unusual weather patterns, but anglers should still be able to catch them right in the heart of the spawn.
“We’ve had a lot of cold nights around here and the fish are all ready to be spawning at the same time, but it’s been an odd season because of the low temperatures at night. We should see a couple warm nights right before the tournament begins and that’s definitely going to change things and make for better fishing.”
Elam said anglers should expect to see a lot of numbers caught during the event, but that will require them to continually adapt on the water.
“I expect to see a lot of junk-fishing at the current stage of the spawn,” continued Elam. “Depending on where guys are fishing, they’ll have to figure out the five to six rods to have on their deck and I expect it will be junkier than it was a month or so ago. Things are changing every day – hour by hour – so adapting to that will be crucial and guys will have to mix it up quite a bit to stay on top.”
Elam said it’s hard to predict weights at this point in the spring, especially with the pressure the lake has gotten.
“With all those factors in play, I think it will be difficult to catch the 22- to 24-pound bags that Grand Lake is known for,” said Elam. “I expect we’ll see one or two of those big bags, but I think an average of 20 pounds per day can win the event.
“It’s definitely going to take consistency and mixing it up a little bit though. I don’t think you can do the same thing every single day and catch 20 pounds per day.”
Anglers will take off daily at 6:30 a.m. CT from Wolf Creek Park, located at 963 N. 16th St. in Kingston. Weigh-ins will also be held at the park and will begin at 2:30 p.m.
