Krause and Jara Top 64 Boat Field on                Canyon Lake

Canyon Lake, Texas

By: Jim Files

Canyon Lake’s excellent populations of largemouth, smallmouth and Guadalupe Bass seemed to be waiting for the much anticipated Annual Canyon Lake Open Team Tournament held Saturday, March 8^th.  Ideal lake and weather conditions greeted the teams for a takeoff by-the-numbers out of Jacob’s Creek Park at first good light.

A total of 176 fish weighing over 375 pounds were at the scales at or before the 3:00 p.m. cutoff for weigh-in. Bobby Hawkins of Llano, Texas took Big Bass honors with his 5.65 pound bass.

The majority of anglers reported an all day bite but stated the low light hours of early morning were best.  Most productive techniques at that time were lipless crankbaits, such as crawfish colored Rat-L-Traps worked over gravel flats in pockets of some of the larger creeks on both the north and south side of the 8,320 acre impoundment. As the day progressed, soft plastics were the lures of choice as fishermen slowed their presentations, targeting specific structure in the gin clear water along bluff banklines in 8 to 13 feet. Dragging the new Snap Back cyberflexxx lizards and jerkbaits along ledges and down the inclines of flats also produced some good sacks.

The large crowd of spectators and even a few of the contestants seemed surprised by the number and size of Canyon’s smallmouth bass which were brought to the scales. The

largest being over 5 pounds! Sliding Weight Finesse Craw Fish and straight tail Scoundrel worms worked over rock piles in the lower end of the lake were evidently the preference of the smallies.

1^st place:   Paul Krause and David Jara                             5 bass             14.55 lbs.

2^nd            Brent Holmes and Lyle Larson                         5                   14.50

3^rd            Chad Sparkman and Steve McMillan                5                    12.40

4^th            John Harris and Ryan Sanders                           5                    12.35 

5^th            Frank Allen and Britt Burns                               5                    11.95

Jim Files JR's Guide Service www.jrguideservice.com (830) 868-7042 or 830-385-9579 jimfish@moment.net