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Grove, Okla. – An old pop music song used to say’ It never rains in Southern California,’ in 2007, the state of Oklahoma cannot say the same thing.
In fact, Oklahoma has received so much rainfall this year that according to the Water Resources of Oklahoma
http://ok.water.usgs.gov/drought.news.html
the state’s annual total of 17.20 inches of rain is approximately 1.60 inches above normal. More amazing is that the past 60 days is that 10-inches of that total has fallen, and more than 50-percent of that has fallen in the past 30 days.
The spring showers have prompted BASS ZONE .com founder Mark Jeffreys to proclaim that he has taken up a new hobby; gathering animals two by two. In short, Oklahoma has been getting rained on like the proverbial flat rock.
It was a little more than a year ago that Mike McClelland of Bella Vista, Ark. Ran away with the Sooner Run at Grand Lake with a whopping total of 79 ponds, 14 ounces, nearly 17 pounds more than second place finisher Matt Reed of Madisonville, Tex. McClelland exploited a deep water pattern utilizing a Jewel jig to amass his winning weight.
According to Brent Davis of the Grand River Dam Authority, Grand Lake’s normal full pool is 744 feet above sea level. At the time of McClelland’s win, Grand Lake was two feet below full pool, and the lake level as of the afternoon of June 14 was at 750 feet, eight feet higher than last year.
To make matters worse, The Weather Channel’s website calls for isolated thunderstorms for the Grand Lake area through the first day of the Sooner Run
http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/USOK0232?from=36hr_topnav_undeclared
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It
was the high water levels that
prompted Central Pro-Am Association
to cancel their June 16th event,
presumably due to launching
facilities that are under water and
debris that has inundated the lake.
Davis, from GRDA said that the agency is taking steps to lower the water level before the Elite Series blast off on Thursday June 21. “The GRDA have been releasing water from the dam at Grand Lake,” Davis said. “The lake level is high right now, but we should have it down by six feet at launch time.” |
Davis, a bass angler himself said that there is a large amount of debris on the lake, and that while the GRDA expects most of it to be washed ashore by falling water and winds,
Davis cautions anglers to be careful. “We will be flying the lake to see if there are obstructions,” said Davis. “However, anglers should take caution on practice days to avoid hitting floating submerged debris.”
BASS ZONE talked to three Elite Series pros to find out what effect the year’s recent rains would have on the fishing at the Sooner Run.
Mark Tyler, an Elite Series pro who settled in Ida, Okla. last year after fishing in the Sooner Run tournament spent three days at Grand Lake charting deep brushpiles and offshore locations.
“I try not to pre-conceive what will happen on a lake before a tournament,” Tyler told The
BASS ZONE. “But I wanted to find some deep water spots, so I spent a few days metering and marking spots on my GPS, but I will have to see what the fish are doing once I get there on Monday.”
Tyler said that his scouting of the lake was done in anticipation of clear, falling waters, but whatever the pattern, his goal is to produce a finish that is at least one place better than the 2006 Sooner Run event. “I finished in 51st place last year,” Tyler said. “I still think the deep bite will help me do that, but I will keep an open mind, because I’ve been wrong before.”
| Another Californian that has found a place to settle is Fred
Roumbanis, officially of Auburn,
Calif, but he returns to Broken Arrow, Okla.; his wife’s family’s hometown in between tournaments. Roumbanis said that he has covered every square inch of Grand Lake’s shoreline prior to the cutoff in preparation for upcoming tournaments. |
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“I would like for it to be a shallow bite,” Roumbanis said. “I think there is going to be a lot of big sacks weighed in, and they could come from anywhere.” He said that he recognizes the fact that there will be fish on deep structure, but that the water flooding into the willows gives target oriented anglers a better chance at winning.
“My goal is to keep getting top 20 finishes,” Roumbanis told The BASS ZONE. “If I had to pick a top five right now, I would say Tommy Biffle, Denny Brauer, Terry Scroggins, Greg Hackney and Kelly Jordan would be among them.”
Oklahoma pro, Edwin Evers, whom could be considered as a favorite to win the Sooner Run, said he also recognizes the chance for the pattern to be all over the place. “The high water will definitely play a part in the tournament,” Evers said. “Especially that it is in the willows; it makes flipping a very attractive pattern.”
But, Evers, who is on the verge of breaking in to the Bassmaster Million Dollar Club, is too experienced an angler to think that only a shallow bite will be there. “There will still be fish on the outside stuff,” Evers relayed to The BASS ZONE. “I think the guy who wins this is going to have to be willing to change everyday, because if the water falls, the patterns will change frequently.
The Bassmaster Elite Series Sooner Run begins Thursday June 21 from Grove Okla. As always, The BASS ZONE will be on location bringing you up to the minute information via Mark Jeffreys’ ‘On the Water Blog’ and The BASS ZONE .com ‘Live Chat,’ followed by video interviews with the daily leaders and daily photo galleries after each day’s weigh in. |
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Stay tuned to BASS ZONE .com for our on location coverage as we continue to prove, “It’s All About Being There.”
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