We made a run to our first spot, as we pulled up 5 boats were in the area and we scrapped the idea, and headed to secondary area. Within a few minutes we had a small fish in the well, and while getting a bait unhooked shallow we noticed a few fish on beds. We decided to get them early to get a few fish in the livewell and get the day started. Within a half hour we had 4 in the well and found another that just wasn't quite ready. We made a move down lake and filled out a limit and culled once or twice but we couldn't get a kicker. We went back to the fish on a bed and a few minutes later while battling the wind my partner hooked her up and got her in. We fished down the bank a few hundred yards and caught a few more keepers but nothing of size. With the wind blowing I made a decision that had been debating all morning to hit steeper banks halfway back to spawning areas. We culled 4 times over the next 45 minutes but nothing big. We found a few big females just outside of the beds but they were not ready to eat anything. We made a move to steep bluffs throwing jigs and texas rigs hoping for the big bites. It never paid off with a fish that would cull.
We finished with a lackluster 24th place finish, weighing 12.71 with a 3.30lb big fish. Looking back We should have stayed out deeper and changed presentations but the bed bite can be addicting. The next tournament is Roosevelt which should put the fish in spawn/post spawn with shad spawns going on depending the weather.
