MBC Championship Practice - May 17th - Apache Lake

I decided to go out and practice for the championship that was coming up and my partner had to work so I went at it alone. I had no clue what the bite was going to be like so I just went fishing in new areas because I have always struggled at Apache Lake for some unknown reason. My game plan was topwaters, swimbaits, crankbaits, Carolina-rigs, texas-rigs, jigs, and dropshots with whatever else I happen to have with me that might get bit.
The morning was brisk but almost no wind and water temps were around 66 to start the day. I started out on a bank I have never tried because it looked like was steep and would had some nice boulders on it. I was throwing a big Gunfish and could see shad swimming up and down the bank spawning. Within a few minutes I saw a fish trailing my bait, I sped up the cadence and BAM it annihilated it. I flipped the fish in and it weighed right at 4lbs. I was stoked. I kept going down the bank and could see fish staged just outside the balls of shad and they would chase the Gunfish all the way to the boat but wouldn't eat it. I decided to see if an old area still had the same bite going as last year and within a couple casts I has one around 2lbs, one 3lbs and another smaller fish. I left the area to try some new stuff again. I saw a friend of mine who made a comment about the post frontal conditions and lack of wind and I made a change to my approach with the topwater. I went to a smaller Gunfish to see of that would help them commit, the second cast confirmed it. I through it out and could see this black figure come up behind the bait and track it, sped up the cadence again and it exploded on it. I fought in my personal best smallie that weighed 4lbs and was one of the darkest I had seen, and notice when fighting it, there were 7-10 others that were trying to take the bait from her. This spot was close to where had caught the 4 earlier in the morning, so decided that spot was holding good fish due to the shad being there. I made a run to a point I had done well on in the past and threw a Carolina-rig, with a few casts I hooked up with another quality fish and landed it, another right at 4lbs. I was having my best day of size at Apache Lake. At this point I has 3 at 4lbs and a 3 and another 2+. The wind was starting to pick up and I figured I was done for the day but made the run back to where I started to see if the fish were there all day and also during the high winds. Second cast I had one explode out of the water 2 feet on the Gunfish and it was another great fish, 3.5lbs. It was only 10:30-11 but I was done for the day, I had 18lbs and was extremely stoked for the tournament.