Centers winning patterns

Spring bass tournaments can be awsome if conditions are right but pre-spawn bass are just like the weather, unpredictable. Good catches of largemouth were reported by club members leading up to the first tournament of the year but a small storm blew in shortly before competition and the bite soured. A few guys figured them out as they always do and when the dust settled, Jim Rice Jr. was victorious just as he was a year ago in the opener on Lake Fenton.

Jim Jr. started fishing the wind blown side of Michigan Center and after catching a small keeper the bite slowed and the water was murky so he decided to make a change. "I decided to go to the more protected side of the lake and found the water to be much clearer". And instead of throwing his patented finesse plastics, Jr. was chucking a small crankbait. "I was fishing a Manns Baby 1-minus crankbait and retrieving it just above the weeds. This technique was used by many club members during the tournament but no one had the results Jimbo did. Although he only had about 10 bites all day long, he was one of only 3 guys to catch a limit and weighed in 9.64lbs to claim the victory.

Nearly winning his first event, club rookie Matt Morgan finished a close second just ounces behind Rice at 9.51lbs. Morgan started slowly and at noon still had a goose-egg. "I decided to go to my favorite Michigan Center spot but thought it was too early in the year for fish to be there yet". Fortunately for Morgan they were and he had his limit by 2pm. "I caught my first keeper at 12:15 and in the next 2 hours caught 25-30 fish, it was crazy". Matt was pitching a Zoom Baby Brush Hog to deep pads off the main channel. Also catching a limit was "Center Ace" Jim VanAken who was concentrating on the main lake stump flats and also chucking a small crankbait.