Outdoors aFISHionado: Lightning Strikes at Grand Lake Rayovac

Matt at the Day 2 weigh-in on Grand Lake
credit: Matt Massey

Grand Lake O’ Cherokees, Oklahoma in April promised to be a bass-on-beds bonanza and the popular lake certainly did not disappoint at the Rayovac FLW Series held April 16-18, 2015! Nearly every one of the top Pro’s reported catching their limits by sight fishing, including Matt Massey.

Cruising the banks looking for beds and setting waypoints was the norm for most of the practice days before the start of the tournament. Matt said, “I spent 2 of my 4 days of practice looking for bedding bass. I did not have good success by just fishing, at least good enough to have a shot at winning.” Having the advantage of clear water, Matt focused on fishing closer to the dam in the Duck Creek and Drowning Creek areas.

Fog played a role on the first day of tournament fishing, Matt says, “My females were up during the first 2 hours and then they seemed to back off. I really feel if we didn’t have the fog delay I could have weighed in 15-20 pounds the first day instead of 13-3.”

Day Two was a different story in many ways. “One of those days that Grand Lake is famous for, extreme lightning and rain so heavy the frogs headed for high ground,” Matt joked, “It was hard so see the fish due to the rain but I could see the beds. I was able to get my limit in the first hour then culled a couple times throughout the day.” Matt’s second day limit weighing 19-3 did not put him in the Top 10 needed to make the Final Day cut, but it did jump him 48 spots with a final standing in 41^st Place overall and a total weight of 32-6.

This tournament was a massive slugfest with an overwhelming number of the 197 Pro’s having limits on one or both days of the event. Congratulations to Bradley Hallman who won the tournament with a 15 bass- three day total of 65-15.

A chunky bed bass from a Grand Lake practice day
credit: Matt Massey

Tackle & Presentation

Matt reports that he learned a lot about bed fishing at this event, “I never really had to rely on bed fishing in the past like I had to here. If you weren’t sight fishing you were wasting time.” His weapons of choice, catching his limits on Days 1 & 2, was a Strike King Rage Craw Texas-rigged on a 4/0 TroKar EWG and a 3/16 oz. Eagle Claw Tungsten weight, and a Falcon Tackle 3/8 oz. green pumpkin/purple jig. He also bagged bass with a Keitech 3.8” Fat Swing Impact swimbait. He used a 7’4” St. Croix Heavy Action rod paired with a Diawa Tatula 7:3 reel spooled with 15-lb. Seaguar InvisX Fluorocarbon line.