Red River 2011 Conditions

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	Another major bassangling tournament will be arriving to the area. From May 19th through the 22nd, the FLW will be ripping lips on the Red. If you’ll recall, in the past, the Bassmaster Classic was held on the Red River and the WBT Championship almost hit the Red before dangerous high water moved the tournament to another area body of water. Judging by the looks of the Red River right now, we may be faced with a similar predicament. She’s up. The FLW may end up rescheduling this one just like Table Rock. I don’t fish the river. Riverfishing is beyond my scope of understanding at this point. What I can offer up in this post is what has been said in the past. Maybe it will help you get some idea for what to expect at the weigh ins. I suspect the same strategies will be used, despite thedifferences in weather. In the Classic, BASS anglers werefishing in cold temperatures with cold water at the end of February. The women in the WBTfished Cypress Black Bayou instead, but even that was in October. Well, it’s May. Bass are a little different right now. While numerous of you are knee deep in spawers, down here, the spawn is essentially done. I’m sure folks catch spawning fish here through Mother’s Day, but for the most part, FLW anglers will be looking at a post-spawn situation. In addition to the mood change, fishermen might still face high water. With the recent storms that smacked most of the South around these past few weeks, lots of rain fell north of here. Because this is a river system, any rain that fell north of here will work its way downstream over a couple of weeks. The local forecast for the next week or so is relatively clear, but in two weeks, who knows? In the Classic, the much of the focus was on stump fields, but the Red is divided up, so some anglers might take risks and run either north or south. Fuel will be an issue for them. Different pools have local reputations, so I’m sure anglers are getting all the info they need to get back into some very productive areas off the beaten path. It’s been said in the past that one can catch a hefty sack of fish off of one stump alone. I really doubt much focus will be placed on fishing the main river. In terms of lures, again, it’s a post spawn kind of bite, but jigs and crankbaits might do some serious injury. That morning bite might be just the ticket for some fishermen. I’ve never read much about topwaters doing extremely well for anglers on the Red, but you know I’d be throwing something over the top. I’m not entirely sure how the vegetation is doing out there right now. The cold snap earlier this year has slowed the hydrilla on the two bodies of water I frequently fish, so I’d wager the backwaters on the Red aren’t much better. The sizzling water  down here makes a post spawn bite a little more difficult to find, so prefishing might make orbreak an angler’s chances at making it into the Top 10. There are some good fish in that water. You just have to go out andlocate them