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| FishTails: Tim Isaacs Profile |
Federation's best to face tricky Keystone Lake this week
WVBF Angler Tim Isaacs will represent West Virginia
[April 22, 2004 - By John Neporadny Jr., BASS Times]
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| Tim Isaacs in Vermont |
The best amateur anglers in the country should expect the unexpected when they compete in the 2004 CITGO Bassmaster
Federation Championship presented by Busch Beer at Oklahoma's Keystone Lake.
If the championship qualifiers caught bass while prefishing, they might have to look elsewhere for fish when they
return for the title contest. "What makes Keystone tough is there is such a huge fluctuation in lake levels,"
said Craig Torkleson, a former Federation angler who frequently fishes Keystone and runs a Monday night jackpot
tournament there in the spring and summer.
"It's basically a flood control lake, so when the championship contenders arrive next month, it could be normal
or it could be 30 feet high," revealed Torkleson. "They could be fishing the whole lake or they could
be limited to Salt Creek because of the muddy water." Fed by the Arkansas and Cimarron rivers, Keystone holds
22,240 acres of water at the top of its power pool, but heavy rains can cause the reservoir to swell to 54,678
acres at the top of its flood control pool.
Keystone features some isolated standing timber, but most anglers key on points, rocky banks and bluff ends to
find bass. Flooded bushes become prime cover for bass whenever the lake rises about 5 feet above normal pool.
The water temperature should be in the 60 degree range during the championship week. "Unless it is cooler
than normal, the whole lake should be pretty good then," predicted Torkleson. The Mannford, Okla., angler
believes Salt Creek will be the most popular area during the tournament and other key areas will be the four creeks
on the north side of the lake (Walnut, Rock, Mud and Boggy).
"There is a good chance the water will be pretty colored with 1 foot to 18 inches of visibility," said
Torkleson, "unless there is a nasty rain, and then it will look like you can walk on it. Even if we do get
some rain and the (Arkansas) river gets muddy, those creeks will generally stay in decent shape."
Bass should be in the prespawn stage when the championship contenders arrive. "Keystone is one of the later
lakes to experience the spawn around here," said Torkleson, who notes the peak of the spawn usually occurs
in May. "The last round of fish will spawn here usually in June."
Prespawn bass can be found on the points and chunk rock banks in the pockets when the lake is at normal level.
"Keystone's kind of a tricky lake that unfortunately is hard to pattern," advised Torkleson.
When the water level rises into the shoreline bushes, power bait presentations become the dominant pattern. "They
can leave their spinning rods at home," said Torkleson. Pitching and flipping tube baits, jigs, plastic lizards
and spinnerbaits on heavy monofilament (20- to 30-pound test) or braided line are the most productive ways to catch
Keystone bass in the bushes. Torkleson favors a green-pumpkin or black neon flipping tube or 3/8- or 1/ 2-ounce
black-and-blue jigs and blue or black neon plastic chunks for his short-range deliveries into the bushes. A green
or camouflage-color plastic lizard also works well in the flooded cover. The local angler likes to run a 3/8- or
1/ 2-ounce spinnerbait (chartreuse-and-white or chartreuse skirt with a single Colorado or willowleaf blade painted
white, chartreuse or red) through the bushes.
Once they find the right pattern, the Federation contenders can expect to catch some quality-size largemouth. "This
lake isn't really known for big fish," disclosed Torkleson. "There should be several 3 1/ 2- to 4-pounders
weighed in though. If a guy catches 13 to 15 pounds a day he will win. It is possible to see an 18- to 20-pound
stringer, but I don't know if a guy can do that three days in a row." |
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