Bass Pro, Dave Lefebre of Union City, Pennsylvaina scored the biggest paycheck of
his career in winning the $100,000 1st prize at the  FLW Tour Stop at Tennessee's
Old Hickory Lake, recently.  Old Hickory, perhaps better known by its
nick-name,"Old Stingy," lived up to its reputation breaking the hearts of most
of the 200 angler field, in this week long event.

Unlike many tournament winners who stumble on a sweet spot, loaded with bass, Lefebre
won this event by pattern fishing. 

Pattern fishing, fast becoming a lost art, mainly because of angling pressure throughout
the lakes and waterways of our country, involves discovering a common trend or tendency
of the fish in a lake, and then being able to move from spot to spot, duplicating
the presentation, color and speed of retrieve to score angling success in multiple
regions of the lake.

People are far more sophisticated than fish, however, when you get to know us, our
patterns are very predictable.  For example, if you know where the donut shops are,
you could catch a whole lot of us each morning.  If you knew where the daily migration
routes were, A.K.A. the freeways and turnpikes, you would have a good morning spot
as well.

In developing a pattern for bass, you must catch that first bass of the day.  When
you put that fish into the boat you must ask yourself a series of questions:  What
lure? What color? What speed of retrieve?  What kind of cover?  How deep? 

Catch a second fish using the answers to these questions and you are beginning uncover
the possibility of an existing pattern. 

The next question is Can I duplicate this pattern in other parts of the lake?  This
question is answered by running to other parts of the lake that offer the same conditions
such as cover, water clarity and water temperature.   It should be noted that a 
true pattern will be unique to very few key types of areas, which allows you to 
eliminate as much as 90% of the lake you are fishing.

In Dave Lefebre's tournament victory, he keyed in on dead grass in the backs of
creeks in several of the arms at Lake Hickory.  "Most times of the year we ignore
dead grass like the plague, however in the early spring, dead grass tends to hold
a little more heat and with water temperatures in the high 40's, these bass were
using the dead grass because the water around it was just a little bit warmer,"
noted Lefebre.

Our on the water observations are what often define our fishing day.  Dave Lefebre
was able to grasp something that 199 other professional anglers overlooked.  His
insight and understanding of bass behavior allowed him to distinguish a key pattern
that was unfolding at Old Hickory Lake.  Clearly an example of ..fishing in the
moment..

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