Going into the 2021 season, Major League Fishing pro Dave Lefebre is excited about the fisheries. They include a mix of famed largemouth lakes and big-water smallmouth venues. He offers a preview of what to expect at each tournament this season.
Bass Pro Tour Stage One - Sam Rayburn Reservoir, TX - Mar 21 - 26, 2021
Lefebre plans to keep an open mind going into this event as he believes the fish could be pre-spawn, spawn, or post-spawn.
“I am assuming I’ll be fishing around some heavy cover, but I’m not ruling out the deeper stuff,” he says. “Being the first tournament of the year, I’m excited to play with my new arsenal of rods and reels, including the 13 Fishing Concept TX2 reels.”
Technique-wise, he will be ready with swimbaits, swim jigs, a Yamamoto Senko, and a buzz frog.
“The 7’3” medium heavy Envy Black 2 is one of my favorite all-around rods for several different baits,” says Lefebre. “For a ChatterBait, the 7’4” Chat-R-Crank is absolutely perfect.”
Heavy Hitters - Falls Lake, NC - Apr 9 - 14, 2021
Even though this event is a few weeks later and far from Sam Rayburn, Lefebre thinks it will set up similar.
“They should be in that same stage,” he says. “I’m hoping it is a little more of a pre-spawn deal. You can also find some of the same type of cover as we’ll see at Rayburn and a buzzbait and frog could come into play.”
Frog shown is the Trash Panda. He’ll also be throwing a ChatterBait once again and will lean on flipping and pitching shallow cover around brush and any vegetation he finds. Lefebre prefers both the 7’6” and 7’11” heavy Envy rods for flipping and pitching and alternates based on how thick the cover is.
Bass Pro Tour Stage Two - Lake Travis, TX - Apr 30 - May 5, 2021
Although he’s only been there once, he had a near miss and almost won the event. He wants revenge and thinks this time of year on this lake is a great situation for a swimbait.
“It is deep, clear, and rocky,” Lefebre says of Lake Travis. “The Omen Black 3 rods have a more moderate action than the Envy’s and are great for swimbaits from the small 3.3’s to seven-inch swimbaits.”
Bass Pro Tour Stage Three - Harris Chain of Lakes, FL - May 21 - 26, 2021
It’s been a while since Lefebre has been to the Harris Chain and he says it could be won doing several different things.
“There’s going to be a lot going on, so it is anybody’s guess as to what will be working,” he begins. “It could be in the marinas or on seawalls or out on mainlake grass. One bait that should be a factor is a swim jig.”
He fishes his swim jigs on the 7’3” medium-heavy Envy rod.
Bass Pro Tour Stage Four - Lake Chickamauga, TN - Jun 4 - 9, 2021
Due to the time of year and fishery, all things point to an offshore slugfest for this one.
“It should be an offshore deal, but there are always some fish shallow,” says Lefebre. “I’ve become a huge fan of the 13 Fishing Trash Panda Frog. It has the best frog hook I have ever seen.”
Bass Pro Tour Stage Five - St. Lawrence River, NY - Jun 25 - 30, 2021
This event has most anglers thinking shallow smallmouth, but he always tries for largemouth when he visits the fishery.
“Usually, I try to get my five for twenty-pounds here,” Lefebre says of a five-fish tournament format. “It’s a toss-up (in the MLF format) of whether I fish for largemouth or smallmouth this time. My largemouth deal is a jig on a 7’6” heavy Envy and a Senko on a 7’3” medium-heavy. For smallmouth, it would be a hair jig or spy bait on a 7’6” medium-light Fate V3 spinning rod.”
Bass Pro Tour Stage Six - Lake Champlain, NY - Aug 5 - 10, 2021
This is another event with choices, as in whether to target largemouth or smallmouth bass. Lefebre prefers to go green when he goes here.
“I usually stick with the largemouth and flip milfoil or throw a frog, buzzbait, or buzz frog,” he says. “If I go after the smallmouth, a walking bait like the 13 Fishing Dual Pitch Pencil could be a good one.”
Bass Pro Tour Stage Seven - Lake St. Clair, MI - Sep 10 - 15, 2021
As the season wraps up, Lefebre and others will have to decide whether to stay in St. Clair or make a run to Lake Erie.
“I won’t know until I get there, but I always prefer to go to Erie,” he says. “If I go to Erie, it will 100% be a drop-shot. If I stay in St. Clair, it may be a drop-shot, tube, or a crankbait.”
For cranking, he likes the longer Envy crankbait rods.
“That 7’11” gives you great casting distance and with light line, you can get your bait way down there,” he says. “The 13 Fishing Troll Hunter crankbaits will get down a lot deeper than advertised with that long rod and 10-pound line.”
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