REDCREST 2022 is here and 41 anglers will do their best to take home the title in the championship event for the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour. Arkansas pro Mark Rose is among the qualifiers who finished the 2021 season 21st in the Angler of the Year race. He's excited for his shot at Grand Lake and even though he hasn't fished there much, he likes how it sets up and he's keeping his options open going into the tournament.
Grand Lake History
Many of the anglers in this year's REDCREST field visited Grand Lake several times with Bassmaster, but Rose spent much of his career with FLW and has only been a handful of times.
"I've fished three events there over the years, but never this time of year," he said. "I've been here in the winter and for post-spawn events, and I think this will be a true pre-spawn event. Even though I haven't been there much, I like it and how it sets up."
This year, Rose is fishing the Bass Pro Tour and the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit. With that many events on his schedule, he hasn't been paying close attention to the weather at Grand Lake and will base all of his plans and strategy on what he sees when he arrives in the Grove, Oklahoma, area for official practice.
"I like to take it one tournament at a time and won't check the weather patterns until right before I arrive," Rose said. "The rule of thumb for Grand Lake is to flip the bushes when the water is high and crank or do something else if the water is low. I'll use that and make my plans when I get there."
Patterns and Strategy
Rose will use his general rule of thumb for basing his lure selection on the water levels but has some ideas for what will work. He will also look for the largest groups of fish and use those clues during practice to formulate his final approach for the tournament.
"If the water is low, I will be looking for the best pre-spawn areas because I'm guessing it's still way too early for them to be spawning," he said. "If that's the case, jerkbaits, casting jigs, and football jigs a little deeper could be big players. There are tons of docks on the lake and that could be another bid deal if you can zero in on the right depth zone the fish are using."
With Major League Fishing's format, Rose knows he needs to find the biggest groups of fish if he's going to have a shot at winning.
"I'm going to have to find groups which is completely different than what I do on the Pro Circuit, where I'm looking for the five biggest fish," he said. "Since I'm looking for groups, I will be looking for the best staging areas on the lake because that's the key to winning. That comes from reading the water and using my instincts. It could be bluffs, rock transitions, and pea gravel banks since those are always great pre-spawn areas."
With just two days of practice to scour the entire lake, Rose will quickly cover water and says that efficiency will be critical.
"I'll be running around like a bandit in practice," he said. "It's a big lake, and I'll have a long ways to go and not a lot of time to get there. It's all about being efficient, checking areas and getting a read on the water and making good decisions."
Equipment Prep
Current times have changed fishing and even pro anglers like Mark Rose feel the effects of gas prices and supply chain issues. This has him taking a little extra time to maintain his gear and do what he can to improve his vehicle performance.
"Lucas Oil products have never been as important to my career as they are right now with the high gas prices," he said. "The fuel treatments like Lucas Complete Engine Treatment increase your fuel efficiency and Lucas Safeguard Ethanol Fuel Conditioner with Stabilizers cleans your injectors and components and also helps to combat the dangers of ethanol in your boat's fuel system."
For his reels, Rose uses Lew's reel care products that Lucas Oil makes. "They have a product for everything and they are all very to use," he said. "With the product shortages, taking care of what you have is more important now than ever."
Winning REDCREST is a major goal for Mark Rose, but he says it won't define his career. "This event isn't a points event and it's all about winning," Rose said. "I'm content with my career so far, but winning a major championship event like this is a big deal that would help in so many ways."