Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

When FLW announced its 2014 Walmart FLW Tour schedule back in 2013, Eric Olliverson grabbed his calendar and drew a great big circle around the four days spanning April 10-13 - Beaver Lake. For Olliverson, a Tour rookie, that four-day period of competition was his window to make a splash diving into the tournament-fishing world.

While other pros no doubt lamented that they'd once again be visiting the northwest Arkansas reservoir, which has a reputation as being a difficult place to catch fish consistently, Olliverson had a plan that included something fans don't normally see at Beaver Lake Tour events: big smallmouth bass.

He also had at his disposal a unique presentation perfectly suited for the deep, clear waters where Beaver's brownies live. For many local anglers, it's known as "scrubbing" - slowly reeling and dragging a small grub across the rocks in deep water. Olliverson's twist is to match the ultralight tackle and line normally used to scrub with a swimbait of a size more tournament-worthy.

"When the schedule first came out and I saw Beaver Lake, I had goose bumps that lasted seven months," Olliverson told reporters after the day-one weigh-in, where he showed off a 14-pound, 12-ounce limit of smallmouths and spotted bass that he caught with the scrubbing technique. "Every time my wife would talk about Beaver Lake, I'd get goose bumps again. I told my wife before I left that this could be a special week.

"A lot of people don't realize it, but that tournament [Beaver Lake] can be won on smallmouths alone," he adds. "I've had too many 17- to 20-pound days out there with all smallmouths. There're that many big smallmouths living in that lake."

Unfortunately for Olliverson, wild weather swings put a damper on Beaver's deep-water bite, and with it his chances to win. He slipped in the standings on the second day, eventually finishing in 14th place.

When the scales settled in the end, several of the top 10 anglers were also using a technique similar to that of Olliverson. We asked him to break down the scrubbing technique for us, as we all could stand to see a few more brown bass emerge boatside this spring.