Folsom Lake, the site of the July 10-13 Great Outdoor Games Bass Fishing competition, is a little bit like the sprawling all-you-can eat buffets decorating the neon-soaked casinos of Reno/Tahoe: there's a little something for everyone, but none of it is all that exotic or mysterious.

This 11,900-surface-acre reservoir, which lies just south of the town of Auburn, 15 miles east of Sacramento in the Sierra Nevada foothills, could easily be mistaken for thousands of smallish, versatile clear-water fisheries across the country. Rocky points, rip rap, boulder-strewn flats and steep, rocky shelves hold big numbers of spots and smallmouth, and a wealth of submerged brush, weedlines, sunken islands and tules draw scads of largemouth.

"Folsom is very typical of any clear-water spotted bass lake," says 2002 Western Bass Sportsman of the Year Kent Brown, who grew up fishing Folsom. "It's a great spotted bass fishery — I wouldn't have any problem comparing it to Shasta or Oroville — but there's nothing here that these guys haven't seen before. It's not very big, either. The whole lake is about the size of a cove in Lake Mead. It won't take these guys a long time to figure it out."

And once they do, you can expect the Great Outdoor Games's anglers to spend copious amounts of time during the two half-day competitions culling 1- to 3-pounders in search of those bag-building 4- and 5-pounders.

"Ninety percent of the fish caught are going to be spots in the 1 3/4- to 2 1/2-pound range, but there are enough 4 1/2-pounders in there to really make a guy's tournament," Brown said. "You're going to see a ton of great footage of guys catching fish, because a 30- or 40-fish days on Folsom in the summer isn't out of the ordinary.

"The neat thing about this lake is that it has an outstanding big largemouth fishery — I've already seen a couple up to 15 pounds this spring — so a guy could make a huge splash with just one of those. But I think a guy can win with all spots, with five fish in the 17-pound range."

Water issues

Folsom is fed by two rivers, the North Fork and South Fork of the American River, and held by Folsom Dam, which spills into the main stem of the American just a half mile from Folsom State Prison (yes, the Folsom Prison immortalized by Johnny Cash).

Sitting at 200 feet in elevation, the lake serves as a water source for Foothills agricultural and electrical power needs, and a recreational destination for water- and jet-skiers, who swarm the main body en masse through the summer.

And while the half-day format will keep the Great Outdoor Games' anglers off the water during the late-afternoon peak of jet-ski craziness, they won't be able to escape the effects of a wildly fluctuating water level.

"It should be pretty much full by July, but that's also the time when it goes into agricultural drawdown mode," says Brown. "If it's full, it brings the willow pockets and river arms into play, but the Great Outdoor Games guys have to understand that it can drop 8 inches to a foot in a day when it's in drawdown mode. A lot depends on runoff and river levels, but the fluctuating water level is the defining challenge at that time of year."

The summer bite

Folsom's widely-varying habitat runs from truck-sized boulders to sunken Christmas trees to steep river canyons fed by runoff-stained creeks, so any number of techniques can produce here in July.

Drop-shotting and shaking small plastics will certainly produce, as will small, popping topwater baits (think "Rico"), but competitors can expect to find fish by burning the banks and fishing off the major points with crankbaits.

"It's definitely a post-spawn situation, so I think the whole reaction bite situation is going to be a big key," says Brown. "Folsom is a great early-morning fishery, and having those guys out there early in the morning, before it turns into a freakin' zoo with water and jet-skiers, is going to really bring the reaction bite into the event."

Breaking it down

Great Outdoor Games competitors can divide Folsom into three segments: the main body and the North and South Fork arms of the American River.

The main body holds a mix of rocky flats, points, rip rap and sunken islands from Beals Point on the southwest side to the Folsom Marina on the southwest side. The northern section of the main body holds much more brush and big, expansive flats, especially off the Peninsula, which separates the two river arms.

The river arms are steeper, deeper and rockier than the main body, and are fed by several streams. Key areas up the South Fork include New York Creek and Jack's Shack, and the primary hot spot up the North Fork is Rattlesnake Bar, which is jam packed with spot- and smallie-holding rock.

The single key to taming Folsom's varying habitat and water levels could be as simple as finding one go-to pattern and sticking with it for two solid days.

"These guys aren't going to be here to fish it for six days in a row," says Brown. "They'll be able to break it down in a day. Being able to lock in on a pattern and carry it through the competition is going to be important. It's all going to be about establishing a pattern you can win with, and using it to catch that little better quality fish than everyone else."