These sneaky places aren’t sneaky to the bass. They are just the next thing down from where they were or where they are heading. The funny thing is we give bass a lot of credit for being mystical creatures who enter and vanish like the water in a river. When in actuality they are pretty much thinking about eating, spawning or nothing all the time. It’s that nothing part that spins us out. But it’s the feeding part that enables us to understand them better.

So we’re constantly looking for those zones where they can feed. When angling pressure or changes in conditions dictate, we have to be flexible enough to move off the common obvious spots whether they are shallow or the most obvious structure related areas offshore.

Bassmaster Elite Series pro, Russ Lane is most comfortable when the bass move from spawn to post spawn and on through the summer. That’s when big crankbaits, jigs and soft plastics drug around on offshore places really tend produce against bass that are ganged up and feeding on structure.

Russ Lane

“Most of the good schools of bass I’ve found around the country are in that 8-14 foot range,” Lane said. “It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about Lake Fork or Lake Conroe in Texas or Lake Norman or High Rock Lake in the Carolinas or Guntersville or Kentucky Lake on the Tennessee River, bass gang up in that 8-14 foot zone after the spawn, somewhere on those fisheries and I’ve had a ball catching hundreds of bass off of spots like that.”

What’s key for Lane is finding all the factors that make a great feeding area but also a spot that doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb on a map because he knows every angler is going to go to the most obvious stuff. So like most other anglers, he starts by dissecting a good lake map. Then from there he puts in his hours idling looking for those conditions that can make a perfect spot in an out of the way area.

Lane starts his search either working from the spawning areas out to the main lake structure or from the main lake structure back to the spawning areas depending on how far out the fish. But usually his search has to do with large flats and cover. Flats in that 8 to 14-foot range offer great places for bass to gang up. Usually if you can find bass ganged up they will be relating to a depth change and/or a harder bottom.

The reason generally has to do with current. It’s a proven fact that bass like to feed in current. The current not only washes bait to the bass but it also speeds the bait up towards them and disorients the baitfish making them easier to eat a lot of them at a time. The bottom is generally harder around those current driven spots because the hard rock is what turns the current or forces it around and causes it to speed up a bit around the hard obstacle.

So once he finds a hard bottom in a depression, hump or rise or just something like a shell bed on the edge of a subtle drop that many anglers may have skipped over he looks for bait and pulls out his weapons of choice.

His latest addition to the arsenal is quickly becoming his favorite largely in part to the fact that he created it just for this scenario. The SPRO Fat Papa is his namesake crankbait. The crankbait is unique in many ways but for very specific reasons that’s he found over many years of trial and error cranking for bass in that mid-range depth in the post spawn and summer periods.

“We put a lot of thought into the Fat Papa. We started with its wobble. It has a wide wobble almost intimidating it’s so wide. We did that intentionally because we weren’t looking for a numbers bait but rather a big bass bait. We want the biggest alpha female bass to bite. We made the baits silent. We want the crankbait to hunt along and just appear in the fish’s strike zone before it has a chance to spook off the fish. We designed some very specific colors to help in all different situations. It’s got sharp Gamakatsu hooks. And the final attribute is a shaved lip on the underside. We did this so the bill would slice the water effortlessly and cut down on the fatigue associated with reeling a big wide wobbling crankbait all day.”

Cranking is an obvious choice on these out of the way areas because you often have to cover a lot of water and you’re looking for one bass to show you it’s in the area. The Fat Papa allows Lane to cover water but also target bigger bass at the same time.

Lane gave an example from the tour last year where this time of area played into his hands.

“There was a tournament last year where I found a community hole. But back behind that community hole on the main river, there was a bay. Coming out of that bay there was a pinch point, where the land closed the gap in the bay and actually sped the current up through there as it emptied out on to a hard bottom where fishing pressure from the community hole and current from both the dam and from just wind through that pinch point funneled fish through there. It just kept producing fish and reloading every day because the fish just kept coming to that hard bottom off the beaten path.”

Ideally he likes wind and a little chop on the water with a mild stain to the water. That way the bass don’t get a good look at the crankbait as it comes wizzing by. He’s seen days where if the wind blew with the current and made it stronger the bite was actually better. However in reverse if the wind blew against the current or no current the fish scatter and get harder to catch. Wind is still your friend even on these offshore sneaky spots.

He sticks mostly with three colors with the Nasty Shad, Nasty Herring or Tennessee Gizzard Shad. These three baits will take him from heavily stained water to ultra clear water and cover the bases. The clearer the water the more wind he needs for the crankbait bite. He will use the other colors too like the honey shad at various times of the year.

Otherwise he’ll drag a Buckeye Mop Jig or a Big Bite Baits Coontail worm on a Carolina rig around. In fact he usually crank an area first and then throw the jig and the worm around after he’s done to make sure he presented the bass a lot of different looks in an area especially if he feels the bass have been pressured off the obvious stuff and come to these places to escape the pressure.

For his cranking, he sticks with a 7-foot Wild Black Carrot Stix rod with a Revo Winch crankbait reel and his favorite new line for cranking this mid-range is 12-pound Sunline Reaction FC.

“The line is the best crankbait line I’ve ever used,” Lane said. “It has the sinking and sensitivity like fluorocarbon but it has some built in stretch. That stretch is nice when a fish strikes and when fighting and landing bass. I also like that it seems to snap a bait back off of cover when I hit something hard on a fast retrieve. That really seems to trigger bites.”

One caveat he likes is fishing these areas around grass. He likes to crank on the edges of hydrilla or over the top of it in deeper water. When he does this he will go up to a 14-pound Sunline Natural monofilament to give him better ability to rip the bait of grass if it buries. A lot of tournaments he fishes have been won cranking over and around hydrilla grass. That is one more variable that can make an out-of-the-way spot better.

Whether you’re fishing in the bays or out on the main lake, make a point to check those places down away from or leading away or towards areas where the bass have left or want to go soon and you’ll likely stumble upon an untapped sneaky spot to pull up and have the bass all to yourself.

Source: Wired2Fish

“Fishing is going to be on fire,” said Castrol pro David Dudley . “You can pick your power strength and do well. If you’re a flipper, topwater angler or like throwing chatterbaits, it doesn’t matter; the bass are going to be biting. “The key to winning is going to be finding and landing those 5-pounders,” Dudley continued. “The Potomac is going to be like Okeechobee. Everyone is going to catch a limit, but getting the 5-pounders is what’s going to make the difference. You’re going to need 18 pounds a day to win. “As long as the wind doesn’t pick up, the river is going to be on fire. It’s going to be good times.”

“Winning the BFL All-American was truly a stepping stone in my professional career,” said the Indianapolis, Ind., angler. “Winning that event is the main reason I got the opportunity to fish the FLW Tour this year. It gave me the exposure and financial opportunity I needed to take the next step in my career. Winning this event is an angler’s one shot at making it professionally.

“Winning the BFL All-American really gave me confidence in my fishing,” Wheeler continued. “To be successful you need to fish your own strengths, and that’s what makes you dangerous. Winning the All-American gave me that confidence.” stated Jacob Wheeler who won the BFL All-American in 2011.

Source: FLW Outdoors

Kennedy did just that, bringing five bass to the scales weighing 9.86 pounds.  It wasn’t much, but it was enough.  With a three day total weight of 44.27 pounds, the Alabama pro edged out a hard charging Gary Yamamoto by 2.46 pounds.

Along with the trophy, Kennedy took home a 2012 Nitro Z8, equipped with a Mercury 225 OptiMax engine with a retail value of over $40,000.  He also pocketed an additional $1,250 in cash.

“I was very concerned,” said a relieved Steve Kennedy after the conclusion of the weigh-in which was held at the Bass Pro Shops in Nashville.  “When we started this morning, I knew that we had a check-in time that was over an hour earlier than it had been on the first two days.  On Thursday and Friday, I caught the majority of my bigger fish really late in the day.”

Compounding his concerns was the fact that the weather on Saturday, which featured calm winds and heavy overcast skies, was a complete change from the sunny skies and moderate winds that greeted the competitors on each of the first two days.

Kennedy struggled early, suffering through a barrage of lost fish that he hooked on an intentionally unnamed swimbait that he has relied on for several top finishes over the past two years.  “I had four or five bass that were over three pounds just choke my bait today, and I couldn’t hook any of them for some reason. I know that it sounds crazy, but I bet that I had over 50 fish bump that bait today.”

Had it not been for a key bite that he was able to capitalize on, the weigh-in would have been a nail biter. “I had just lost a four pounder that was sitting up under a tree,” explained Kennedy.  “When I skipped my bait under the very next tree, I landed one that was close to four pounds.”

Each day of the event, Kennedy made a 30 mile run upriver.  He stayed on the main river channel and keyed on bluff walls that had a variety of cover.  His best areas were bluffs that featured trees leaning off of the bank and barely touching the water.

On Thursday, Kennedy tried a plethora of baits in an attempt to locate the quality fish that he knew were holding in his areas.  He threw a deep swimbait, crankbait, football jig, and swimming jig, and finally figured out the winning formula midday.  “I caught three fish over three pounds on the first stretch of bank that I went down with my swimbait,” he explained.  “The bite was as good as I’ve ever seen it.”  For the rest of the tournament, the swimbait was his main weapon, although one of his keepers on Saturday came on a jig.

“Nobody was fishing the main river up there,” he said.  “The shad were coming up and spawning in the mornings, and I think that pulled the fish up higher in the water column.  When all the shad were up there, I just couldn’t get bit.  I think that the fish stayed there all day, because I could go back through those same areas and catch them in the afternoon.”

Gary Yamamoto

While Kennedy was struggling to put five keepers in the livewell, Gary  Yamamoto, who entered the day in 8^th place and was over 10 pound behind Kennedy, was piecing together a potentially historic comeback.

“Today, I fished the same general areas that I’d been fishing for the past two days,” explained the veteran Texas pro.  “Everywhere I went the fish were one size bigger than they had been. “

Starting the day off with a surface bait, Yamamoto said that he thought the cloudy conditions would be perfect for a strong topwater bite.  “I was catching keepers, but when I moved to the docks I immediately started catching bigger fish.   It was a really strange day, because fish on boat docks usually bite better when it’s sunny.”

Upgrading throughout the day, Yamamoto’s 17.73 pound limit on Saturday boosted his total weight to 41.81 pounds and was anchored by a 6.19 pound largemouth.  In addition to the $300 Big Bass Of the Day award, he walked away with a Humminbird 898c SI, valued at $1,500 for Big Bass Of the Tournament.

Yamamoto threw a Sugoi Splash on top, but his primary bait throughout the week was a green pumpkin Senko with a nail weight in the tail that he fished around docks.  “I’m proud and happy that I was able to make it this far,” he said.  “I guess I had a really good tournament.”

Dean Rojas also made a surge on Saturday, bringing in the second heaviest limit of the day weighing 16.57.  Although he moved up from 4^th place to finish in 3^rd place with a total weight of  41.27, the Arizona pro was left wondering what might have been had he not stumbled on Friday by falling one bass short of a limit.

“I made a bad decision yesterday morning and started in the wrong area.  I went for the gusto and tried to catch another big sack and it didn’t work out,” he explained.

On Saturday, Rojas said that the overcast conditions played to his advantage.  “I went back to the same areas and just caught them.  I usually don’t regret anything in a tournament, but after catching them today, I regret the decisions that I made yesterday morning.”  Rojas relied primarily on a Spro Bronzeye frog in Killer Gill color and also flipped a Big Bite Baits Fighting Frog.

Hendersonville, Tenn. local, Tim Messer, fell from second place to fourth place on Saturday with a total weight of 38.67, and Mark Menendez rounded out the top five with 35.29.

For full results and great photos, visit Fishpaa.com.

Source: PPA Communications 

He hung in until the end, but wound up finishing 3rd, behind champion Chris Lane and runner-up Greg Vinson.

“Looking back, I was like, ‘Man, I can do this. This is me,’” he recalls thinking after day 1 at the Red River.

Since then, it’s been a rocky road through the first half of the Elite Series schedule for the third-year pro who now calls Pike Road, Ala., home. He’s made one 12-cut (Bull Shoals), narrowly missed two 50-cuts (both Florida events) and bombed (98th) at Douglas Lake. He’s currently tied for 60th in the Toyota Tundra Angler of the Year (AOY) standings, well off his 10th-place pace from last year.

If he’s to qualify for next year’s Classic, he’ll either need a victory or a furious second-half rally. The former college tailback says he’s up for the challenge.

“I’m fishing too lazy,” he said. “I’m glad I had that 98th. It’s time for me to step it up and get back to fishing. I need to settle down and work hard, just like everybody else. That 3rd (at the Classic) doesn’t matter any more. That’s over with.”

Florida Not His Friend

In four Elite Series tournaments held in Florida, Poche’s average finish is 47.25. In 2011, he made the 50-cut at the Harris Chain and the St. Johns River to open the season.

This year, a foul-hooked fish on day 2 cost him the 50-cut at the season-opener at St. Johns. The fish would have completed his limit, but he ran out of time and finished 52nd, 1 ounce out of the money.

At Lake Okeechobee the following week, he couldn’t get on anything solid, averaged 12 pounds a day and settled for 55th.

“I totally missed the deal,” he said. “I just didn’t execute. The patterns I was on weren’t the deals I should’ve been doing.

“Florida always gets me. I don’t know if I’m over-thinking it. I’m just not a good Florida fisherman, I guess. A few mental mistakes cost me my first two checks.”

Douglas Disaster

He started heading in the right direction with a 12th-place finish at Bull Shoals, a lake he’d never fished or researched. It at least kept his head above water in the AOY race.

However, things went south at Douglas Lake earlier this month. He anticipated the better bites would be found in deep water, basing his guesswork on last year’s Southern Open there and from what pal Ott Defoe had told him.

He was correct that it’d be won out deep, but his all-or-nothing deep-water strategy backfired on him. After weighing 11-08 on day 1, he found himself in 51st. The bites on his primary spot dried up on day 2 and his secondary spot was being beat up by others in the field. He tried to go shallow and catch something to weigh, but that didn’t happen either. He wound up with a zero, pushing him down to 98th in a 99-boat field — his worst career finish.

Photo: B.A.S.S./Gary Tramontina

“I didn’t practice shallow at all and I think that’s where I messed up because I wasn’t on a strong enough deep bite to have a good finish,” he said. “I had two areas where I thought I could catch them good, but I didn’t have a backup plan and that’s a mistake I made. I should’ve had a limit spot where I could pull in and catch a limit of 1 1/2- or 2-pounders and then fall back on the deep area.

“It was frustrating. I could see them there and I was like, ‘They have to bite sometime today.’ I would get that sick feeling in my gut that I had to so something. In the back of my mind, I was thinking about points and the opportunity to be in the Classic (again) and if I didn’t catch them I’m liable to fall to the bottom of the list and dig myself a hole.”

He’s trying to channel the frustration of the sour finish and use it to his advantage down the road.

“I could come up with a million excuses for why I’m not where I want to be right now,” he added. “Plain and simple, I just finished my 2nd year on Tour. I had an awesome year. I finished 10th in points and almost won the Bassmaster Classic. I was coming off a big high and it’s one of those deals where I’m learning to adapt with that success. Maybe I’m getting a little lazy. Maybe I just got comfortable and maybe this 98th-place finish will ignite me because I guarantee that won’t happen again.”

Second-Half Outlook

While he’s used the first four events to dig himself this hole, Poche has four more to dig himself out. And he’ll have to do it on largely unfamiliar waters.

Having never fished any farther north than Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia, the trips to La Crosse, Wis., the mystery lake (assuming it’s somewhere in the upper Midwest) and Oneida Lake will be new experiences for him. He knows he has no choice but to turn things around if wants another shot at Classic glory.

“I went into Bull Shoals without any experience or knowledge and hardly any research,” he said. “I’ve figured out that some of my best tournaments are at lakes I don’t know much about. Heading north, I’m looking forward to it. I think it can play into my hands and I can have some good finishes. A bass is a bass and they do the same thing everywhere.”

“Making the Classic is not out of the question,” he said. “I really feel confident I can move up the standings these next four tournaments. I feel good about it.”

By Todd Ceisner / BassFan Editor

Here are a few baits to use to just keep it simple.

Texas Rigged worm:  Use a TX rig worm along with a craw worm or lizard TX rigged.

Texas Rigged Worm

Jig and Pig:  You can not go wrong with a jig and pig it is a very versitile bait.

Jig & Pig

Spinner Bait:  Try a spinner bait you can fish it at any depth and through any cover.

Spinner Bait

Crank Bait:  This is a good bait when the bass are eating shad.

Crank Bait

Tiny Torpedo:  You should not leave home without it.  The Tiny Torpedo is an oldy but goody.

Tiny Torpedo

Just remeber fishing is supposed to be fun try to relax on the lake and remember when you were a kid fishing.  Keep it simpe.  Now go out and enjoy the outdoors wit a kid.

Good Fish’n

Bucky Allen

Elite Series anglers are going to have to figure out more than just how to catch fish this month … they are going to have to figure out where, exactly, they are fishing. June 28th marks the seventh stop on the Bassmaster Elite Series trail, and the first time in modern professional angling that a “mystery lake” is the playing field.

The concept was resurrected from Ray Scott’s first six Bassmaster Classics, where the venues were kept secret until the competitors had flown halfway to the lake.

The final year of the mystery lake concept was 1976 because Scott realized that fishing fans should be an integral part of the world championship. In 1977, the bass fishing world said goodbye to the sport’s most intriguing unknown.

Well, fishing fans, after 35 years it’s time again to play detective … and things have changed. When Scott planned the mystery events, he would have all the anglers meet at an airport with exactly 10 pounds of gear in hand and transport them all at once to the venue. Today, anglers have wrapped rigs hauling thousands of pounds of gear to each tournament site. So, flying is not an option.

That said, the Elites will be fishing the Mississippi River out of La Crosse, Wis., just four days prior to fishing the mystery location.

The competitors get three days of practice. So, the 12 guys who make the final cut at La Crosse will have just one day to drive to the secret venue. Assuming anglers can drive 70 mph for seven or eight hours, there’s a radius of 500-ish miles to consider. Unfortunately, there are approximately 53,000 lakes within that radius, including a couple of Great Lakes and some of the best fisheries Minnesota has to offer. Naturally, then, one should turn to the rumor mill for answers.

Ish Monroe, winner of this year’s Power-Pole Slam on Lake Okeechobee, thinks he knows where it’s going to be.

“I’d put my money on the northern part of Lake Michigan. We were supposed to fish there a couple of years ago, so we probably owe them a tournament,” Monroe reasons.

“I think the lake will be either in Wisconsin or Michigan. Maybe Lake Winnebago near Fond du Lac,” guesses Kevin Short.

“I’m pretty sure I know just where it is,” says Gerald Swindle. “A buddy of mine fishes a charity tournament in a lake near Lake Minnetonka. That charity event has been held the same week for years. For some unknown reason, they were forced to move it this year. It was scheduled for the week of the mystery event and is only three hours away from La Crosse. Just sayin’.”

The B.A.S.S. brass is planning to announce the location on May 24 at 1 p.m. CT. So, stay tuned to Bassmaster.com for the unveiling. What will not be announced is how the Elite Series competitors will catch fish once they get there. I’m guessing if the crankbait bite is red hot, the competitors will pick up a spinnerbait at least once just to see if that, too, might work.

By James Hall of BASS Communications 

The first three tournaments Lake Hartwell, Table Rock Lake, and Beaver Lake on the FLW Tour Major are in the books.  With Brent Ehrler of Redlands, Calif winning on Lake Hartwell with a winning weight of 74 pounds, 13 ounces beating out the nearest competitor by more than 3 pounds.  This was Ehrler’s fourth FLW Tour victory of his career.  The next stop would be on Table Rock Lake with Brent Long taking home the trophy by catching a total weight of 78 pounds, 13 ounces.  Third stop was on Beaver Lake locsated in Rogers, Arkansas.  The winner of this on would be David Dudley bringing in a winning bag of 54 pounds, 7 ounces.

The next FLW Tour major tournament will be held on the Potomic River May 17-20, 2012.  The hos marina will be National Harbor 137 National Plaza, Suite 300 National Harbor MD where you will be able to watch the anglers head out.  On days 3 & 4 from 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. National Harbor Marina you can enjoy the FLW Expo where you can  meet the pros, enjoy  the kid zone and play interactive games.

The top 50 angler of the year in point for the first 3 tournaments.

“If a guy is chasing his dream to become a professional fisherman, there is no other place to start than the Federation Nation,” said Lane. “The good thing about the Federation is that you are fishing with all of your buddies and guys you grew up with who like fishing the local tournaments. I had fun in the Federation and got to hang out and eat dinner with my buddies.”

Chris joined the Lakeland Bassmasters in the Florida B.A.S.S. Federation Nation 18 years ago with his dad, Robert Lane and older brothers Bobby and Arnie.

“That was the largest B.A.S.S.-affiliated club and the toughest club to fish,” recalled Chris, who now lives in northern Alabama. “If you did well in a tournament against those guys or did well in the points, then you had done something special. I felt that if I was going to chase my dream, then these were the guys that I was going to have to beat just to get to the next level. If I couldn’t beat them on my home lake, then what good was it to try and go to the next level?”

During their time in the Lakeland club, the Lanes never drew each other in a tournament, but that never stopped a friendly family rivalry. “We bet on anything,” said Robert Lane. “I was always a big topwater fisherman and I used to smoke the boys on topwater, and then they got real good with worms and flipping and then they started smoking me.”

Chris Lane credits his experience in the Federation Nation for his ability to compete at the top level now. Photo by Seigo Saito

“We just had fun,” said Chris. “We had some excellent times together in the club.”

Robert said he thought his son Bobby was the best angler in the club at the time. “I never thought much about [Chris turning pro],” said Robert. “He was always a good fisherman, but he would stick with one lure for a long time and not switch around a lot. He has really learned to adapt.”

Chris said he remembers fishing in the Federation Nation for five years, making the state team and competing in the Southern Divisional his last year as an amateur.

“You learn something every single tournament in the Federation,” said Chris, who also joined the Tampa Bay Bassmasters and fished a few tournaments before turning pro. “When I made the state team, I remember being down at Okeechobee and learning so much at the state tournament that I still take with me every day.”

Jim Hooven, longtime Lakeland Bassmasters president, recalls Chris was “testing the water” to become a pro so he never fished all of the club’s tournaments. “When he did fish, he was very effective,” said Hooven. “He won a couple and placed in a couple, but he was not competing for Angler of the Year. He was a great angler, and if he had fished the entire year he would have been in the hunt for Angler of the Year every year.”

Chris was also a frequent speaker for the club’s monthly educational program. “We used Chris to do seminars for our educational program,” said Hooven. “Chris is a PR man. He had a great attitude and he fit right in our club.”

Now Chris has become an inspiration for all Federation Nation anglers wanting to chase their dreams.

Source: John Neporadny Jr., B.A.S.S. Times

Unlike Erie, though, dipping a drop-shot rig into a deep school of fish at Douglas wouldn’t have even caught a limit. They wanted no part of a finesse presentation. Instead, it was a big, wobbly crankbait that ruled the day and triggered reaction strikes from fish stalking wads of shad.

Cast after cast, he made sure his deep-diving plug got into the strike zone and with the help of an old technique that got his baits to run real deep, he pulled more than 80 pounds of bass out of the French Broad River impoundment in eastern Tennessee to lock up his second career Elite Series title.

“I don’t think anything will compare to the first win because it changes your entire career, but it still means a lot,” he said.

His 20-plus-pound average blew away what many thought it would take to claim victory and he needed virtually every ounce to overtake Britt Myers, who led the middle 2 days of the event and held nearly a 6-pound lead entering the final day.

After sitting out the 2011 season due to medical reasons, he’s in the mix for the Toyota Tundra Angler of the Year (AOY) with four tournaments remaining and has earned himself a ticket to his first Bassmaster Classic next February.

Here’s how he did it.

Practice

Deep water was not on Starks’ practice agenda.

He estimates he made maybe 10 casts on offshore fish and decided he would stalk the deeper schools once the event got started.

“I practiced shallow and caught some small fish,” he said. “I thought it was terrible. I knew there were a lot of fish offshore and I thought I’d just figure out how to catch them through the tournament. It was a terrible practice for me.”

Competition

> Day 1: 5, 16-01
> Day 2: 5, 23-01
> Day 3: 5, 19-11
> Day 4: 5, 22-05
> Total = 20, 81-02

Starks came off the water early on day 1 after experiencing a recurrence of the extreme dizziness that kept him out of competition last year. Luckily, he had bagged 16-01, but he thought his chances to contend for a victory were gone.

“Honestly, I thought quitting early with 16 pounds was going to cost me the tournament, but it didn’t,” he said.

He felt much better when he woke up on day 2. His catch improved dramatically as well. His 23-01 stringer was surpassed only by Myers’ 24-01 sack and it was enough to propel him into 3rd place.

All of his weigh fish came out of Muddy Creek, a vast creek arm that’s situated to the southwest of the takeoff point. Myers and 3rd-place finisher Aaron Martens also caught a majority of their fish there.

The school of fish he worked on day 2 numbered into the 60s and he was not faced with the spot-sharing others had to deal with.

He boxed 19-11 on day 3 to clinch his second career Top-12 finish. It also moved him past Martens and into 2nd place behind Myers.

When he pulled into his key spot on day 4, there were upwards of 200 slashes on his sonar graph. He worked them over the entire morning, but by 2 o’clock the school had dissipated.

Starks provided this photo he took of his graph to illustrate how the fish were packed against the bottom. Photo: Jeremy Starks

“There was not one fish left,” he said.

It prompted him to run to new water where he found a similar-sized school. He upgraded with a pair of 5-pounders in the final hour that virtually sealed the win.

Pattern Notes

As is evident in the picture of Starks’ sonar graph, the fish he was targeting were hugging the bottom on points in 35 to 45 feet of water.

To reach those depths, he would cast his bait as far as he could and not engage his reel. Then, he would idle away from the area, allowing the line to freely peel off his reel.

How much line was he letting out?

“I’d let it go completely down to the spool every time. I had 300 yards on it,” he said.

Once all the line was out, he would engage and start cranking – fast. He’d also kneel and reel to maximize the time the bait would spend around the fish.

Frequently, he’d get bit halfway back to the boat as the bait zipped through the school. The technique made for a couple of sore arms that he’ll gladly deal with.

“They don’t make enough Aleve for how sore they are,” he said.

> Despite the changes in weather the field endured during the course of the tournament, especially in the mornings, he didn’t notice a negative impact of the fish he was after. “Those deep fish are so less affected by pressure changes than shallow fish,” he said.

> He tried a jigging spoon on day 4, but couldn’t trigger any bites even though he could feel the slab bouncing off the fish as he snapped it through the school.

Winning Gear Notes

> Crankbait gear: 7’11” medium-heavy Airrus Ken Whiting prototype cranking rod, Abu Garcia Revo (6.4:1 ratio) or Bass Pro Shops Johnny Morris CarbonLite (5.1:1) casting reel, unnamed fluorocarbon line, Strike King Series 6XD (green gizzard shad, powder blue back chartreuse or sexy blue back herring).

> Starks declined to disclose the brand or weight of the fluorocarbon he used, saying, “That was the trick to getting it deep.”

> He used the silent version of the Series 6XD because it triggered more true reaction strikes.

Source: Todd Ceisner, BassFan Editor