Even at 72 years old, Harold Allen is still a threat to win any tournament he enters in the Texas/Louisiana region. The 15-time Classic qualifier proved that again last weekend as he teamed with Matt Loetscher to triumph at the Texas Team Trail season opener at Toledo Bend Reservoir.
Allen and Loetscher weighed a 28.74-pound stringer to top a 250-boat field. They spent the day in the lake's upper third and focused on sheer drops on the main lake that plunged from 10 to 20 feet.
"We fished spots that had some wood, not only on the bottom, but also hanging off the drop," Allen said. "Right now, the fish are either going to be right on top of the drop, or where it eases off. If you can find some cover off the side of the ledge, that's even better. Some of our fish were right on top of the ledge and some of them halfway down the sides of the drops."
Allen threw a 3/4-ounce black/blue Santone jig with a junebug craw trailer, while Loetscher used a 3/4-ounce brown Stanley jig with a green-pumpkin Cajun Lures craw trailer. Their strategy involved feeling around for hard cover and then surgically picking it apart.
"We would work our baits fairly fast until we hit some type of structure, and then we tried to bump that structure several times," Allen said. "When you bumped it or pulled your bait over, you'd kill the bait and let it go right down in there. That was the deal – working hard, slow and thorough."
