The Leader in Pro Bass Fishing News!
Facebook Twitter

Newcomb prevails at Grand Lake Toyota Series

Newcomb prevails at Grand Lake Toyota Series

Andy Newcomb of Camdenton, Missouri, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 15-11 to win the three-day Grand Lake Plains Division Toyota Series event in Grove, Okla. Newcomb’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 52-13 earned him the win by a 11-ounce margin over 2nd-place angler Chris Jones of Bokoshe, Okla. and garnered Newcomb the top payout of $76,500, including a $35,500 Phoenix MLF BIG5 Bonus.

Newcomb, the runner-up in the Plains Division opener at Lake of the Ozarks in March, caught 17-13 on day 1 to settle into 9th place. He took over the lead with 19-05 on day 2.

“It’s incredible,” Newcomb said of his win. “Just the fact that I was able to edge out Chris (Jones) is incredible – Chris is the man. Eric Olliverson is another buddy of mine that catches them everywhere. To beat those guys … I’ve worked hard at it and I’ve never felt I was truly at that level, so to win one feels really, really good.

“Thursday, I caught all of my fish off of chunky gravel and my good ones came halfway back in pockets,” Newcomb said. “If I went back further I could only catch small keepers, and towards the main lake I couldn’t catch anything.”

With no wind, warmer temperatures and clear skies on day 2, Newcomb said he tried to force his “chunky gravel” pattern, but to no avail.

“I tried for a long time to make that pattern from day 1 work,” he said. “Finally, I rolled up to a bluff and I thought that it looked like a place I could catch one.

“I threw out there and had one hit it and that changed my whole tournament. Even though I didn’t land it, that fish biting made me think, ‘there’s fish here.’ I went a little further down and had another bite and told my co-angler we were going to camp there. In the last hour and a half of the day, they turned on. I went from 9 pounds to over 19 in a hurry.”

Newcomb said he stuck with Grand Lake staples ­– a jig and a spinnerbait.

“In cleaner water, I was either throwing a BOOYAH Covert Spinnerbait with a small, gold Colorado blade and a bigger, silver willow blade or a chartreuse War Eagle spinnerbait – I swapped the painted blades out for smaller willow blades so I could fish it a little faster, which made the fish swallow it instead of just biting it.”

Newcomb said he also added a BioSpawn ExoSwim (Feider shad) to his spinnerbait for extra bulk and dyed the tail chartreuse. He threw his blades on a 7-foot, 4-inch Daiwa Tatula Elite vibrating jig rod with a Daiwa Tatula reel, spooled with 17-pound Vicious Pro Elite fluorocarbon line.

A 1/2-ounce Apex Tackle Company Dirk’s Jig got a key bite on day 2, but did all of the heavy lifting on the final day. He put a Zoom Ultravibe Speed Craw on the back and pitched it to any rock or wood he could along the bank. His jig tackle consisted of a 7-foot, 1-inch Tatula Elite rod with the same Tatula reel as the spinnerbait and 20-pound Vicious Pro Elite fluorocarbon.

“It’s a very small jig with just a few strands of skirt,” Newcomb said. “Color didn’t seem to matter. If you got it in front of one they would bite, but they just ate funny. I think I weighed every fish (on day 3) on the jig and most everything the first two days on a spinnerbait.”

With the trophy in hand, Newcomb said he’s happy that his fish-to-win mentality finally paid off on the big stage and he’s hoping it may lead to an even bigger stage soon.

“At the end of the day, whether I win or lose, I know I did everything I could to win,” he said. “Sometimes it doesn’t work out, but when it does, boy, it feels really, really good.”

Here are the final totals for the Top 10:

1. Andy Newcomb: 52-13
2. Chris M. Jones: 52-02
3. Kyle Minke: 51-15
4. Joey Cantrell: 51-08
5. T.J. Martin: 49-04
6. Brent Algeo: 48-12
7. James Watson: 48-09
8. Eric Olliverson: 48-00
9. Kyle Weisenburger: 46-08
10. Toby Hartsell: 45-13

Latest News

  • Hamner's Hot Streak Culminated At Grand

    Hamner's Hot Streak Culminated At Grand

    By John Johnson BassFan Senior Editor

    Justin Hamner, the newly crowned Bassmaster Classic champion, has been on quite a roll for the past 11 months.

  • Hamner Goes Wire To Wire At Classic

    Hamner Goes Wire To Wire At Classic

    By B.A.S.S. Communications Staff

    TULSA, Okla. — When most anglers win the Bassmaster Classic, they at least pretend like it came as the biggest surprise

  • Hamner Tops 20 Pounds Again, Leads By 5 1/2

    Hamner Tops 20 Pounds Again, Leads By 5 1/2

    By B.A.S.S. Communications Staff

    TULSA, Okla. — Since practice began last week, Alabama pro Justin Hamner says he hasn’t been able to duplicate two patterns

Video You May Like