Shad Schenck worked a flipping bite at the recent Chickamauaga FLW Tour major, and followed the water level up and down. On day 3, he moved shallower when the water rose and found that the fish were using the points of reed beds. It was a good pattern that he developed later in the day, but he never could land his fifth keeper and thus finished 11th – first out of the Top-10 cut.
It was the second time this year Schenck was first out – he finished 11th at Beaver – and overall he's been fishing remarkably well. He's four-for-four on checks, claims three Top-20 finishes and is currently 10th in the FLW Tour Angler of the Year (AOY) race.
When asked too look back and identify what he might have done differently at Chickamauga to make the cut, he knew the answer right away.
"It always comes down to the little things you'd do different, and I would have fished one bank going into the wind instead of with it," Schenck said. "When you flip, it's a law: You always go into the wind. I went with the wind on that bank and it cost me making the cut because I fished too fast and my co-angler caught them behind me. It's all about the presentation of the bait and if I took the time to pick it apart I probably would have gotten the bites and made the cut."
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