By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
Following are some notes for the 2nd- through 5th-place finishers at the Bass Pro Tour Heavy Hitters event in Raleigh, N.C.
2nd: Jeff Sprague
Jeff Sprague continued his dominant run in BPT competition, posting his 11th finish of 11th or better in 17 outings. He also bagged the $100,000 bonus for the biggest fish of the Championship Round with a 5-03 specimen.
The Texan primarily flipped and threw a bladed jig in the two-day Qualifying Round Jordan Lake. He scored with a buzzbait in the Knockout Round and mostly sight-fished in the Championship Round, when he caught eight fish for 30-04 to finish about 15 pounds behind winner Alton Jones.
"I fished a lot of new water every day – even in the Championship Round, those were all new fish to me," he said. "Those aren't big lakes and we had our guys and local guys out there picking fish off, and continually going to new water saved me at Jordan and in the Championship Round as well.
The fish that garnered him the six-figure payout was enticed by a 5-inch Strike King Ocho (blue swirl) fished weightless on his 7'1" medium-heavy Lew's signature series rod, a Lew's HyperMag casting reel and 20-pound Strike King Primal fluorocarbon line.
He wasn't looking at that one – it was sitting in a reed patch. It bit about 10 minutes into the final 2 1/2-hour period of the day.
This 7 1/2-pounder in the Knockout Round was worth $50,000 for Jacob Wheeler.
3rd: Jacob Wheeler
Wheeler sight-fished for most of the Knockout and Championship rounds, catching seven scorable fish for 26-08 in the finals. He picked up a few that aided his cause by throwing a swimbait.
He came close to bowing out after the second day of the Qualifying Round. He was about 5 pounds below the cut line with 30 minutes to go on Falls Lake when he opted to make a run up the Neuse River. Flipping a Googan Baits Bandito Bug, he caught a 4-15 and a 2-11 to advance.
He pocketed the $50,000 bonus for the heaviest fish of the Knockout Round – a 7 1/2-pounder.
He normally chooses a natural-colored bait for sight-fishing, but went with a white 3.3-inch Bandito Bug Jr. on this occasion.
"I like the natural colors because I can usually get them to bite quicker, but I actually figured out that white triggered them faster at Shearon Harris," he said. "That was one of the keys, along with things like (casting) angles and understanding the mood of the fish because each one was completely different.
"That's not a big lake and it was getting a lot of pressure and they got a lot tougher to catch toward the end. You had to pull into the right place at the right time."
His sight-fishing gear consisted of his 7'3" Duckett Fishing signature series rod, signature series Duckett Paradigm casting reel (8.3:1 ratio), 17-pound Sufix Advance fluorocarbon line, 3/8-ounce VMC tungsten weight and a 4/0 VMC Heavy Duty Flipping hook.
Michael Neal caught spawning fish in the Knockout and Championship rounds without looking at them.
4th: Michael Neal
Michael Neal spent the Knockout and Championship rounds fishing spawning areas, but he wasn't looking at his quarry. He utilized a frog in the early mornings and switched to a wacky rig later in the day.
"Not being afraid to go finessey around the heavy vegetation and big fish was the main thing for me," he said. "I think I was the only guy doing that."
The wacky rig accounted for his entire final-day bag (six fish for 22-12).
For the Qualifying Round, he relied on a ChatterBait in the midst of a shad spawn.
On the wacky rig, he used a 7'2" medium-heavy Denali Covert rod, a Daiwa Tatula 3000 spinning reel, 30-pound Sunline SX1 braid (main line), 16-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon (leader), a size 1 Gamakatsu Weedless Stinger Hook and a Big Bite Baits Super Soft Neko Stick (green-pumpkin).
He threw his frog (a SPRO Bronzeye 65 in midnight walker) on a 7'2" medium-heavy Covert rod with Daiwa Tatula 100 casting reel (8.1:1 ratio) and 60-pound Sunline FX2 braid.
He used that same casting rod for the bladed jig (a 1/2-ounce Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait JackHammer in chartreuse/white or BHite delight), along with a 6.3:1 Tatula 100 reel and 20-pound Sunline FC Sniper fluorocarbon. The trailer was a Big Bite Kamikaze Swimon in pearl or green-pumpkin.
Bryan Thrift got to bypass the Knockout Round by topping his group in the two-day Qualifying Round.
5th: Bryan Thrift
Bryan Thrift used a frog and a soft-plastic stickbait en route to winning his group in the Qualifying Round at Falls Lake and advancing directly to the finals, bypassing the Knockout Round. He sight-fished during the Championship Round and caught six scorable bass for 22-08.
"I spent all three practice days on Falls because I felt like that gave me the best chance to make the Championship Round," he said. "Shearon Harris is small enough that you can go there without practice and still have a chance and if I didn't make it, the practicing at Shearon Harris would've been a waste of time."
He was able to entice most of the bedding fish he found at Shearon Harris to bite, using the stickbait for that application as well.
"All of them were in 3 feet of water or less," he said. "They were all 3 feet or less at Falls, too, but I just couldn't see them."
> Sight-fishing gear: 6'10" medium-action Fitzgerald Bryan Thrift Signature Series Wacky rod, size 30 Abu Garcia Revo Premier spinning reel, 15-pound P-Line XTCB 8 braid (main line), 10-pound P-Line Tactical fluorocarbon (leader), 2/0 Berkley Fusion19 Finesse Wide Gap hook, 5" Damiki Stinger (baby bass).
> Frog gear: 7'2" medium-heavy Fitzgerald Bryan Thrift Signature Series Frog rod, Abu Garcia Revo STX casting reel (7.3:1 ratio), 50-pound P-Line XTCB 8 braid, SPRO Bronzeye 65 (white).
> Soft stickbait gear: 7' heavy-action Fitzgerald Stunner rod, Abu Garcia Revo STX casting reel (7.3:1 ratio), 15-pound P-Line Tactical fluorocarbon, 5/0 Berkley Fusion19 Worm hook, 5" Damiki Stinger (baby bass).
