Ish Monroe won the recent Amistad Bassmaster Elite Series with tubes and frogs. Here's how the rest of the top finishers caught their fish.

2nd: Fred Roumbanis
> Day 1: 5, 24-04
> Day 2: 5, 28-13
> Day 3: 5, 20-11
> Day 4: 5, 28-01
> Total = 20, 101-13

California's Fred Roumbanis threw a swimbait all 4 days. He fished deeper water where he targeted pre-spawners, and trees were a key factor.

"I was fishing around islands and on shelves and ridges – anything that had a little bit of breeze on it," he said. "The fish were relating to trees and a lot of them were suspended in them. It seemed like the big fish were wanting to move into the trees."

All his spots had deep water nearby – specifically, the main river channel in the main lake. He thinks his fish were moving from the deep, main-lake water up onto the shelves, and his bites came from 8 to 20 feet of water.

> Swimbait gear: 7'6" medium-heavy Okuma Guide Select rod, Okuma VSystem casting reel, 50-pound PowerPro braid, 7" 22nd Century Triple Trout and California Custom Worms Baby "E" swimbaits (bluegill patterns).

> He also fished a custom swimbait rod at times.

> Main factor in his success – "Basically, it was swimbaits. That was all I caught my fish on the whole time. I was running and gunning the island-tops and ridges. The swimbait eliminated all the small fish. I was just catching 4s."

3rd: Mike Reynolds

> Day 1: 5, 20-06
> Day 2: 5, 26-00
> Day 3: 5, 28-00
> Day 4: 5, 24-14
> Total = 20, 99-04

Mike Reynolds started slow, but worked three different patterns and consistently improved.

He began each morning with a jerkbait. Once he caught his limit, he switched to flipping salt cedars. He also caught two sight-fish he found.

He caught a 20-pound jerkbait limit within 90 minutes each of the first three mornings, but struck out with it on day 4. "It took all day to get 25 pounds," he said.

Later on day 4 he caught a topwater fish that he said was a turning point. "I caught that 6 1/2-pounder on a topwater. I basically talked him into hitting it. We had some cloud cover and I told my partner, 'I've got a gut feeling about topwater.'

"It was just one fish, but believe me, it was a very crucial fish – the key fish of the whole tournament."

> Jerkbait gear: 7' medium-heavy St. Croix graphite cranking rod, Abu Garcia reel, 14-pound Original Stren (clear/blue fluorescent), Lucky Craft Pointer 128 jerkbait (chartreuse shad).

> Topwater gear: Same equipment as jerkbait gear, except Reaction Innovations Vixen walking bait (shad).

> Flipping gear: 8' St. Croix flipping stick, same reel, 25-pound Original Stren, 3/0 Owner hook (wide-gap, straight-shank), 3/8-ounce weight (pegged), Reaction Innovations Boom Boom tube (green-pumpkin/watermelon).

> Sight-fishing gear: Same equipment as flipping gear, except white Boom Boom tube.

> Main factor in his success – "I stayed close and spent a lot of time fishing. I didn't make a long run and kept my lure in the water. That really paid off for me."

4th: Greg Hackney

> Day 1: 5, 25-09
> Day 2: 5, 28-15
> Day 3: 5, 22-01
> Day 4: 5, 21-12
> Total = 20, 98-05

The Hack Attack focused on pre-spawn fish the first 3 days, and moved to bed-fishing the final day. "My pre-spawn bites were vanishing," he said. "All the fish were coming up.

"The first 2 days I started off cranking trees and jerkbaiting. Then the third day I cranked grass, and when it was slick, I pitched trees."

He targeted isolated trees on main-lake points. "The best trees were out there by themselves. That's where the big fish were."

> Jerkbait gear: 6'6" medium-heavy Bass Pro Shops (BPS) Kevin VanDam jerkbait rod, Quantum Accurist casting reel, 16-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon, Strike King Wild Shiner jerkbait (suspending, black back/gold sides/orange belly).

> He did catch a few fish on day 4 fishing a floating Wild Shiner in shallow water.

> Cranking gear: 7' medium-heavy Quantum Gary Klein cranking rod, Quantum Accurist reel, 20-pound Gamma Edge , Strike King Series 6 crankbait (crawfish and bream patterns).

> Pitching gear: 7 1/2' heavy-action Quantum Tour Edition flipping stick, Quantum Accurist reel, 50-pound unnamed braid, 1-ounce Strike King Premier Pro Model jig (green-pumpkin and watermelon), Strike King Denny Brauer 3X Chunk (watermelon/red-flake).

> Bed-fishing gear: 7' heavy-action Quantum Tour Edition rod, Quantum Accurist reel, 20-pound Gamma Edge, 4/0 wide-gap hook, Strike King Zero (watermelon and green-pumpkin).

> In windy conditions, he used an unnamed, belly-weighted hook with the Zero.

> Main factor in his success – "I fished real aggressive in this tournament. Up until (day 4), I really stuck with power-fishing."

5th: Steve Kennedy

> Day 1: 5, 27-14
> Day 2: 5, 22-00
> Day 3: 5, 25-06
> Day 4: 5, 21-15
> Total = 20, 97-03

Steve Kennedy also fished three patterns. He caught them on a Chatterbait on day 1. "It caught almost 30 pounds in 30 mph winds," he said. "The wind blowing in really muddied it up, but they were just eating that Chatterbait."

The Chatterbait wasn't going on day 2, but he did catch a 5 1/2 on it at 10:00. After that, he started throwing a Kinami Flash to holes in the hydrilla. The presentation was slow. "I'd just let it soak down there."

He then switched from the hydrilla pattern to bed-fishing. "It wasn't what I'd call classic sight-fishing. I was just throwing the Flash at white spots. I was bed-fishing, but not looking."

By the late afternoon on day 2, he also started to exploit a flipping bite. "I caught two or three good ones flipping trees. I started with that on the third day and had 17 or 18 pounds by 9:30.

"On day 4, I flipped more than half the day, but never put a keeper in the boat. I caught two on the Chatterbait, and caught a couple flipping a Beaver and Flash at the beds."

> Chatterbait gear: 7' medium-heavy BPS Extreme rod, Shimano Curado casting reel, 12-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon, Rad Lures Chatterbait (green-pumpkin), stock black trailer.

> Flipping gear: 7' heavy-action BPS Extreme rod, same reel, 50-pound PowerPro braid, round-bend straight-shank hook, 3/4- and 1-ounce tungsten weights (green-pumpkin color), Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver (Spanish fly).

> Flash gear: 6' medium-heavy Berkley Lightning spinning rod, Shimano Stradic 4000 spinning reel, 10-pound Trilene XL (clear), 5" Kinami Flash (green-pumpkin).

> Main factor in his success – "It probably had more to do with my practice than anything. I'd never seen the lake before, but this time of year the fish are up. As clear as the water was, I just rode around looking for fish. When I went back out to the same places, the conditions would change, but the fish were still there somewhere."

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