Jones Figured Out The Finicky Ditch-Bottom Fish

It didn't take Alton Jones long to find the fish he exploited to win the 2008 Bassmaster Classic. It did take him awhile, though, to figure out how to catch them.

The 44-year-old Texan moved into the lead on the second day of the event, and then closed out the victory by catching the third-biggest sack on the final day. It was his fifth career triumph at BASS' premier level.

This was his 11th Classic, and his previous best finish was 7th (in 2000 and '03). He finished more than 5 pounds ahead of runner-up Cliff Pace and earned $500,000.

Here's how he did it.

Practice

On the first of the 3 official practice days the week prior to the tournament, Jones discovered quality fish holding in creek channels along the inside edges of flooded timber. He could catch some, but only early in the morning and only on a Cotton Cordell CC Spoon.

Once that initial activity period was over, his fish would shut down. They didn't go anywhere, but he couldn't make them bite.

It wasn't until the last practice day (2 days before the event) that he discovered their affinity for jigs. They'd occasionally take a prototype Booyah Pigskin football jig or an AJ's Go2 model.

"I didn't have a plan B," he said. "I had one type of location and two types of baits, and I knew it was going to be a grind.

"When you're only getting seven or eight bites a day, execution is definitely important."

Competition

> Day 1: 5, 17-05
> Day 2: 5, 18-11
> Day 3: 5, 13-07
> Total = 15, 49-07

Cool, rainy day 1 unfolded just about perfectly for Jones, with the notable exception of a dearth of big bites. He caught 15 keepers on the day, but none reached the 4-pound mark.

He'd pinpointed 10 areas from practice, but visited only three on the first day. He caught a quick limit with the spoon, and then methodically worked the jigs after that action died out.

He was in 10th place after the initial weigh-in – a little more than 3 1/2 pounds behind leader Charlie Hartley – and he was confident he could back up that bag with another good one on day 2. He was right.

The sun emerged a few hours into the second day, but his deep fish were unaffected by the change in the weather. He weighed a sack that was almost a pound and a half heavier than his day-1 haul and moved to the top of the standings.

He had to alter his plan a bit when he found Peter Thliveros on his spooning spot first thing in the morning (both had discovered it in practice, and luck of the boat draw determined who got to it first on the tournament days). Everything worked out nicely, though, as he proceeded directly to his big-fish area and almost immediately caught three that ended up going to the scales.

He left his primary area at about 10:30 and didn't know whether it had enough fish left for him to close out the win on the final day. The channel was so steep and narrow that he couldn't see the fish on his Humminbird 1197 Side Imaging sonar unit.

Day 3, which brought clouds and temperatures in the high 50s, got off to a slow start for him. He went fishless at his first two stops, and then finally caught a 3 1/2-pounder at about 9:30. He hit a couple more places that paid no dividends, but caught two on back-to-back casts at his next stop.

He picked up a 3-pounder off a ditch near Portman Shoals Marina early in the afternoon, and then went awhile before finishing off his limit with a small keeper. He didn't get another bite the rest of the day.

His confidence wasn't soaring as he headed back to the launch. "I figured I had only an outside chance of winning the Bassmaster Classic," he said.

His 13 1/2-pound bag, however, was bigger than any of the rest of the Top 6 from day 2 could manage, and his victory margin was greater than the weight of his best fish.

Pattern Notes

Jones focused primarily on creek-channel trees in 28 to 35 feet of water.

"I wanted to be fishing as shallow as I could, but still be fishing in the deep timber," he said. "From zero to 35 feet was a moonscape, and then there'd be a big, flooded forest. That's where I spent most of my time.

"I had little drains that were full of timber and I'd move to the shallowest edge, and then go even a little bit shallower and maybe find one or two extra trees, and there'd usually be fish there.

"I had to be fishing in the bottom of the ditches and I had to bring the bait right down the middle of the channel," he continued. "When I'd feel it come across a piece of wood, I'd get ready, because that's when the strikes occurred."

He said that stealth was important, and part of that was making casts that were as long as possible.

"The way I looked at it was the farther I could put my jig from the boat, the better the chance that a bass would bite it."

He ended up culling the vast majority of the spoon-caught fish in favor of jig-eaters.

Winning Gear Notes

> Jig gear: 7' medium-heavy Kistler Magnesium TS rod, Ardent XS1000 casting reel, 14-pound Silver Thread fluorocarbon line, 3/4-ounce Booyah Pigskin or 1/2-ounce Booyah AJ's Go2 jig (various colors, but primarily Ozark Craw, which features a mix of brown and purple strands), 3 1/2" Yum Chunk trailer (black/blue flake).

> Spoon gear: 6'6" medium-heavy Kistler Magnesium TS rod, same reel, 17-pound Silver Thread fluorocarbon, 3/4-ounce unnamed spoon (white/chartreuse/blue).

> He felt that jig color was unimportant for the most part, but the black/blue flake trailer made a difference.

> About line-weight selection, he said: "I used 17-pound with the spoon because fish that deep don't get line-shy and I wanted to be able to winch them up and into the boat as fast as possible. With the jigs, I couldn't get enough bites with 17, and I could've gotten more bites with 12 than 14, but I would've had trouble getting the fish out of the trees."

The Bottom Line

> Main factor in his success – "Outside of the equipment and baits, it was just sticking to my gameplan and understanding how the fish were positioned. Figuring out that they were at the very bottom of the ditches was really the key."

> Performance edge – If I had to pick one, it would be the Side Imaging unit. It allowed me to find enough places that had enough fish to allow me to win this tournament."

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