Last weekend's Norman FLW Tour certainly didn't do much to dispel the FLW Tour's image as the "Shakey-Head Tour." But it did prove more traditional presentations can win.

In fact, the top two finishers used more of a power presentation, which in the end, overcame both the sight-fishing bite and the shakey technique.



Sure, 21-year-old winner Stetson Blaylock threw the finesse worm some, but the majority of his fish bit a homemade jig that he skipped under docks.

Runner up Andy Morgan flipped and threw a swimbait.

Below are the details on how Blaylock won the Norman FLW Tour and became the youngest champion in FLW Tour history.

Pattern information for Morgan and the rest of the Top 5 will be published soon.

Practice

This was the third consecutive year that the FLW Tour stopped at Lake Norman in late April. Blaylock's a rookie, but he fished both previous Norman iterations as a co-angler.

This time around, the fish were in various stages of the spawn, but the timing was decidedly earlier than last year, and several fish had yet to move up. That could have been due to a bout of cold weather and strong winds during practice.

As competition neared, however, the weather stabilized and promised to deliver sunny skies, hot temperatures and insignificant winds.

Overall, Blaylock said his practice was nearly useless.

"It was kind of interesting though," he said. "The first day I put in and all I did was flip the jig, and I threw it on beds too. I ended up catching about 12 pounds and thought, 'Well, that's good – that's a good start.'

"The next 3 days were just horrible. There were no fish on beds to speak of. I could catch fish on the jig, but it was one here, one there – not a limit worth of bites. But I knew a guy who could cover water and throw a jig – if he gets five bites a day, it's enough to win the tournament.

"So my practice didn't do much good, except that I marked a couple fish on beds that turned out to be there. Still, for the most part it wasn't very good."

He also resisted the dock talk that said Norman's all about the finesse worm. "Everybody told me they quit biting a jig (here) when the spawn happens – I didn't believe (them)," he said.

Competition

> Day 1: 5, 10-15
> Day 2: 5, 13-08 (10, 24-07)
> Day 3: 5, 11-02
> Day 4: 5, 12-13 (10, 23-15)

Here's the breakdown of how Blaylock caught his fish each day.

On day 1 he weighed four dock-fish and one sight-fish.

On day 2 he weighed three dock-fish and two sight-fish. One dock-fish was a 4-pound spotted bass.

On day 3 he again weighed a mix of dock- and sight-fish. He couldn't remember if he weighed two or three sight-fish, though.

On day 4 he weighed one dock-fish and four sight-fish.

So clearly, the bed-fishing became stronger. He wasn't particularly focused on sight-fishing, though. Instead, he looked for fish as he skipped the docks and if he saw one worth fishing for, he'd spend time on it.

As noted, he mixed in a finesse worm, which they preferred the final day.

Winning Pattern Notes

"I fished more on instinct than on knowledge," Blaylock said. "The lake's so huge, that what you did 2 years ago as a co-angler doesn't help. I just went out and looked.

"I started fishing good-looking docks, and came to find out the better docks were the ones that were real flat – play docks, really. And right where the dock ended and the boats were tied up, they had dredged-out spots. The fish, I guess, moved up out of those holes and got shallow on the dock in a foot to a foot and a half of water."

He said he'd cast as hard as he could to get the jig to skip up all the way under the dock.

"The good thing was, I could run those docks real fast and skip them, but I could also stay close to the bank and look for sight-fish. I caught a couple fish in the tournament that were sight-fish that weren't on beds – they were just sitting there. If they were facing the bank you could catch almost every one of them – as long as they didn't see you."

Winning Gear Notes

He primarily used a jig for both skipping and sight-fishing.

> Jig gear: 7' medium-action Abu Garcia Vendetta rod, Abu Garcia Revo premier casting reel, 12-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, 5/16-ounce homemade finesse jig (Texas-craw), 3" Berkley Power Chigger craw (green-pumpkin).

> The worm he threw the last day was a Berkley Power Slim Shaky worm, which he fished on a shakey-head.

The Bottom Line

  • Main factor in his success – "Just covering a lot of water and pulling into the right pockets. A lot of these guys went sight-fishing and a lot of them didn't find them (on day 4). I went into three pockets and there were good ones in all three pockets. It just so happens I picked the right pockets at the right time and was able to catch those fish."

  • Performance edge – "Probably that Revo premier. It allowed me to skip that jig right where I needed it to be. It's real lightweight, and I turn all the brakes off and let it go. It'll skip a mile."

    Notable

    > Blaylock fished as a co-angler with his hero Larry Nixon a few years ago. He said he was honored because Nixon called him the night of his win to congratulate him.