Various Reaction Baits Enticed The Big Ones

By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

The Lake Guntersville Bassmaster Elite Series took place just as the peak period of the annual spawning ritual at the famed Alabama fishery was getting under way. Sight-fishing was no easy proposition, however, as rising, off-colored water, heavy pollen and gray skies made bed-viewing conditions less than ideal.

A lot of competitors went looking, anyway, and some bruisers were pulled from the beds – particularly on sunny day 1. Of the Top 5 finishers, however, only runner-up Byron Velvick made sight-fishing a substantial part of his program.

Reaction baits – often fished as slowly as possible while still retaining their action – were much more prevalent for the anglers who were awarded the biggest paychecks.

2nd: Byron Velvick

> Day 1: 5, 18-13
> Day 2: 5, 26-06
> Day 3: 5, 18-07
> Day 4: 5, 24-07
> Total = 20, 88-01

Byron Velvick, who's suffered all sorts of nerve-related physical pain since making back-to-back Bassmaster Classics in 2009-10 and winning at Caliornia's Clear Lake during that latter campaign, found the conditions at Guntersville perfectly suited for him. He's a sight-fishing ace and a master at throwing large swimbaits, and both techniques were in play last week.

He alternated solid bags with spectacular hauls and moved up six places on the final day with a stringer that was bested only by winner Skeet Reese. He looked quite a bit on days 1 and 2, but threw big rubber exclusively over the weekend when the higher water killed his viewing action.

He used a 7-inch Basstrix model (which Reese also employed at Velvick's suggestion) and also a prototype Livingston Lures swimbait that was slightly larger. He threw them as far as he could the majority of the time across big spawning flats in North Sauty Creek, often looking around for beds as he was reeling.

"Everybody has big swimbaits now, but there's probably only five or six guys (on the circuit) who really throw them right," he said. "Here they needed to be the size of the big gizzard shad, and you wanted the real ones to actually try to mate with your bait. They beat on each other like carp do and this was a minor version of that.

"If you could feel it getting thumped or ticked, almost like a worm bite, you knew there was a lot of bait in the area and you were on the right track."

> Swimbait gear: 7'11" heavy-action Duckett Fishing Byron Velvick Signature Series rod, Duckett Fishing casting reel (6.3:1 or 5.4:1 gear ratio), 25-pound Vicious fluorocarbon line, 8/0 or 10/0 Owner Beast heavy-cover hook, or 11/0 Basstrix Paddletail Swimbait Hook, 7" Basstrix Paddletail (ayu) or 8" prototype Livingston Lures (dark hitch) swimbait.

> He said that unlike many baits of that size, the new Livingston always runs upright. "The other ones, about 50 percent of them come out right and the other 50 percent are wrong because of the inconsistencies (in the manufacturing process). They do what I call 'halibuting' (turning over on their side) and there's no way to tune them."

> Sight-fishing gear: 7'1" medium-heavy Duckett Fishing Byron Velvick Signature Series rod, same reel (7:1 ratio), 15-pound Vicious fluorocarbon, 1/2-ounce round dropshot weight (on 5" leader), 4/0 Owner TwistLock hook, 4" Tightlines UV-Hog (watermelon red).

> He used the whiskered version of the UV-Hog. "When it hit the water those whiskers would flare out and the fish were losing their minds over it."

Main factor in his success – "Coming here knowing I was going to sight-fish and throw swimbaits, and that's it. I was literally not caring if Ish (Monroe) told me he was catching them on a frog or if (John) Murray said they were biting a Chatterbait. I wouldn't even go look or one."

Performance edge – "My Vicious sunglasses. I honestly believe I was seeing more fish deeper than most guys were."

3rd: Derek Remitz

> Day 1: 5, 19-11
> Day 2 5, 24-00
> Day 3: 5, 20-13
> Day 4: 5, 20-13
> Total = 20, 85-05

Derek Remitz was born and raised in the upper Midwest, but he's lived in Alabama or the better part of the past decade and has fished Guntersville extensively during that time. He came into the event looking for multiple setups and developed a relatively shallow offshore pattern and one that was focused on grass.

His offshore action came from a shell bar in 7 to 8 feet of water that he says holds fish throughout the year. He caught those fish on swimbaits.

His grass pattern called or a Chatterbait, which is an offering he doesn't have a great deal of experience with.

"One thing I guess I can say is I'm kind of proud of myself for that," he said. "I knew a Chatterbait was going to be a big player and that's something I don't do a lot of, but I made myself do it (during practice) just to get some confidence that I could catch some fish on it.

"There's something about it that's great for the grass – it aggravates the fish that are still in there and makes them bite it. I'd been hearing about it for quite awhile now and it was something I knew I had to do."

He said most of the shallow fish he caught were actively bedding, but weren't visible to him. If he missed one on the Chatterbait, he could sometimes follow up with a Senko and catch it.

A late flurry on the final day that produced three 5-pounders was achieved with a medium-diving crankbait.

> Bladed-jig gear: 7' medium-heavy St. Croix Legend Tournament Series rod, unnamed casting reel (7.2:1 ratio), 16- or 20-pound Sunline Reaction FC fluorocarbon line, 3/8- or 1/2-ounce Z-Man Chatterbait (baby bass), Reaction Innovations Little Dipper trailer (bad shad green).

> Swimbait gear: 7'4" heavy-action St. Croix Avid X rod, unnamed casting reel (5.5:1 ratio), 20-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon, 6" Original Optimum swimbait (glimmer shad).

> He also threw an unnamed hollow-belly swimbait on a 3/4-ounce swing-head jig he helped design for that purpose. "It puts the hook farther back and gives the swimbait more action," he said.

> Cranking gear: 6'10" medium-action St. Croix Mojo Cranking rod, unnamed casting reel (7.2:1 ratio), 12-pound Sunline FC Sniper, unnamed medium-diving crankbait (green gizzard shad).

Main factor in his success – "Just knowing the lake well enough from living here that I wasn't going to be able to do just one certain thing. I needed to have as many things going on as possible."

Performance edge – "I can't be 100-percent sure, but when I got that school fired up (at the end of day 4), I think my HydroWave kept them fired up. That and my Triton/Mercury – I was burning up 40 gallons every day and it never let me down."

4th: David Walker

> Day 1: 5, 23-01
> Day 2: 5, 25-05
> Day 3: 5, 18-14
> Day 4: 5, 17-04
> Total = 20, 84-08

David Walker came into the event determined to avoid sight-fishing.

"For the most part, I caught fish that were on beds, but they were fish I couldn't see," he said. "They were on shallower humps and bars out in the bays and in the creeks.

"I felt like the smartest thing I could do would be to go to an area that I felt historically good about and that often produces a lot of fish, and just stick with it," he said. "Instead of finding a secret spot or a secret lure, I wanted to fish an area I know, but fish it better. I didn't want to drive myself crazy trying to find a place that nobody else would find because I probably couldn't have found it, anyway."

He ended up in North Sauty Creek along with Velvick, Remitz and 5th-place finisher Keith Combs. He caught most of his fish on a Chatterbait.

"In areas where I was getting a few bites and felt confident, I'd set the Power-Poles down and pick them apart with a Texas-rigged lizard or a Z-Man ZinkerZ."

> Bladed-jig gear: 7'1" G. Loomis GLX Jig and Worm rod (3 power), Shimano Chronarch casting reel (7:1 ratio), 20-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon, 1/2-ounce Z-Man Chatterbait (bold bream), 4" Z-Man DieZel MinnowZ trailer (bad shad green).

> He used a black Sharpie pen to darken the blade of the Chatterbait. "I was more interested in getting the fish to think of it as a bluegill nest-raider rather than something to eat. I wanted them to be defensive toward it."

> Texas-rig gear: 7'5" G. Loomis GLX Jig and Worm rod (4 power), Shimano Metanium casting reel (8:1 ratio), 16-pound Sunline FC Sniper fluorocarbon, 3/16-ounce Reins Tungsten weight, 4/0 Laser TroKar round-bend hook, unnamed lizard (green-pumpkin) or Z-Man ZinkerZ ('Bama bug).

Main factor in his success – "My stubbornness – it allowed me to stay where I was and fish slower. I had to be patient, which is something I'm not usually real fond of. Sometimes that can be the worst thing you do and other times it can be the best."

Performance edge – "I'd say the Power-Poles – they were a big factor. On 2 of the 4 days we had crazy wind and I'd put the Poles down out on those humps – I was only in 3 to 5 feet of water – and pin myself and just pick it apart."

5th: Keith Combs

> Day 1: 5, 23-00
> Day 2: 5, 20-06
> Day 3: 5, 19-09
> Day 4: 5, 20-07
> Total = 20, 83-06

Keith Combs is always a guy to watch out for in events in which 20-pound-plus bags are commonplace. Surprisingly, he never caught a fish at Guntersville that reached the 6-pound mark.

He employed different tactics each day as the action he'd found the previous day never carried over. His offerings included two different crankbaits, a swimbait and a bladed jig and he pulled fish from just under the surface to 15 feet deep.

He spent most of days 1 and 4 on shell beds, while the bulk of days 2 and 3 were centered around grass.

"It's pretty rare when you have a good finish catching them on four different patterns," he said. "One good thing was that it was a clean tournament – I never lost anything the whole time."

> Cranking gear: 7' medium-action Power Tackle Keith Combs Signature Series fiberglass rod, Shimano Curado casting reel (6.3:1 ratio), 15-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, Strike King 6XD or Strike King 8.0 (Tennessee shad).

> Bladed jig gear: 7' medium-heavy Power Tackle composite rod, same reel, 20-pound Seaguar InvizX. 1/2-ounce Strike King Pure Poison bladed jig, 4" Strike King Caffeine Shad trailer (green-pumpkin).

> Swimbait gear:7'6" medium-heavy Power Tackle PG 104 rod, same reel, 20-pound Seaguar InvizX, 1-ounce Buckeye Lures jighead, Strike King Shadalicious (blue herring).

Main factor in his success – "I think I did a good job of when something wasn't working anymore, I tried something else. Then I ran with that pattern until I couldn't catch them anymore and went on to something different."

Performance edge – The (Humminbird) LakeMaster chip for the Tennessee River is perfect. I could look at the areas where I caught them that day and then mark eight or 10 other areas that looked real similar. It really breaks things down quickly."

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