By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
Like so many tour-level events this year, the Lake Dardanelle Bassmaster Elite Series was derby that required competitors to make constant adjustments. Water conditions were never stable – the level was always either rising or falling, and its tint was either clearing or getting darker.
The fish changed accordingly, and anglers were forced to as well in order to keep their daily weight averages in the mid teens. Winner Steve Kennedy had a single productive area all to himself, but most others had to bounce around between different places that were being utilized by multiple entrants.
Following are some pattern details for the four anglers who finished immediately behind Kennedy.
2nd: Mark Davis
> Day 1: 5, 14-05
> Day 2: 5, 19-04
> Day 3: 5, 14-15
> Day 4: 5, 13-10
> Total = 20, 62-02
Mark Davis, who's right in the mix for his fourth career Angler of the Year (AOY) title at age 53, led after days 2 and 3 in pursuit of his first victory since 2005. He ran a specific daily program that had him catching shallow fish far up the Arkansas River in the mornings from a place similar to Kennedy's, then coming back down to fish offshore from mid-day on.
"I found both of those deals in practice," he said. "I had a half-dozen offshore places in one creek that had fish on them, and they seemed to bite better later in the day.
"My river spot was 45 miles (from the launch in Russellville, Ark.) and the creek was about 20 miles. Once I left the river, I didn't have time to run the 25 miles back up there later on. I just had to milk it the best I could, and then leave."
The key feature at his upriver locale was a ditch with a road bed running through it where the water was 1 to 3 feet deep. When fishing offshore, he focused on shell beds and stumps in the 3- to 5-foot depth range.
The water level rose dramatically overnight prior to day 4, which put a major damper on the offshore action. Davis caught his lightest bag of the event and others who'd been plying the depths (notably Jamie Hartman and Brandon Palaniuk) failed to weigh limits.
Topwater plugs were his most effective offerings in the shallows and he used a crankbait when fishing offshore.
> Topwater gear: 7' medium-heavy Lew's Custom Pro rod, Team Lew's Lite casting reel (6.81 ratio), 50-pound Seaguar Smackdown braided line, Strike King Sexy Dawg Jr. (bone).
> He also caught some shallow fish on a Strike King KVD Splash popper (sexy chrome). He threw it on the same rod and reel combo, but with 15-pound Seaguar monofilament.
> Cranking gear: 7' medium-action Lew's Custom Pro All-Purpose rod, same reel, 15-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, Strike King KVD 2.5 square-bill (pearl/splatterback).
Main factor in his success – "Formulating that game plan in practice. I thought it would work, and it almost won."
Performance edge – "My Yamaha outboard, without a doubt. That run I was making was pretty treacherous, with a lot of logs and other debris, and you can't keep from hitting stuff. It held up great."
Kevin VanDam weighed the biggest bags in the field on both the first and last days of the event.
3rd: Kevin VanDam
> Day 1: 5, 19-03
> Day 2: 5, 12-08
> Day 3: 5, 12-00
> Day 4: 5, 17-00
> Total = 20, 60-11
Kevin VanDam caught day-best bags on the first and final days, but mediocre sacks on the middle days prevented him from claiming his 24th B.A.S.S. victory. He employed so many different techniques throughout the week that he had difficulty remembering them all.
"It was one of those deals where the river levels changed so much day to day, it really kept me on my toes," he said. "I was really junking it up."
He caught his day-1 bag, which was just an ounce lighter than Davis' tournament-best haul on day 2, from relatively deep water on a jerkbait. That was a no-go on day 2, however, and he was forced to go to his secondary pattern of fishing shallow laydowns and grass on the muddy main-river channel.
"I had to adjust to what was in front of me every day. The last day was kind of like the first day, when I seemed to make all the right decisions."
His complete list of techniques included flipping, cranking, throwing a spinnerbait, a bladed jig, conventional jigs, topwaters, a grub, etc.
"If you had to try to list them all, it would go on forever."
> Jerkbait gear: 6'10" medium-heavy Quantum Tour KVD rod, Quantum Smoke 200 HD casting reel (6.6:1 ratio), 12-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS fluorocarbon line, Strike King KVD 300 jerkbait (sexy shad).
> He used Mustad UltraPoint KVD Elite Triple Grip treble hooks on the jerkbait.
> Flipping gear: 7'10" Quantum Tour KVD rod, same reel (7.3:1 ratio), 25-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS fluorocarbon, 3/8- or 1/2-ounce Strike King Tour Grade tungsten weight, 5/0 Mustad KVD Grip-Pin hook, Strike King Menace (various colors depending upon water clarity).
> He also flipped the Strike King Tour Grade Skipping Jig with a Menace trailer.
Main factor in his success – "Taking advantage of the shad spawn in the morning was a highlight. No matter where I was fishing, shad was the 100-percent focus. You could tell if an area was good or bad by whether it had shad activity."
Performance edge – "The HydroWave was a big plus for me. I'd run it on 'spawning bait' in the morning for the shad spawn and then switch to 'delayed schooling' in the afternoon."
Mark Menendez turned in his best Elite Series finish since winning at Dardanelle in 2009.
4th: Mark Menendez
> Day 1: 5, 12-05
> Day 2: 5, 15-02
> Day 3: 5, 15-05
> Day 4: 5, 14-13
> Total = 20, 57-09
Mark Menendez flipped and cranked his way to his best Elite Series finish since he won at Dardanelle in 2009.
"I was blending and mixing things," he said. "I practiced in the mud (along the main-river channel) because hardly anybody else was out there and I thought that if I could figure something out, I'd end up kind of near where I wanted to be. The problem was that I had limited real estate."
He also spent a lot of time in the back of the creek where the naturally flowing water was nearly 10 degrees cooler than on the river. That's where he utilized the flipping stick.
"I had 10 logs on a 2-mile stretch and I'd just go from one to the next to the next. A lot of times there'd be multiple fish on them and sometimes three or four, and it would reload – you could lay off it for an hour and a half and then come back and catch another good one.
On the afternoon of day 4, visits to two trees that he'd visited previously resulted in a pair of 3-pounders that moved him up several places in the standings.
"Once one fish revealed its position, it would be identical everywhere else. I just had to pay attention to how they were positioned and how they were eating the bait."
> Flipping gear: 7'6" Lew's Custom Pro rod, Team Lew's Pro Magnesium casting reel (7.5:1 ratio), 20-pound Seaguar AbrazX fluorocarbon line, 5/16-ounce Strike King Tour Grade tungsten weight, 5/0 round-bend Gamakatsu hook, Strike King Rage Craw (black/blue) or Strike King Game Hawg (black neon).
> Cranking gear: 7' medium-action Lew's David Fritts Perfect Crankbait rod, same reel (6.8:1 ratio), 17-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon, Strike King KVD 1.5 Cataouatche Special squarebill (custom color).
> His crankbaits were custom-painted by Mike Russell of Bag 5 Baits in Benton, Ky. The color is called "spaghetti."
Main factor in his success – "Learning something new every day about what was going on at the various water levels."
Performance edge – "I'd say my Garmin electronics. A lot of the banks I fished were fairly vertical, but the fish were positioned on the flat places. I had the 0- to 5-foot zone marked in red, and every time I saw red I could pull into a piece of cover and there was a good chance I was going to get a bite."
Dean Rojas used a frog to catch each of the 20 fish he took to the scale.
5th: Dean Rojas
> Day 1: 5, 16-12
> Day 2: 5, 14-01
> Day 3: 5, 15-00
> Day 4: 5, 10-10
> Total = 20, 56-07
Dean Rojas focused on a 15-mile stretch that started at the Arkansas Nuclear One power plant and ran upriver.
"It was a lot of stretches and banks that I've fished over the years," he said. "It was a milk run more than anything. Every day it was the same thing – I'd alternate between eight or nine places."
A SPRO Bronzeye Frog accounted for all 20 of the fish he took to the scale.
"I caught them off tules, water willows, laydowns and stuff like that. I fished anything in the water that had the right depth (1 to 4 1/2 feet) and some current."
"I was letting the fish tell me what they wanted every day. Like (on day 4), they were right in the middle of the water willows, but when the water was lower they'd be on the outside."
He did some flipping with the Fighting Frog he designed for Big Bite Baits, but lost the two best bites he got on it.
> Frog gear: 7' heavy-action Duckett Fishing Terex Dean Rojas Signature Series casting rod, Duckett Fishing 360 R casting reel (7:1 ratio), 80-pound Sunline FX2 braided line, Spro Bronzeye Frog 65 (midnight walker).
Main factor in his success – "Just keeping an open mind with all of the changing conditions."
Performance edge – There were a multitude of things that helped me – my boat, my engine, my trolling motor. The Navionics mapping on the Lowrance was good. The trolling motor was huge for fighting that current."
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