Beaver Patterns 2–5
All Power For Rest Of Top 5

Photo: FLW Outdoors/Brett Carlson George Cochran used a Strike King spinnerbait of his own design, but tweaked it in two ways.

BassFans who followed the recent Wal-Mart Open at Beaver Lake in Arkansas know that conditions were radically different from the typical Beaver scenario. Flood-stage water levels inundated the banks, and 90% of the lake was orange mud.

While that hurt most of the field, the few who plowed the mud scored big-time. Texan Mark Pack scored the biggest. He fished flooded parking lots and riprap en route to his first-ever tour-level win.

The rest of the Top 5 also fished the mud. What follows is an analysis of how they caught their fish.

2nd: George Cochran

> Day 1: 5, 10-13
> Day 2: 5, 11-07 (10, 22-04)
> Day 3: 5, 8-00
> Day 4: 5, 10-03 (10, 18-03)

George Cochran felt right at home last week. Not only was he fishing his home state, but he was able to fish the mud – conditions he's thrived in for most of his career.

His pattern was quite a bit different from Pack's in that he fished docks almost exclusively.

"I started out fishing shallow docks with a spinnerbait, and as the week went on, the water kept falling a little bit and I ended up fishing mostly main-lake docks," Cochran noted. "When they started pulling current (again) on the final day, it seemed like I could only catch one on main-lake docks with current.

"Ninety percent of the fish I caught were Kentuckies (spotted bass)," he added. "I did weigh one smallmouth (on day 4)."

The docks on Beaver are of the floating variety, and he said absolutely precise casts were critical.

He threw the same spinnerbait all 4 days. It's called a Little Mr. Money. It's designed by Cochran, produced by Strike King, and sold exclusively through Wal-Mart.

About the spinnerbait, he noted: "It allowed me to catch fish behind people. I'd see somebody fishing docks, and I'd pull in behind them and catch them."

> Spinnerbait gear: 7' medium-action Team Daiwa cranking rod, Daiwa Millionaire casting reel (left-handed), 15-pound P-Line CXX line, 3/16-ounce Strike King Little Mr. Money spinnerbait.

> He altered the bait by adding a new emerald-shad Strike King skirt, and swapping out the stock rear blade for a gold No. 4 Indiana to slow it down in the muddy water.

> Although he was dropped from Team Daiwa earlier this year, he still has "lots of the stuff" left. Additionally, after BassFan published a story about Team Daiwa dropping Cochran, Denny Brauer and Jay Yelas, Daiwa called Cochran and told him he could continue to have all the free gear he needed, Cochran said.

> Main factor in his success – "Making perfect casts in the shade of those docks – pitching back in the real tight places where most people wouldn't throw it."

> Performance edge – "It was the spinnerbait I was throwing. It resembled the shad they were feeding on. I had co-anglers throwing (different) spinnerbaits, and they never caught one."

Photo: FLW Outdoors/Brett Carlson Local stud Greg Bohannan's pattern closely mirrored Mark Pack's, but he fished more downlake – nearer to the clear water.

> Day 1: 5, 13-12
> Day 2: 5, 8-12 (10, 22-08)
> Day 3: 5, 7-06
> Day 4: 5, 10-08 (10, 17-14)

Local Beaver expert Greg Bohannan's pattern was nearly identical to Pack's, with a few key differences. One, whereas Pack cranked with a Lucky Craft R.C. 2.5, Bohannan cranked with a Berkley Frenzy Flicker Shad, which is best known as a walleye bait (and he did hook a few walleyes with it too). Also, Pack fished the muddiest water he could find, while Bohannan branched out and fished some stuff where the mud began to transition into cleaner water.

"I was fishing long pea-gravel points and shallow gravel points," Bohannan noted. "The water was anywhere from 2 to 7 feet, and I was trying to target roadbeds, which were gravel areas, in the lower end of the lake – just before the water changed color back to clear.

"It was a new area – I'd never fished there. The water had never been muddy that far down, so I tried to explore new areas and locate some stuff people wouldn't find."

Along with the Flicker Shad, he also cranked with a Norman Deep Little N and threw a War Eagle football-head jig tipped with a Berkley Chigger craw.

"I was swimming the jig real fast across those shallow flats," he noted. "The key was that Chigger craw – the tails move real quick and entice them to bite."

Overall, he considered the jig to be his "main" presentation.

> Jig gear: 7' medium-heavy Fenwick Techna AV rod, Abu Garcia Revo SX casting reel, 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon 1/2-ounce War Eagle football-head jig, (green-pumpkin/orange), Berkley PowerBait Chigger craw trailer (green-pumpkin).

> His Flicker Shad and Little N were both red-craw in color.

> Main factor in his success – "This was one of those examples where local knowledge on the lake was huge. Also, running and gunning (was critical). I think it was a timing thing, and you had to hit some areas at certain key times of the day."

> Performance edge – "I'd say it was two things. One was Humminbird SideImaging for finding the spots. I knew where a lot of the places were, but in places where I had to get real specific, or for places I wasn't real sure about, they were really easy to target with SideImaging. Two was that there's so much action on the Chigger craw, it was really agitating those fish."

Photo: FLW Outdoors/Brett Carlson Mike Hawkes worked the extensive field of wood debris created by the flood-stage waters.

> Day 1: 5, 11-10
> Day 2: 5, 11-02 (10, 22-12)
> Day 3: 5, 9-05
> Day 4: 5, 8-05 (10, 17-10)

Texas pro Mike Hawkes, who led day 3, had a somewhat looser pattern compared to Pack, Cochran and Bohannan. Sure, he fished muddy water, but he fished floating debris wherever he could find it, and covered a ton of water.

"Basically, my pattern was to throw a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver and Oldham's jig at everything that wasn't tied down and cover a lot of water," Hawkes said. "I tried to get back into the places where other people hadn't bothered to go.

"I was fishing a lot of the wood in the backs of pockets. Dan Morehead (8th place) was basically doing the same thing, and so were a lot of other people."

The key to his bite, Hawkes added, was the spawn. Some of his fish were spawning, some were guarding fry. The fry-guarders were more geared toward the top of the water column. "That's why swimming the jig was such a big deal. Once I figured out that the fish were in the top of the water column, I could catch fish everywhere I went. They were definitely suspended."

One presentation that was effective was to throw the Beaver over a log, let it down just a touch, shake it a little bit, and often a bass "would come get it." Another was to swim the jig or Beaver through the heavy debris and dead weeds.

> Beaver gear: 6'10" medium-heavy All Star jerkbait rod (parabolic bend), Pflueger President casting reel, 30-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon, 5/0 Reaction Innovations BMF hook, Reaction Innovations BMF Barb (baitkeeper), 1/4-ounce weight, Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver (big Texan).

> He switched from his typical heavy-action rod to the medium-heavy with a parabolic bend because the fish were so high in the water column. With the heavy-action rod, he was literally jerking them over the boat. Once he switched, he stopped losing fish.

> The Barb is a shrink-wrap bait-keeper that attaches below the eye of the hook and helps keep the plastic buttoned up. That was key in the heavy debris, he said.

> He was the inspiration for the color name big Texan.

> His jig was a 3/8-ounce Oldham's Screw-Lock (black/blue) tipped with a Zoom Super Chunk of the same color. He threw it on the same rod and reel combination, but used a Pflueger Summit reel with a higher (7.3:1) gear ratio.

> Main factor in his success – "The fact that Beaver Lake was not normal. It usually punishes me – the spinning rod, light line and little worms. I can do all that, but I feel like I'm taking myself out of the chance to win when I do that. With the lake being high and muddy, that really played into my hands. It took a lot of the options away that I didn't need to mess with in practice. It gave me the confidence to stay shallow, cover a lot of water and fish hard."

> Performance edge – "The BMF hook and Barb – for hookups, and not having to worry about the Beaver falling down. That shrink-wrap Barb keeps it straight on the hook and pitching was easy with that deal."

Photo: FLW Outdoors/Rob Newell Matt Arey's pattern was identical to winner Pack's – in fact, the two shared some water.

> Day 1: 5, 12-01
> Day 2: 5, 12-13 (10, 24-14)
> Day 3: 5, 8-09
> Day 4: 5, 8-03 (10, 16-12)

North Carolina pro Matt Arey fished the same pattern as Pack – in fact, the two shared some water – but Arey diverged on day 4 and ran up the river to gamble on a big flipping bite. He caught a few shorts and hung a 3 1/2-pouder, which came off.

"The place where (Pack) caught that big one – that was an area we were sharing," Arey said. "I didn't realize he was fishing it until the first day of the Top 10. We were fishing the same type of deal (shallow, gravel flats and riprap). I had probably eight to 10 areas that I was milking throughout the day."

On day 4, he'd boxed a limit by 9:00, after which he made his river run. About that decision, he said: "I took a risk. I ran way upriver. I knew what it would take, and I had more confidence, as far as one big bite, by going up that river with a big stick in my hand."

While on the flats, he swam a ChatterBait and cranked a Bandit. When he went up the river, he flipped a Gambler Little Otter and swam a Gambler Flappin' Daddy.

> ChatterBait gear: 6'8" medium-heavy All-Star and 6'10" Shimano Curado rods, 15- and 17-pound P-Line fluorocarbon, 5/8- and 3/4-ounce ChatterBaits (white), homemade craw trailer (white).

> Bandit gear: 7' G. Loomis CBR crankbait rod, Shimano Curado casting reel, 10-pound Stren Magnaflex line, Bandit 100 and 200 crankbaits (chartreuse/blue-back and chartreuse/black-back, both with orange bellies).

> Main factor in his success – "Really, I'd say the bait(fish). I was fishing people's front yards, or flat, grassy points where a park had flooded. The areas had different sizes and types of bait. I think the bait was feeding off the different things on that submerged grass. The bait was there, and every place I fished, the bait was there all the time. The wind made the fish more active, but the bait being there was the key."

> Performance edge – "It was probably the P-Line fluorocarbon. People I see fishing still haven't figured the ChatterBait out yet. A lot of times the fish come from behind and you don't feel anything. With that fluorocarbon, you can feel that, plus it's real easy to lean into them on the hookset. When that blade stops thumping, sometimes it's not a fish, but 75% of the time it is. I'd say that line helped me more than anything."