Wolak Followed Fish-Shift From Grass To Rock

Lately, Mark Rose and Kevin VanDam could be considered kings of the Tennessee River. Skeet Reese is widely regarded as the dominant pro out West. And last weekend, Dave Wolak all but planted his flag to claim lordship over Champlain.

The Pennsylvanian relocated to North Carolina several years ago, but loves

getting back his former haunts like Champlain, Oneida and New York's Finger Lakes.

He won last year's Champlain Bassmaster Northern Open, last week's Champlain FLW Tour Open and claims eight other Top 10s between that venue and Oneida over roughly the past half-decade. Wolak's simply a monster on natural, northern grass-and-rock lakes.

There were plenty of patterns working at last week's Champlain Tour Open. Some pros ran to Ticonderoga, some flipped wood, some worked milfoil, some swam a jig, some skipped docks, some dropshotted smallmouths on humps. And the field fished through a massive cold front that delivered wind and the first real taste of fall.

Through it all, Wolak picked up on subtleties others missed and made a key change after the front passed through. He switched from soft targets to hard targets as the water temp plummeted and that was the key to catching kicker largemouths.

Wolak smoked runner-up Gary Yamamoto by 6-plus pounds.

What follows is a deeper analysis of his pattern.

Practice

Wolak already knew Champlain up and down, so he'd all but ruled out Ticonderoga before he arrived. He doesn't like to fish Ti this time of year, and stopped by for a visual check to affirm his choice. The water at Ti was fairly muddy, the milfoil wasn't right and he was out of there.

"Champlain's all about how many outs you have," Wolak noted. "If the wind blows in from a certain direction at 100 mph, I know I can do this thing. I know I can entirely change species. Those are outs you have in the north end. Down at Ti, with that long run, you don't have a lot of outs."

He had a little taste of the bite before the cutoff while filming an episode of Zona's Awesome Fishing Show. He learned then that, because of the high-water conditions, blown-in mats lined several banks and he could get flip-bites underneath them, as well as in the reeds.

He checked that mat bite again in practice, and also looked for areas that were clean – meaning, completely devoid of grass.

Along with all that, he had his historical knowledge of humps and areas that traditionally drew and held fish this time of year.

Competition

> Day 1: 5, 22-08
> Day 2: 5, 19-04
> Day 2: 5, 19-13
> Day 4: 5, 19-07
> Total = 20, 81-00

Wolak's 4 days of competition, over which he averaged 4 pounds per fish, were a study in versatility – not only for Wolak, but for the Champlain fishery itself. It's one of those rare lakes that produces equal-size largemouths and smallmouths, and the two species often cohabitate.

Day 1
Day 1 was the first day of the cold front. Daytime highs plummeted into the 50s, a stiff west wind rocked the lake and a miserable rain pummeled the competitors each day.

Wolak started the day on smallmouths, boxed 13 to 14 pounds, then went to the blown-in mats and reeds and swam a jig and flipped a Jackall Sasuteki craw.

Day 2
Day 2 delivered post-frontal conditions with sun, cold and a big 20 to 25 mph northwest wind. The surface temps took a major dip and a lot of the field struggled.

"In practice I anticipated a change with the cold weather coming, and that was the way this tournament played out," Wolak said. "I knew the Florida guys and Mississippi guys who really hunkered down in the grass would have a great day 1, but post-front, those fish disappear. They have too much cover and they bury themselves down in that stuff."

He started the day on smallmouths again, caught them pretty well, then began to hunt rock in areas where he'd be protected from the wind. When he caught a 4-pound jig-fish on rock, he knew a lot of the grass fish had moved to rock, seeking the heat to counter the rapid temperature drop.

"That 4-pounder really settled me into that cold-front rock pattern. I ran around and did that and ended up with 19 pounds. And that one bite kind of led me into the next 2 days too."

Day 3
This third day was still cold and sunny, but the wind was calm. Wolak adjusted again and slowed down.

"I'm not saying I like to fish slow, but I know how to do it," he said. "I've fished so many cold-weather tournaments up north that I know how to pick apart rock – the gaps and crevices – and I know how they replenish. I had about five areas that I could rotate through and one of the keys was a nearby grassbed, because I knew a lot of the fish gravitate from the grass to the rock when it gets cold. And the smallmouths and largemouths mix up there. If you had rock near grass, a little bit of current, a little water color change, some deep water nearby, there was bites to be had."

He ended the day with nearly 20 pounds and led by 2 1/2.

Day 4
Wolak started the final day on smallmouths again, then moved to his rock pattern. It was a lot like day 3 in terms of conditions. He did add one key fish, a 5-pound largemouth, that he caught off a dock with a Title Shot jig. Turns out he didn't need it, but he said it was still "icing on the cake."

"It was the best big-fish moment I've ever had on camera in my career. It was just something where, you have the feeling of a big fish living there and you need to fish it thoroughly. I just kind of knew a big fish was going to be in that marina. After I landed it in the net I just sat down, and it was like the defining moment of my career. It just took the words right out of my mouth."

Winning Pattern Notes

Wolak offered the following further insights about his winning pattern(s):

"When I was focusing on the jig – casting it to rock – I didn't want to be around clear water. When I fished the humps in the mornings with the dropshot, it was clear water. But for the jig, I didn't want ultra-clear water. The jig is good in mild stain and I was seeking a mild amount of color in a rocky area for the jig."

"The milfoil was getting choked out because the water was high – the sun couldn't penetrate to grow the milfoil – and it was about that point where the days start getting shorter. So if an area had milfoil, those fish were moving to rock – their wintering habitat."

"I typically want it to be dark rock, with crevices. The white rock is not that good. I've even found that down south. If you have two riprap banks – one white, the other dark – I always choose dark. It holds more heat. At this event, you had to find dark rock with crevices adjacent to a grassbed that held a substantial amount of fish. That way they replenish. So if you're fishing Guntersville in the fall, fish riprap next to the grassbed where you do the best in summer."

"Some rock was shallow, some was deep. I caught largemouths down to 20 feet."

"A big key was my setup. I think the general trend of using braid and fluorocarbon has been blown out of proportion. I was using 10-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon to cast my jigs, and I was using it on a special 7' medium-heavy spinning rod that Pinnacle built for me. It's actually more toward the heavy side and I use it for working jigs and tubes deep. We're working on making it available to the public."

Wolak's dropshot baits, which he used to get a 13- to 15-pound-class limit each morning, were from Jackall and included (from top) the new Super Cross Tail Shad, Super Pin Tail and Clone Fry.

Winning Gear Notes

> Dropshot gear: 7'2" medium-action Pinnacle Perfecta rod, Pinnacle Producer 40 spinning reel, 8-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon, size 2 Owner Mosquito hook, 1/2-ounce tungsten weight, Jackall Super Cross Tail Shad (bream), Jackall Super Pin Tail (perch) and Jackall Clone Fry (hologram silver).

> Casting jig gear: 7' medium-heavy custom Pinnacle Perfecta rod, Pinnacle Producer 40 spinning reel, 10-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper, 1/4- and 3/8-ounce Fin-tech Title Shot Shorty jigs (brown/black), Zoom Salty Chunk (brown).

> The Title Shot comes as just a jighead. Wolak used old-style flat rubber to make his own skirt, and he trimmed down the Chunk to make it less wide.

> Flipping gear: 7'6" medium-heavy Pinnacle Perfecta rod, Pinnacle Optima casting reel (7.3:1), 50-pound Sunline FX2 braid (green).

> His flipping baits were a Jackall Sasuteki craw in watermelon/red-flake and a Title Shot jig (green-pumpkin, 1/2- and 3/4-ounce). He used the craw in the grass and the jig around hard cover.

The Bottom Line

Main factor in his success – "My Ranger boat, Yamaha outboard and Minn Kota trolling motor. Just my whole boat setup in general. Champlain's about getting to your fish and getting back safely, and navigating around and having all your equipment work perfectly so you can adjust on the fly. I didn't have any problem all week. Everything worked great. If you can't make it back to weigh-in, all the other stuff doesn't matter."

Performance edge – "I mentioned the boat and motor, but I do think the sensitivity of my spinning rods was a big thing. The fish slowed down after that cold front and that's where that big Pinnacle spinning rod came in. I was able to detect a lot of bites other people wouldn't because I had the right setup."

Notable

> Wolak's fishing this week's Oneida Bassmaster Northern Open.

> The win pushed him over the $1 million mark in combined B.A.S.S. and FLW Outdoors winnings.

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