Colson Stuck With Worm, Others Mixed It Up

By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor

Following several weeks of kiln-level heat around Lake Ouachita, the conditions for last week’s Forrest Wood Cup offered up some variety for the 50-boat field.

The oppressive summer heat that Arkansas is known for gave way to cooler, less humid days with a mix of sun and clouds, including a couple doozy thunderstorms. In turn, the methods the anglers employed to fill their livewells were a little scattered as well.

Water temperatures in some parts of the lake dropped 10-plus degrees between pre-practice and the start of the tournament and the bream bed pattern that virtually everyone banked on playing at least some role during the event never materialized, likely due to the falling water. As a result, prop baits, which Ouachita made famous during the 2007 Cup and the 2011 FLW Tour Open there, were kept stowed most of the week.

Other topwater lures, mainly walking baits, buzzbaits and toads, were a big part of many anglers’ success as they tried to capitalize on schooling activity on the surface. Brush piles and wood were also pivotal components for those not willing to wait out wolf packs or luck into a school of hungry bass.

The place to be at Ouachita last week was clearly Big Blakely Creek. Three of the Top-10 finishers, including winner Brad Knight, spent significant chunks of time in there as it became apparent that a healthy population of bass called that water home.

Here’s a recap of how the rest of the Top 5 had success at Ouachita.

2nd: Ramie Colson, Jr.

> Day 1: 5, 13-03
> Day 2: 5, 17-14
> Day 3: 4, 6-08
> Day 4: 4, 10-04
> Total = 18, 47-13

While most of his competitors were tearing all around the lake, into and out of pockets and around rocky points looking for schooling fish or shallow wolf packs, Ramie Colson, Jr. decided to look for something that would be in his wheelhouse.

He found it around Crystal Springs, uncovering brush piles in three creek arms where he could slowly pull a big worm.

“It was the one creek where I got two or three bites out of in practice,” he said. “I tried other places. I tried the grass and tried the trees, but couldn’t put anything together. I went to where I felt comfortable.”

The brush he fished was in the 10- to 18-foot range and he was able to get dialed in on the exact casts he needed to make, thanks to the Garmin Panoptix forward-shooting sonar.

“I fished deeper in 20 to 25 feet, but only caught little ones,” he said.

Colson had the most success on days when the sun was out. The fish would get tighter to the brush and he could almost call his shot, especially near brush that was in deeper water. When the clouds rolled in, the fish scattered out away from the cover and he’d have to make several most casts across the area to get a bite. He said he fished between 15 and 20 piles in a day’s time.

“It took me a long time to fish them all,” he said. “They were all pretty similar. I got on a pattern and went with it. My key was just seeing the pile. I didn’t want to get specific with it. I wanted to see where I could make that cast.”

The cloudy and rainy conditions on days 3 and 4 hampered his effectiveness and it led to his two lightest bags of the event.

“The only thing that got me was the weather,” he said. “I stuck with my plan and what I was going to do and where I would do it. I wouldn’t change anything.”

> Worm gear: 7’1” heavy-action G. Loomis IMX 854 casting rod, Shimano Chronarch Ci4+ casting reel (7.6:1 gear ratio), 14-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon line, 5/16-oz. Reins Tungsten worm weight, 5/0 Owner Z-Neck worm hook, Zoom Ol’ Monster worm (blue fleck and plum apple).

> Main factor in his success – “Being able to fish the way I like to fish – slow and methodical.”

> Performance edge – “The Garmin Panoptix is a great deal. It’s awesome. I can make one cast and be in it. I didn’t miss a cast until the last day when I didn’t have it.”

3rd: Brandon Cobb

> Day 1: 5, 14-10
> Day 2: 5, 11-02
> Day 3: 5, 9-01
> Day 4: 5, 12-14
> Total = 20, 47-11

Brandon Cobb also spent time in Big Blakely Creek, but wasn’t fishing the wood pattern that Brad Knight and Mark Daniels, Jr. were on. He targeted a stretch of flat, mud bank, but also worked over pockets with scattered, stringy hydrilla and schooling fish with topwater baits. A big ribbon-tail worm caught plenty of fish for him around brush, but accounted for just one that he weighed in.

“It was unreal,” he said. “Finishing 3rd, you obviously have a few regrets. You want to get the win, but this was my first Top 10 on Tour. Where else do you want to get you first Top 10 than at the Cup. It was the first time having a camera in my boat.

“My only regret from day 4 was not having time to go back to a brush pile where I caught a good on day 1. I’d found it in pre-practice and stayed away from it during practice. It was loaded. I caught a 3 1/2-pounder ther on day 1 and there must’ve been 25 2- to 6-pounders with him. My co-angler almost netted a 4 when he netted my fish. I went back to it later and never got bit.”

Cobb said his practice was “horrible,” not because he didn’t find any productive areas, but because “every area I found seemed to be just as good as any other area,” he said.

The stretch of shoreline in Big Blakely was the only spot he’d caught more than one so that’s where he started on day 1.

“I was fishing a flat bank a couple hundred yards from where (Brad and Mark) were fishing,” he said. “It was just a mud flat with some stumps and scattered brush piles before the back of the creek. I made about three passes on day 1 and had almost 14 pounds.”

A buzzbait with a Zoom Horny Toad trailer along with an Zoom Ol’ Monster worm were his favored baits for fishing around the mud banks and shallow brush. His 14-10 stringer on day 1 had him in 3rd place and he stayed in the Top 5 the rest of the event.

He ran around a little bit more on day 2 after catching a limit on the same stretch in Big Blakely. He caught a couple good upgrades later on, throwing a walking bait in pockets with standing timber.

Big Blakely only produced one fish for him on Saturday, which spun him out since it’d been good for a limit the first 2 days.

“I ran around with a Horny Toad in hydrilla pockets on that end of the lake,” he said. “I had some big bites, but I didn’t land them. I knew there was something to it, but I didn’t know what I was looking for. It was something I had to fish in order to see.

“The fish were in the more scattered grass and most of it was around rock because the rock made the grass not mat out. I’d say 80 percent of pockets on the lower end were matted grass against the bank and you had to find scattered stringy grass with openings.”

Cobb started the final day in 5th place and went to some schooling fish that were erupting all around him for 30 minutes. He tried several topwater baits, but couldn’t connect. Finally, a Sébile Bonga Minnow caught a couple keepers, but he later lost it on a fish that took him into a tree.

A Lucky Craft Gunfish was a solid back-up producer before he went to some timber-heavy pockets and threw the Horny Toad to finish his limit.

“Sunday was a exhausting,” he said. “I almost fell out of the boat 15 times from bumping into trees. It was so hard to keep my concentration.”

> Toad gear: 7’3” medium-heavy Powell Inferno casting rod, unnamed casting reel (7.0:1 gear ratio) 65-pound unnamed braided line, 5/0 Gamakatsu Superline EWG worm hook, Zoom Horny Toad (white and green-pumpkin).

> Buzzbait gear: Same rod, same reel, same line, Knights Custom Lures Knight’s buzzbait (white or green-pumpkin), Zoom Horny Toad (white or green-pumpkin) trailer.

> He filed some mass off the head of the buzzbait and removed the skirt.

> Worm gear: Same rod, same reel, 16-pound unnamed fluorocarbon line, 3/8-oz. unnamed tungsten worm weight, Zoom Ol’ Monster worm (redbug).

> Topwater gear: 7’ medium-action casting rod, same reel, 40-pound unnamed braided line (main), 15-pound unnamed monofilament (leader), various walking baits.

> Main factor in his success – “The speed I fished at. Once I figured out the lower end grass bite, the speed at which I was covering water was important. I felt like I was fishing drastically faster than everybody else. It took a lot to keep fishing that way.”

> Performance edge – “I definitely used my Lowrance graphs with the Navionics chips to find some of the flatter pockets. I fished all new water over the last 2 days, jumping from pocket to pocket to see where the grass was.”

4th: Jacob Wheeler

> Day 1: 5, 16-02
> Day 2: 5, 10-15
> Day 3: 5, 14-00
> Day 4: 3, 4-12
> Total = 18, 45-13

Jacob Wheeler spent 2 1/2 days at Ouachita before it went off limits and only devoted 2 hours to shallow water because he wanted to concentrate on brush piles and other deep-water options.

“I knew that if I didn’t get anything going deep, I’d just to the bank anyway,” he said. “The water was way up and in the grass so I didn’t go up there.”

Ultimately, it was schooling fish that carried him through the event.

“The key to my pattern was the back of creeks with steep banks,” he said. “It’s where the fish would react better. If they were on a big flat they were harder to get to react. Going straight down the bank and covering water was key.”

The key depth range by the steeper banks was 6 to 10 feet and just about every bite came within 6 feet of the bank, Wheeler said.

“That was a big key because you wanted to parallel the shore,” he added.

As the event wore, he mixed in a small swimbait rigged on an underspin jig for when the schooling fish wouldn’t commit. He held the lead after days 1 and 3 and felt confident going out for the final day, especially after catching a 5-pounder on a topwater.

“I knew if I could find one more area, I could win the event,” he said. I was keying in on a lot of the pockets after day 3 that had timber. Halfway toward the back, the pockets weren’t getting pressure.

“Later in the tournament, it got tougher because everybody was running the short pockets. That’s how it is. I tried to find fish that weren’t getting messed with. Those fish that were further back in the major creeks that had timber in them because guys weren’t taking the time to go in there.”

> Topwater gear: 7’3” heavy-action Okuma Scott Martin Signature Series TCS casting rod, Okuma Helios casting reel (7.3:1 gear ratio), 17-pound Sufix Siege monofilament line, 4 1/4” Storm Arashi Top Walker (ghost pearl shad).

> Wheeler swapped out the stock rear hook and replaced with a No. 2 VMC X-Rap Tail (feathered) treble.

> He threw the Vixen on a 7’ medium-heavy rod, rolling it around shallow wood. He also mixed in a prop bait as well.

> He also caught fish on various other topwater baits as he wanted to give the fish different looks. “Showing these fishing something different was the key,” he said.

> Main factor in his success – “Keeping an open mind. That was the biggest thing. Running down the bank and covering water.”

> Performance edge – "My Okuma TCS rods and Helios reels. I was able to cover so much water every single day and making long casts in that clear water was the key to getting bit."

5th: Scott Martin

> Day 1: 5, 14-06
> Day 2: 5, 10-03
> Day 3: 3, 8-03
> Day 4: 5, 12-08
> Total = 18, 45-04

Scott Martin started out strong in his bid to cap off his Angler of the Year campaign with a second career Cup, but after bagging 14-06 on day 1, it was a bit of a struggle for the 2011 Cup champion.

He found some schooling areas in practice as well as some brush piles, but he also wanted to check the grass pockets and see if there were any other shallow-water patterns going.

“I got lucky and found a spot that had some big fish school and I saw them from about 300 yards away,” he said. “I went over there and threw a swimbait and had a couple big fish follow it to the boat. I didn’t catch any, but thought I definitely wanted to try that out for the tournament.

“I could never really get super dialed in on any particular pattern. With that schooling area, though, I felt like if things went well, I could possibly win the tournament off that one spot because of the grade of fish.”

Most of his day-1 weight came on the schooling spot with an underspin jig tipped with a 3-inch swimbait along with some fish caught on river ledges with a deep-diving crankbait.

A return to his spot in the river on day 2 turned out to be the decision he regretted most.

“It was a bad call on my part,” he said. “I thought I could get 12 pounds and go to schoolers and fish for them. I should’ve gone to those schooling fish. I caught a big fish every day I fished there so I didn’t maximize my time well.”

His 10-03 stringer on day 2 moved him back to 7th, where he stayed after day 3 as well.

“I missed some opportunities that cost me quite a bit of weight,” he said of Saturday when he brought in just three fish.

> Swimbait gear: 7’11” medium-heavy Okuma Scott Martin Signature Series TCS casting rod, Okuma Helios TCS casting reel, 8-pound P-Line fluorocarbon line, 1/4-oz. unnamed jighead, 3” Tighlines UV shad, 1/2-oz. Fish Head Spin jig (white), 3.3” Keitech Swing Impact FAT (pro blue red shad).

> Cranking gear: Same rod, same reel, 10-pound P-Line fluorocarbon line, Strike King 6XD (sexy shad).

> Buzzbait gear: 7’3” medium-heavy Okuma Scott Martin Signature Series TCS casting rod, same reel, 50-pound P-Line TCB 8-carrier braided line, 5/16-oz. Accent Jacob Wheeler Game Changer buzzbait (white), unnamed swimbait body trailer.

> He also chucked a 10” Tighlines UV Rippleworm on a magnum shaky-head when fishing the river ledges.

> Main factor in his success – “The Garmin Panoptix electronics. They not only help me catch fish that I can see, but it allows me to make good decisions. For example, if there are fish on the spot and I can’t catch them, I can make adjustments. If I look out there and there are no fish around, then I don’t need to fish it anymore.”

> Performance edge – “The dependability of my Evinrude G-2 all year. I put in 12 gallons of gas every day all year.”

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