Bushes, Trees On Flats Were The Main Key

It's interesting that Derek Remitz, who won the recent Amistad Bassmaster Elite Series, never mentioned trees. He focused on deep rock – specifically the tops of sheer bluffs in the main lake.

But most of the rest of the Top 5 focused heavily on trees. Here's how they caught

their fish.

2nd: Mike Iaconelli

> Day 1: 5, 27-09
> Day 2: 5, 24-08
> Day 3: 5, 24-03
> Day 4: 5, 27-07
> Total = 20, 103-11

Reigning BASS Angler of the Year Mike "Ike" Iaconelli was the most consistent angler of those in the Top 5. He caught a 26-pound average and never weighed a light bag. His undoing was he never weighed a heavy one either, and couldn't match Remitz with 30-pounds-plus on days 3 and 4.

"I fished pockets off the main lake," Ike said. "They weren't creeks necessarily – they were big, main-lake pockets and giant coves.

"The key to it was they all had points leading into them. And on the points were submerged bushes and trees. That was really the key."

He noted the fish would stop and park on the trees and bushes before moving further back into the cove to spawn, and he "intercepted" them as they staged.

"Fish stage in different places on different lakes," he noted. "Some stage on riprap, some use docks. In this lake they stage on the bushes, and the combination of points and bushes held these females before they moved in to spawn."

Most of his prime bushes and trees were in 8 to 15 feet of water – "the classic pre-spawn zone" – although he did catch a few shallower and a few deeper. Conditions determined which technique he used.

"When the light was low, which was generally in the morning, I'd throw baits that would fish the outsides of those bushes," he said. "The two baits I used to do that were a swimbait and a jerkbait. The swimbait was a California SwimBabes Baby "E" in a bluegill color, and the jerkbait was a Berkley Frenzy Diving Minnow.

"At about 11:00 every day, the fish would actually get in what I call the 'heart' of the bush. For that I used a 5-inch Berkley Beast in green-pumpkin and a 1-ounce Tru-Tungsten weight. I didn't need the weight because the fish were deep. I'd throw into the heart of that bush and the bait would whiz down so fast, it would elicit a reaction strike."

> Swimbait gear: 7'6" Team Daiwa LT flipping stick, Team Daiwa Millionaire casting reel, 20-pound Berkley Trilene Sensation line, California SwimBabes Baby "E" swimbait (bluegill).

> Jerkbait gear: 6'3" medium-action Team Daiwa-S topwater rod, Daiwa Millionaire, 15-pound Berkley Trilene XT fluorocarbon (prototype), Berkley Frenzy Diving Minnow (shad).

> Beast gear: 7'6" Team Daiwa Cielo flipping stick, Team Daiwa Zillion casting reel (7.1:1), 1-ounce Tru-Tungsten Denny Brauer Flippin' weight (black), 4/0 heavy wire Tru-Tungsten flipping hook (prototype), 5" Berkley Beast (green-pumpkin, with orange Spike-It dye on the outside of one claw, chartreuse Spike-It dye on outside of the other claw).

> On why he dyed his Beast claws – "I used the Spike-It markers, and I was trying to imitate a tilapia or bluegill. That's what I feel the big fish feed on here."

> On his reel – "The high-speed reel was critical because the bait was falling quickly and they'd hit it halfway down, so you needed to recover a lot of line."

> Main factor in his success – "Having confidence in my areas, and having patience enough to wait as these fish kept funneling in. Some made it past me and spawned – I picked up a few bedders here and there – but I intercepted the vast majority."

> Performance edge – "I caught fish on all three baits, but there were two big keys. One was the heavy weight with the Beast. The second concerned the bushes. The ones you could see were getting a lot of pressure, and the better bushes were the ones that didn't stick out. So I used my yellow-lens polarized Cocoons sunglasses to find those bushes that were a little less obvious. A lot of times they'd just be a dark spot I could see."

3rd: Steve Kennedy

> Day 1: 5, 36-10
> Day 2: 5, 16-06
> Day 3: 5, 24-02
> Day 4: 5, 24-08
> Total = 20, 101-10

Steve Kennedy caught the biggest bag of the tournament on day 1, and he still led after a disappointing day 2, but he never passed the 30-pound mark again.

He ran two patterns. The first involved a swimbait, the second, flipping.

"Going into practice, I didn't really know how to throw a swimbait, so I just started throwing it everywhere," he said. "I threw it shallow and caught a big one, then got out on the tip of a point, counted it down to like 30 feet, and caught an 8-pounder."

When competition began, he caught an 8-pound striper on his first cast, then an 8-pound black on the next. So in three consecutive casts on that one point, he caught two 8-pound largemouths and an 8-pound striper.

"I was targeting isolated trees in deeper water, and also the ends of points," he noted. "Those big fish are suspended out there. I can't imagine how you could catch them, other than with a swimbait. None of the standard baits are made to fish like that – big jerkbaits don't get deep enough. That slow fall, and slow reel, gives them time to come up and eat them."

When he targeted isolated trees, he threw the swimbait to the side of the tree first, then moved in and flipped.

"It was something I noticed last year – there'd be one tree out of 50 they were on. There would be maybe two or three twigs sticking out, and (the fish would be) 15 or 20 feet down. But you'd never get a bite in any other tree."

> Swimbait gear: Kistler Helium 2 LTX flipping stick, Shimano Curado casting reel, 30-pound P-Line Fluoroclear line, unnamed out-of-production swimbait (brown/red, but he colored it blue/chartreuse, "So whatever color that makes.")

> Flipping gear: 7'11" Kistler Helium 2 LTX flipping stick, same reel, same line, 3/4-ounce tungsten weight, 4/0 straight-shank hook, Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver (Spanish fly).

> Main factor in his success – "Taking advantage of that big bite the first day with the swimbait. The bite was really on. I took a chance on the swimbait and caught them and caught them and caught them. I caught the biggest bag of the tournament, which is an extra $8,000. That's a big payday for what we're doing."

> Performance edge – "I don't know that the bait mattered, as long as you put it in the right place, but I really like my new Kistler rods. They're just so lightweight. You're reeling that bait so slow, and the big fish inhale them, so you don't want a heavy rod pulling against them. (A light rod) lets you feel the bait better. When you're reeling moving baits, light rods can be key."

4th: Todd Faircloth

> Day 1: 5, 18-02
> Day 2: 5, 20-08
> Day 3: 5, 36-07
> Day 4: 5, 25-04
> Total = 20, 100-05

Todd Faircloth made the most memorable climb of the event, when he caught the second-best bag of the tournament and moved from 39th to 4th on day 3.

"I caught all my fish on a 6-inch Yamamoto Senko, except for six fish on a swimbait," he said.

"I caught them all on submerged trees. I was making long casts, because in the clear water, you need to keep your distance. But (day 4) was windy and cloudy and I was right on top of the trees before I could see them."

He noted his trees were in water from 6 to 20 feet deep, but most of his big fish came out of the 10- to 15-foot depths. Also, the trees were on main-lake flats.

> Senko gear: 7' medium-action Castaway rod, unnamed casting reel, 20-pound unnamed fluorocarbon, 1/4- and 3/8-ounce tungsten weights (unpegged), 5/0 Owner offset hook, 6" Gary Yamamoto Senko (watermelon/green and watermelon/candy).

> Swimbait gear: 7'6" medium-heavy Castaway flipping stick, same reel and line, 8" Osprey swimbait (green with blue vein and clear belly).

> He eventually tore up the Osprey and borrowed a swimbait from Kevin VanDam prior to day 4. "It wasn't the (King Shad)," Faircloth said. "I believe it was a discontinued Bass Pro Shops model. It was 6 inches with a green back and pearl belly. It was pretty close to what I was throwing the day before."

> Main factor in his success – "I think it was keying in on the offshore stuff and visible cover. You really have to pay attention to detail when fishing those trees. Being around a big flat area off the main lake – I think they replenish better than in a small pocket of creek. Each day more fish would move in."

> Performance edge – "I'd have to say it was the Senko. I caught the bulk of my fish on it, and it's what I found the fish on in practice. I have a lot of confidence in it."

5th: Kevin VanDam

> Day 1: 5, 26-08
> Day 2: 5, 24-08
> Day 3: 5, 17-04
> Day 4: 5, 22-09
> Total = 20, 90-13

It's no surprise that Kevin VanDam moved fast and threw a reaction bait. What's interesting is he threw a swimbait, albeit is downsized version. He changed slightly on the final day and caught a few spinnerbait fish, but for the most part, he relied entirely on a Strike King King Shad hard-plastic swimbait.

"The King Shad was my primary bait all week," he said. "I was basically fishing spawning areas and spawning flats –trying to target the fish just moving in. I was fishing the ditches leading into the areas, lots of bushes and trees – things like that. I went everywhere."

> Swimbait gear: 6'10" Quantum PT Kevin VanDam spinnerbait rod, Quantum PT 1160 casting reel, 25-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS mono, Strike King King Shad (clear body, which he painted into a natural shad pattern).

> He also said his Biosonix BSX unit was key. "The fish I was targeting were keying on bait. I'd never seen bait here before – just tilapia and bluegill – but I saw a lot of shad this year, especially on the first and last days. I was fishing fast with the wind blowing and I was running a really aggressive shad sound pattern on the unit. I have a lot of confidence in it."

> Main factor in his success – "Really, it was just reading the conditions."

> Performance edge – That King Shad. It's a hardbait with treble hooks. I got good bites on it last year near the end of the season and I have a lot of confidence in it. Nothing against a swimbait, but it's 4 inches long and the exact shape of a shad. The best factor of it is that it's one of the few swimbaits you can fish fast. I can burn it, jerk it, twitch it, and I've trolled it 15 mph and it won't roll."

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