A.M. Shad Again Key, But Other Patterns Played

Weather played a crucial role during the recent Guntersville Bassmaster Elite Series. First, threats of a dangerous storm cancelled day 1. Next, days 2 and 3 offered a mix of clouds and wind, which were ideal conditions for most. Then, day 4 delivered bright sun and flat-calm conditions, which hurt just about everybody.

One angler it didn't hurt was winner Kevin VanDam, who rocked 25 pounds on day 4. Another was 2nd-place finisher Mark Tucker, whose stumble was on day 3, rather than 4.

The scoop on VanDam's winning pattern was published previously (click here to read it). Here's how Tucker, Terry Butcher, and Terry Scroggins caught their fish. Jason Quinn, who finished 5th, could not be reached for pattern information.

2nd: Mark Tucker

> Day 1: Cancelled
> Day 2: 5, 19-12
> Day 3: 5, 18-00
> Day 4: 5, 21-05
> Total = 15, 59-01

Tucker worked a somewhat oddball pattern. Like everyone else, he got on the shad-spawn bite in the morning with a spinnerbait, but he didn't pick up and head for the river when the bite ended. And he didn't go sight-fishing either. He stuck with the shallow grass.

"I was taking a Picasso spinnerbait and Chatterbait and fishing the edges of milfoil in anywhere from 4 to 6 feet of water," he said.

"In the morning, I had a good shad-spawn bite going, but the key was to be around the bigger shad that were spawning. I caught several shad (so I knew the size), and all the places where I caught all my big fish were next to where those big shad were spawning."

They were threadfins, he noted, but they were just of a bigger-than-average size.

"I'd have a limit by 7:00, and I'd catch fish all the way until I quit fishing. The key was just to keep moving deeper, and slow-rolling the spinnerbait and running the Chatterbait a little deeper. And you had to have shad following the baits to get bit."

He emphasized again that shad following his bait was critical. "If you came into an area and no shad were following your bait, you knew you probably weren't going to get bit there."

Another key: "I fished milfoil, but it had to be clean milfoil. I think they've been trying to knock the milfoil back (with chemicals), and there was lots of nasty milfoil. If you were in the nasty stuff, you never got a bit. But if you pulled up your bait and it had clean milfoil, you knew it was a productive area."

He also caught a few fish by reeling a Zoom Horny Toad just beneath the surface (he weighted the Toad to make it sink slightly). He fished that around floating milfoil that was scattered.

"That was in the morning," he said of his Toad bite. "As soon as you got there, the shad would be spawning up on the floating milfoil. I couldn't get a spinnerbait or Chatterbait through it."

> Spinnerbait gear: 7' medium-heavy American Rodsmiths rod, Daiwa casting reel, 16-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon, 1/2-ounce Picasso spinnerbait (see below).

> He started the first morning with a 1/2-ounce white Picasso spinnerbait with tandem willow-leaf blades. "I couldn't feel them thumping in the milfoil," he said. "I cut all those blades off and went to a No. 5 single Colorado." He also added a No. 2 Gamakatsu trailer hook.

> Chatterbait gear: Same rod, reel and line as the spinnerbait, 1/4-ounce Rad Lures Chatterbait (white).

> He took the stock skirt off the Chatterbait and replaced it with a white skirt from the Picasso spinnerbait. He also added a Zoom Split Tail trailer. The trailer was white, but he used a Q-Tip dipped in chartreuse dye to slightly paint over the white and remove some of the sheen.

> Horny Toad gear: 7' heavy-action American Rodsmiths rod, same reel, 30-pound Power-Pro braid, 5/0 Gamakatsu offset hook, Zoom Horny Toad (white, with a 1/16-ounce nail weight inserted in the head).

> About how he worked the Toad, he said: I worked it a lot like a (Zoom) Fluke. I'd throw it out, let it sink a little, then pop it along. I'd kick the tails once in a while – it looked like one of those shad flipping around."

> Main factor in his success – "I'd say it was just being persistent, and having confidence in the areas. Also, watching the Lowrance electronics and understanding how the grass grew in the certain areas I was fishing."

> Performance Edge – "I'd have to say the electronics were very critical. Lowrance had a huge part in it. I could see just where the edge of the grass was, so I could make parallel casts. I could see exactly how I needed to bring the bait through there. And when it came to the edge of the milfoil, I'd let it drop. They were on the edge – where it dropped from 3 to 4 or 5 feet. I made repeated casts about every 10 yards, then really figured out after the second day how the fish were positioned."

3rd: Terry Butcher

> Day 1: Cancelled
> Day 2: 5, 26-03
> Day 3: 5, 16-06
> Day 4: 5, 15-11
> Total = 15, 58-04

Terry Butcher led days 2 and 3, but was one of those hurt by the weather on day 4. He focused on the shad spawn in the mornings with a spinnerbait. His target was isolated ridges in 3 to 5 feet of water out in front of major creeks, but not on the main river channel itself.

That bite lasted until 8:00 or 8:30, after which he went flipping.

"I was running a shallow-water pattern," he said of his post-shad-spawn bite. "I was flipping boat docks and laydown trees. I just found an area where I thought the fish would be pulling out to after they got through spawning.

"I was keying on boat docks in 3 to 6 feet of water on the fronts of docks, and laydowns that were just coming off the banks."

> Spinnerbait gear: 7' medium-heavy American Eagle rod, Bass Pro Shops Pro Qualifier casting reel (6.3:1), 20-pound Excalibur Silver Thread co-polymer line, 3/4-ounce Booyah spinnerbait (white/chartreuse with double willow-leafs – the big blade was gold, the small blade was silver), Yum Boogie Tail trailer, XCalibur trailer hook.

> Flipping gear: 7'3" heavy-action American Eagle rod, same reel, same line, 1/4-ounce XCalibur tungsten weight (unpegged), 5/0 offset XCalibur Tx3 hook, Yum Wooly Hawgtail (green-pumpkin).

> Main factor in his success – "I caught a big limit the first morning of the tournament – I had 22 pounds by 7:30. I really didn't spend enough time in practice fishing real shallow, and that big limit allowed me more time the first day to expand on my shallow-water deal. I ended up catching a 6-pounder and 4-pounder in water I hadn't fished in practice. On the second day, the only thing I could get going (in the afternoon) was stuff I hadn't fished (in practice)."

> Performance edge – "I only lost one fish all week. I think a big key was that XCalibur trailer hook. Most of my fish on the spinnerbait were caught on the trailer hook. I think the reason for that is I was dragging that heavy spinnerbait through the grass, and I didn't really feel them bite. I think they were having a little bit of a hard time sucking it in. I think that trailer hook made a big difference."

> His finish was by far his best this season, and it moved him out of last place in the Elite Series points. "I'd just like to thank all my sponsors who've shown faith in me," he said. "This was my first good finish of the year. I'd like to thank Bass Cat Boats, Mercury, Lowrance, American Eagle rods, Booyah, and Yum."

4th: Terry Scroggins

> Day 1: Cancelled
> Day 2: 5, 21-02
> Day 3: 5, 20-01
> Day 4: 5, 16-13
> Total = 15, 58-00

Terry Scroggins worked three patterns. He did the shad spawn in the mornings until about 9:30 or 10:00, then went sight-fishing until noon, then cranked the river to finish out the day.

About his shad-spawn area, he said: "Shallow grass was the key to it. And you had to find hydrilla and milfoil mixed. The depth was anywhere from 3 to 5 feet (on the deep edge)."

He said his cranking area was "halfway back, inside a creek. The post-spawn fish were using that area to stage, just before getting out into the main lake. It was 10 feet (deep) on top and 18 on the side."

> Shad-spawn gear: 6'10" medium-heavy Castaway rod, Daiwa casting reel, 14-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon, 3/8-ounce Booyah spinnerbait (white/chartreuse and white/blue-glitter with single gold Colorado blade), he added a trailer hook about 50% of the time.

> About his choice of a lighter spinnerbait, he said: "I started off with a big 3/4-ounce, but my partner the second day caught a real good one quick on a single Colorado blade. I switched and started catching them pretty good. A lot of fish were hitting and missing (the bigger bait), but with the smaller combo, they didn't miss it."

> He noted they bit the white/blue-glitter better in lowlight conditions. When it got sunny and still, the white/chartreuse got more bites.

> Sight-fishing gear: 7' heavy-action Castaway HG40 rod, Daiwa casting reel, 6-pound Gamma Edge, 4/0 XCalibur wide-gap hook, 1/4-ounce XCalibur tungsten weight, Yum Craw Papi 3.75 (green-pumpkin).

> Cranking gear: 7'6" medium-action Castaway Launcher composite rod, Shimano Curado casting reel, 10-pound Gamma Edge, Bomber Fat Free Shad (citrus shad) and Norman DD22.

> Main factor in his success – "Just being versatile and not getting hung up on one thing. I knew when to quit the shad-spawn bite. I had three patterns going and I used all three patterns to get the job done. I was moving around a lot."

> Performance edge – "I caught a lot of fish on a spinnerbait, but probably the 7'6" Launcher was the most important. With deep-cranking, making very long casts is key to getting your bait down and deflecting it off structure. That's what I won the (Toyota Texas Bass Classic) on as well. If I had to pick one thing, that would be it."

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