North Carolina's Lake Townsend, site of the final 2 days of the recent Bassmaster American Major, fished a lot differently than High Rock Lake, which the field fished for the first 2 days. Therefore, anglers who made the Top 12 worked at least two different patterns for the event.
High Rock was primarily a post-spawn affair, whereas most of the good fish caught from tiny Townsend came off the beds. The Top 5 threw a lot of different stuff during the week, but each had a jig tied on at one time or another.
2nd: Brian Snowden
> Day 1: 5, 18-10
> Day 2: 5, 21-09 (10, 40-03)
> Day 3: 5, 9-00
> Day 4: 5, 8-03 (10, 17-03)
Had this been a regular Elite Series event that stayed on the same body of water for all 4 days, Missouri's Brian Snowden might have won handily. He was more than 6 pounds ahead of everybody else at the day-2 cut and was confident that his shallow-willows flipping pattern would have produced at least 15 pounds on each of the final 2 days.
He opened practice by fishing jigs around docks and was getting seven or eight bites a day. He moved to the bankside willows and started flipping during the final hour of the last practice day, and quickly realized he'd tapped the mother lode.
"If I'd have stayed with the docks, I might've been able to get a check, but that's probably about it," he said. "The willow bite was so phenomenal that it changed everything for me."
His boat was in about a foot of water most of the time and the fish were in 8 inches or less.
At Townsend, he started out fishing the few shallow laydowns that were present, but noticed a lot of shallow cruisers. He was able to catch a pair of limits on a Texas-rigged Senko, and they were the only five-fish bags that came out of there.
> Jig gear: 7' medium-heavy St. Croix Legend Elite rod, Shimano Chronarch casting reel, 15-pound Vicious fluorocarbon line, 3/8-ounce Shooter Lures jig (buzz craw), Zoom Super Chunk trailer (avocado/red-flake).
> Flipping gear: 7'11" heavy-action St. Croix Legend Tournament flipping stick, same reel, 20-pound Vicious fluorocarbon, 3/8-ounce Tru-Tungsten worm weight (pegged), 5/0 Owner TwistLock 3X hook with centering pin, Zoom Super Hog (black sapphire) and another unnamed creature bait (black/blue).
> Senko gear: Same rod, reel and line as jig, 1/16-ounce Tru-Tungsten worm weight, 4/0 Gamakatsu round-bend hook, 5" Yamamoto Senko (green-pumpkin).
Main factor in his success – "Once I got there and saw (High Rock), I realized it was a lot like Grand Lake in Oklahoma, so I felt I knew what to look for and I was very comfortable with what I was doing."
Performance edge – "Probably the Owner hook. It's just a phenomenal hook for that type of fishing. It allowed the bait to stay in place when I threw it way back in heavy cover."
Like Snowden, Ish Monroe caught his High Rock fish out of extremely shallow water.
3rd: Ish Monroe
> Day 1: 5, 11-12
> Day 2: 5, 17-03 (10, 28-15)
> Day 3: 2, 4-15
> Day 4: 2, 6-07 (4, 11-06)
California's Ish Monroe caught fish at High Rock the same way Snowden did.
"I flipped willow bushes in 6 inches of water, and the dirtier the water was, the better," he said. "I was fishing so shallow that (the fish's) backs should have been out of the water."
His primary bait was a Sweet Beaver, and he moved up 20 places on day 2 to make the cut. At Townsend, he caught one fish on a jig and sight-fished three others with the Sweet Beaver.
> Flipping gear: 7'6" Daiwa Cielo and 8' Daiwa Steez flipping stick, Daiwa Zillion casting reel (7:1 gear ratio), 20- and 25-pound Maxima line, 5/16-ounce Tru-Tungsten weight (black), 4/0 Reaction Innovations BMF flipping hook, Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver (penetration).
> Jig gear: 7'1" medium-heavy Daiwa Steez casting rod, Daiwa Steez casting reel, 15-pound Maxima fluorocarbon, 3/8-ounce unnamed jig (brown/black), Yamamoto Twin-Tail brub trailer (brown/black).
> He also caught one weigh-in fish at High Rock on a 1/2-ounce Hildebrandt spinnerbait (white and chartreuse with a silver Colorado and gold willow-leaf blades).
Main factor in his success – "Just having confidence in the decisions I'm making right now."
Performance edge – "My Lowrance 113 graph with the navionics chip. It showed me where all the creeks were running in and helped me figure out where to look (for fish)."
John Murray made a big jump in the standings on day 2.
4th: John Murray
> Day 1: 4, 14-01
> Day 2: 5, 19-08 (9, 33-09)
> Day 3: 2, 2-13
> Day 4: 2, 6-04 (4, 9-01)
Like many in the field, Arizona's John Murray had a terrible practice. He got onto the jig pattern that would get him into the Top 12 cut after watching Mike McClelland catch a couple of fish.
"I tied one on, and on my first cast I caught one," he said. "It was a non-keeper, but that told me that the jig was the bait."
He was in 15th place after day 1, but climbed all the way to second with 19 1/2 pounds on day 2. After the move to Townsend, he caught three of his four keepers by sight-fishing with a dropshot.
He gained two spots in the final standings by catching one that weighed nearly 5 pounds with 5 minutes to go on the final day.
> Jig gear: 7'6" medium-heavy Powell 764 rod, Abu Garcia Revo casting reel, 15-pound Berkley Trilene fluorocarbon, 1/2-ounce Skinny Bear football jig (brown/purple), Yamamoto Hula grub trailer (brown/purple).
> Dropshot gear: 7' medium-heavy Powell 703 rod, Daiwa Sol spinning reel, 8-pound Berkley Trilene fluorocarbon, 1/4-ounce Kanji dropshot weight, No. 1 Roboworm ReBarb light-wire hook, 6" Roboworm (margarita mutilator).
Main factor in his success – "Having such a poor practice probably actually helped me because I was able to keep an open mind after that."
Performance edge – The tungsten weights. Feeling the rockpiles was key – the fish were on the rock, but not sand or mud or anything else."
Mark Tucker caught his fish at both High Rock and Townsend on jigs and spinnerbaits.
5th: Mark Tucker
> Day 1: 5, 13-14
> Day 2: 5, 14-02 (10, 28-00)
> Day 3: 3, 5-09
> Day 4: 1, 1-00
Missouri's Mark Tucker had finished 8th in the 1998 Bassmaster Classic at High Rock by fishing docks, and he did some of that this time as well.
"That tournament was in August, but I knew the general areas where I wanted to fish," he said.
He also worked some rocky areas where shad were spawning and caught fish from water that was 4 to 6 feet deep. He threw both a jig and a spinnerbait.
At Townsend, he targeted overhanging bushes with the same baits.
> Spinnerbait gear: 7' medium-heavy American Rodsmiths rod, Abu Garcia Revo casting reel, 17-pound Gamma monofilament line, 3/8-ounce Picasso spinnerbait (clear white with silver skirt and size 4 1/2 Colorado and 3 1/2 willow-leaf blades).
> Jig gear: 7' heavy-action G. Loomis rod, Abu Garcia Revo casting reel, 10-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon, 3/8-ounce Tru-Tungsten jig, Zoom Tiny Brush Hog trailer (green-pumpkin).
Main factor in his success – "Just having confidence in what I was doing and fishing slowly."
Performance edge – "My Bass Cat boat. I just don't ever have any problems with anything on it."
Much of the tackle referenced above is available at the BassFan Store. To browse the selection, click here.
