Chris Baumgardner won the recent Potomac River FLW Tour by throwing a Rad Lures Chatterbait around lily pads and milfoil beds. His closest pursuers used a variety of baits to target primarily green vegetation, but wood also played a significant role.
The weather in the Washington, D.C. vicinity was unseasonably cool and gray for the first 2 days, but got considerably brighter and warmer on days 3 and 4. Combined with the cumulative effect of angler pressure and increased recreational traffic on the weekend, it made quality bites much harder to come by over the final 2 days.
Some were fortunate in that they didn't have to significantly alter their patterns to remain near the top, while others came up with the right adjustments.
2nd: David Dudley
Day 1: 5, 12-12
Day 2: 5, 20-07 (10, 33-03)
Day 3: 5, 15-07
Day 4: 5, 11-02 (10, 26-09)
The Potomac is a tidal fishery, and a solid grasp of the moon's effect on the water level – and in turn, the fish – is an enormous advantage. David Dudley, who lives not far away in Lynchburg, Va., has developed such knowledge via years of experience.
"I had different areas for different stages of the tide," he said. "In some areas, I actually wanted it to be a high tide.
"You've got to have areas for high and areas for low (tide). If you can't mix them up and have to depend on a 3-to 4-hour window, you're going to be hurting."
He flipped both grass and wood, primarily with a Zoom Baby Brush Hog. He threw a relatively light 3/16-ounce weight to give the bait a more natural appearance.
He also caught a couple of weigh-in fish on a topwater plug.
> Flipping gear: 7'11" unnamed flipping stick, Abu Garcia Revo STX reel (7:1 gear ratio), 17-pound Berkley Trilene fluorocarbon line, 3/16-ounce unnamed bullet weight, unnamed 4/0 hook, Zoom Baby Brush Hog (green-pumpkin).
> Topwater gear: 7' medium-heavy unnamed rod, same reel, 17-pound Berkley Trilene XT line, unnamed popper-type bait (shad).
Main factor in his success – "Understanding the tides and the current."
Performance edge – "The Revo reel with the 7-to-1 ratio – it's so light and fast. Those fish I was flipping up, I had to catch up with them really quick, and without the Revo I could not have gotten 2nd place."
Bobby Lane learned a lot about the Potomac's tidal fluctuations during practice.
3rd: Bobby Lane
Day 1: 5, 19-15
Day 2: 5, 16-14 (10, 36-13)
Day 3: 5, 12-15
Day 4: 5, 11-13 (10, 24-12)
Bobby Lane is from Florida, and he's a bona fide grass-flipping expert. At the Potomac, he was right in his element.
"If this tournament would've started after my third day of practice, I would've been just fine with that," he said. "I spent so much time in the grass that it was ridiculous.
"I tried to figure out which tide the better fish would bite on. I set myself up so that when the tournament came, I knew what the fish were doing and how I could get bit on a particular tide."
He never reached the top of the leaderboard, but he was never lower than third after any weigh-in.
Of the 20 fish he took to the scales, 18 bit a Berkley PowerBait Chigger Craw. He caught one on a topwater lure and one on an older-model Spro frog.
> Flipping gear: 7'9" medium-heavy Fenwick Techna AV Flippin' Stik, Abu Garcia Revo STX casting reel, 50 and 65-pound Spiderwire Ultracast line, 1- or 1 3/8-ounce Tru-Tungsten bullet weight (silver), 5/0 Owner round-bend hook, Berkley PowerBait Chigger Craw (watermelon candy or green-pumpkin).
Main factor in his success – "Spending 12 or 13 hours a day over 4 days (during practice) just learning the tides."
Performance edge – "The Spiderwire Ultracast. I caught every fish all week on it, and that stuff is the deal."
Ken Wick used the same bait to catch all 20 of his weigh-in fish.
4th: Ken Wick
Day 1: 5, 19-12
Day 2: 5, 15-02 (10, 34-14)
Day 3: 5, 12-13
Day 4: 5, 11-06 (10, 24-03)
Idaho's Ken Wick made his first career Top 10 by exploiting a single creek near the Piscataway Arm.
"It had some channel swings in it with some laydowns," he said. "And it didn't matter how many times you came back, you'd catch fish just about every time through."
He caught all of his weigh-in fish on a single bait – a 3/8-ounce jig.
Jig gear: 7' medium-heavy St. Croix Legend Elite rod, Abu Garcia Revo STX casting reel, 16-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon line, 3/8-ounce Skinny Bear Bass Jig (brown/orange), Berkley PowerBait Chigger Craw trailer (sapphire blue).
Main factor in his success – "The outgoing tide. The faster the water was running out, the better it was."
Performance edge – "My Kaenon sunglasses. The water was really stained, but I could see the crotches of the trees even in the dirtiest water with those glasses."
5th: Mark Davis
Day 1: 5, 21-05
Day 2: 5, 15-06 (10, 36-10)
Day 3: 5, 11-09
Day 4: 5, 12-01 (10, 23-10)
If the skies had remained overcast throughout the tournament, Arkansas' Mark Davis might've logged his second victory of the season. The sun was virtually absent the first 2 days, and he hammered topwater fish off one key stretch of milfoil on the main river.
Mark Davis was on fire when the skies were cloudy.
"When that went away, I just had to go fishing and scramble around like everybody else," he said. "I fished docks and logs and whatever I could find."
He led day 1, and could have caught a much larger bag on day 2 had he not backed off early. His weekend was just mediocre as his fish scattered out under the sun.
With his topwater bite gone, he switched to throwing a crankbait and a finesse worm.
"(The fish) were all over a big, massive area. I predicted that the way to win would be to have a group of fish in the grass that you could stay with, and that's the way it turned out."
> Topwater gear: 6'6" medium-heavy Team All Star 786 rod, Pflueger Supreme casting reel, 40-pound Shakespeare Ugly Braid line, Strike King Spit-N-King (Tennessee shad) or Heddon Zara Spook (shad).
> Worm gear: 6'6" medium-heavy Team All Star spinning rod, Pflueger Supreme spinning reel, 10-pound unnamed fluorocarbon line, 1/8-ounce hand-poured jighead, Texas-rigged 4" Strike King finesse worm (green-pumpkin).
> Cranking gear: 6'6" medium-action Team All Star rod, Pflueger Supreme casting reel, 12-pound Shakespeare Cajun Red Lightnin' line, Strike King Series 1 crankbait (chartreuse/black back).
Main factor in his success – "Locating a stretch of grass on the main river that contained a lot of 4- and 5-pound fish was what got me in the Top 10."
Performance edge – "Really my main weapon was the Ugly Braid line. Those fish were spooky from being pressured so much and I had to make super-long casts. With that braid, I could hook up with them good and land them."
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