Kriet Tossed C-Rig And Swimbait, Big Shad Were Key

The recent Grand Lake Bassmaster Elite Series in Oklahoma was an interesting event for a number of reasons. Foremost, there wasn't one single technique that dominated.

Flood conditions left the water high and muddy as practice began. The water level at first plummeted, then leveled off, and water clarity improved throughout the week. At first, there was just too much

dirt to fish much deeper than 12 feet, but by the final day of the event, anglers were able to catch fish at 20 feet and deeper.

The crankbait was a major factor – winner Kevin VanDam caught all his fish on one – but that wasn't the only thing going on. VanDam's pattern information will be posted soon. Below is the scoop on how 2nd-place Jeff Kriet caught his fish.

Points of Attack

> Day 1: 5, 19-00
> Day 2: 5, 16-02
> Day 3: 5, 24-11
> Day 4: 5, 14-08
> Total = 20, 74-05

Kriet opened on a strong note, but his glory came on day 3 when he weighed a tournament-best 24-11 to give him the lead. On the final day, he never connected with the big fish and lost to VanDam by a little less than 4 pounds.

"I was fishing main-lake points and some points in creeks, but they were in bigger creeks – they were big points and I wouldn't call them secondary," he noted.

Specifically, he worked flatter points, but zeroed in on the sweet spot.

"I wanted them to have a good break, plus brush and a mixture of rocks. The big fish had to have something holding them there, and most of my big ones came out of brush."

Also important was the sun – when it popped out, he could catch big fish pretty quickly because they buried up inside the brush.

"It seemed like the sides of the points were the best – the deeper stretches," he added. "Generally, on points, a lot of times they're kind of steep, then they'll roll out and get flat. The steep part right before it flattened out was real good. And some of the real good points were the ones right in front of flooded willows."

Pattern Notes

Kriet threw three baits. Two of them, the Zoom Brush Hog and 10" Berkley Power Worm, were on a Carolina-rig. His other bait was a Storm swimbait.

About his choice of a swimbait over a crank, he said: "I never could catch them on a crankbait. I just couldn't catch them on it. And I felt that generally, on the swimbait, if I got bit it was a big one.

"(Mike) McClelland clued me into that deal. He said if you get them going and have a good limit, I need to throw that thing. I started throwing it the second day, and culled out two 4 1/2-pounders with two 5s."

Notable about his plastics fishing was that he had to work slow.

"I couldn't get a bite unless my weight was hung on something, and I'd shake it right there," he said. "The key was shad. When the big gizzard shad were on the points, that's when you'd catch the big ones. And the bigger the shad, the bigger the bass."

He actually discovered one of his big-fish spots in practice with a shad-sighting. He looked down and saw a school of big shad, and then a 4 1/2-pounder blew right through the middle of it. In other areas, he'd see big shad floating up to the surface – victims of a bass assault. That helped clue him in to which areas held the bigger shad, and bass.

Gear Notes

> Carolina-rig gear: 7'6" medium-heavy Castaway rod, Daiwa Zillion casting reel, Yo-Zuri H2O fluorocarbon line (see below), 3/4-ounce lead weight, 4/0 Gamakatsu offset wide-gap hook, Zoom Brush Hog (green-pumpkin) and 10" Berkley Power Worm (blue-fleck).

> He used a 15-pound main-line on the Carolina rig with a 30", 25-pound leader. He used 20-pound line with the worm.

> Swimbait gear: 7' medium-heavy Castaway rod, same reel, 30-pound Yo-Zuri H2O, 5" Storm swimbait (pearl).

> He thinks it was a Storm WildEye swimbait, but he's not sure.

The Bottom Line

> Main factor in his success – "I had areas where I could just pull up and get a lot of bites, but I think it was that I just concentrated on areas with bigger fish. That, and fishing as slow as I did."

> Performance edge – "Honestly, it was my Lowrance graph. When I'd go and look at a point, I could idle over it and see if it had the right ingredients. I could also find the shad with it. The third day, when I jacked that 25-pound bag, I was fishing up (nearer the bank). I didn't get a bite so I started backing out. I saw a bunch of fish on the graph in 18 feet and caught that big sack."

Thoughts on the Finish

Kriet noted that he wasn't overly disappointed that he didn't close on the final day.

"I wanted to win – I wanted to win bad, of course," he said. "But I felt I had to catch 20 pounds to win. Kevin and I were virtually tied, and Marty (Robinson) was up there. The whole Top 12 was really strong, and almost everybody had won before.

"In my mind, I just thought, 'Hey, I need to catch 20 pounds,' and that's how I fished all day. I knew if I brought in a 2-pounder, I wouldn't win. I fished for big ones all day long."

He added: "The first day my timing was really good. The second day, it was not very good. The third day it was perfect. (The final day), I don't know. The sun popped out and I really thought I could catch some big ones. But I'm happy with 2nd. I go into every tournament with the goal of a Top 20."

Notable

> Kriet has finished 50th or better in every Elite Series event this season. Only one other angler, Jared Lintner, has matched that.

> The event was presented by his primary sponsor – Longhorn tobacco. In the only other previous event presented by Longhorn, the season-opener at Amistad, he finished 11th.

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