In the end, the Toho Bassmaster Elite Series came down to a battle of spots. Ben Matsubu won the event from a relatively small area in the middle of Lake Toho.
Runner-up Bill Smith, Jr. and 3rd-place finisher Brent Chapman likewise pitched their tents. Each worked a small area
where the fish were heavily concentrated, and never lost confidence in said areas. In the end, Matsubu's area prevailed.
BassFan previously published the details of Matsubu's winning pattern (to read that story, click here). What follows is how Smith and Chapman caught their fish.
2nd: Bill Smith, Jr.
> Day 1: 5, 18-06
> Day 2: 5, 10-12
> Day 3: 4, 06-10
> Day 4: 5, 16-11
> Total = 19, 52-07
For the second season in a row, Bill Smith, Jr. waited until the final event to make a Top 12 cut. He stormed out of the gates at Toho with 18 pounds, hunted around inside the Top 5 for the next 2 days, then moved up with a big day-4 sack to finish 2nd.
Most of the field either flipped or rigged a worm, but Smith bucked that trend at first and threw a soft-plastic jerkbait. But it wasn't a new, flashy model. It was an old, out-of production color.
He worked that soft-jerkbait pattern all the way up until the final day, when he was forced to move to a worm.
About the soft jerkbait, he said: "I was throwing a Bass Assassin in blue-pearl. They quit making the color several years ago, but I'd done well on Okeechobee with it a couple of times, and I had 200 or 300 of them sitting in a box.
"It worked this time in practice. I was just Texas-rigging it, and fishing it where hydrilla met the shell bottom."
He caught 18 pounds early the first day with the bait, and worked the same pattern on day 2. But he had some spots on Lake Kissimmee that he thought he should check. He locked down and actually ran into 3rd-place Brent Chapman there.
Smith said he caught only 2-pounders from the shared area, so rather than crowd Chapman, he decided to fish only Toho the rest of the tournament. That's where he'd caught the better fish anyway.
"Things just didn't work out," Smith said about day 3, when he limped in with 6-10 and fell from 2nd to 4th. But he rebounded with almost 17 pounds the final day.
"I totally had to change up (the final day)," he noted. "My co-angler the day before was Texas-rigging a Zoom Trick Worm. I got back in there (the final day) and did the same thing.
When his fish stopped biting a soft jerkbait, Smith switched to a junebug Zoom Trick Worm (shown).
"I got a limit pretty quick, then saw a ledge on a shell-bed I hadn't fish yet. It dropped from 5 to 7 feet. I tied on a Carolina-rig and caught a limit, with two good fish. After the limit, I lost a good fish."
He added his one regret was that he didn't "scope out that drop" the previous days.
> Soft-jerkbait gear: 7'1" heavy-action G. Loomis 855 BCR rod (GLX), Shimano Chronarch casting reel, 20-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, 5/0 round-bend Gamakatsu hook, 3/16- and 3/8-ounce weights (3/8 for fishing in the grass, 3/16 for the outer edges), 6 1/2" Bass Assassin soft jerkbait (blue-pearl).
> Worm gear: 7'1" medium-heavy G. Loomis 854 rod (GLX), same reel, 10-pound Sniper, 2/0 round-bend Gamakatsu hook, 1/8-ounce weight, Zoom Trick Worm (junebug).
> As noted, he Texas-rigged the worm in the morning, then Carolina-rigged it in the afternoon. His better fish came on the Carolina-rig.
Main factor in his success – "The biggest factor was just taking my time and going real slow. A lot of the guys came up to me (at weigh-in) and said they caught a couple fish, but they didn't know how many fish were there. The biggest problem, I think, was that everybody wanted to flip or throw a Devil's Horse. But the fish were outside the grass for the most part, and the key was slowing down. For the first 3 days, I fished an area that was probably 50 yards long. I was just going back and forth. I stayed and sat and searched. The final 2 days I only started my big motor twice – at the beginning and end of the day."
> Performance edge – "I'd have to say it was that blue-pearl Assassin, although the last 2 days there was a little pressure change and the bite got real tricky. They wanted a smaller profile. The blue-pearl in Florida waters really imitates a bluegill. When I found the fish, and through the first 2 days of the tournament, I could see them chasing bluegill and trying to eat them. I did get lucky though – my partner had the right baits and gave me a clue as to what to do the rest of the time."
Brent Chapman said current was key to his area.
3rd: Brent Chapman
> Day 1: 5, 10-14
> Day 2: 5, 18-12
> Day 3: 5, 12-09
> Day 4: 5, 10-02
> Total = 20, 52-05
For the first 2 days, Brent Chapman and Smith were pretty much opposites. Whereas Smith opened with 18 pounds then followed up with 10, Chapman opened with 10 and followed up with 18. And as noted, the two did run into each other on day 2. That was near the Kissimmee River, where Chapman spent the tournament.
And like Smith, Chapman also worked two patterns in a single area. His attack focused on matted hydrilla. When he pulled up to a mat, he'd flip inside it. Then he'd work the outer edges with a dropshot.
"All but three of the fish I weighed were caught within probably 100 yards of each other," Chapman noted. "But the dropshot was more than a limit-getter. I caught several good fish on it throughout the tournament, including three 4-pounders and a 3-pounder."
He also noted that the hydrilla mats were along a discernible weedline – specifically, where the weedline made a distinct point. "The point was down by the Kissimmee River, and the current was moving around in there. I think those fish stacked up there to be in the current flow. It's a good place for them to feed as well. Most of my fish came from 5 feet of water."
He added: "What I've learned about Florida is that, if you find a few good fish, there's typically a good quantity of fish there. You just have to really figure out the right techniques to catch the best fish. I had a bad practice and this was the only place I felt comfortable with. I got in there, hunkered down, fished it thoroughly, and learned all the places the fish were."
> Flipping gear: 7'6" heavy-action All Star 907 flipping stick, Pflueger Summit casting reel, 65-pound Shakespeare Ugly braid, 5/0 straight-shank Eagle Claw hook, 1 1/4-ounce tungsten weight, Zoom Super Hog (watermelon-candy).
Chapman's flipping bait was a watermelon-candy Zoom Super Hog.
> Dropshot gear: 6'6" medium-action All Star 783 Platinum rod, Pflueger President spinning reel, 10-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon, 1/0 Eagle Claw finesse hook, 3/16-ounce tungsten dropshot weight, 6" finesse worm (green-pumpkin/purple and tequila-sunrise).
> About dropshotting around grass, he said: "I was using 8-pound Gamma Edge, but I switched to 10-pound. There's no doubt that line helped. Ever since I started fishing with Gamma line, my confidence has gone through the roof on what I can get away with on line weight. I only broke off one fish all week on the dropshot, and that one was right next to gator grass, so there was nothing I could do."
> Main factor in his success –"Probably just sticking with that area. And I owe a huge thanks to Alton Jones. We kind of worked together to get both of us to make the (Bassmaster) Classic. Alton kind of keyed me in a little bit in practice, and invited me to fish down there. I owe him a big thanks – it was one of the bigger keys in my success."
> Performance edge –"My Triton boat and Mercury motor. I was running 50 miles a day. To have that confidence in my equipment was huge. And I was able to make a few more casts each day than everybody else because I was faster than they were, and gas consumption wasn't even an issue for me."
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