The Toho Bassmaster Elite Series, which ended Sunday, was an engaging event for a number of reasons. One, the bite started to develop in the final hours of practice, when spawners began to move up under the warming trend.



Two, the weather changed nearly every day, and massive winds on day 3 trashed several key areas.

Three, there were a lot of ways to catch them.

Kevin VanDam won a squeaker on the strength of his lipless-crankbait pattern, which he worked along offshore hydrilla. Here's how runner-up Ray Sedgwick and 3rd-place Scott Rook caught their fish.

2nd: Ray Sedgwick

> Day 1: 5, 17-02
> Day 2: 5, 10-14
> Day 3: 5, 18-04
> Day 4: 5, 11-08
> Total = 20, 57-12

South Carolina pro Sedwick had a few things going. He fished a popular area in Kissimmee – the same general area that buoyed Scott Rook to a 3rd-place finish. Sedgwick, however, fished the deeper stuff further from the bank, while Rook stayed shallow.

"I started off in the morning throwing a Spro Aruku Shad and Strike King RedEye Shad," Sedgwick said. "I'd catch me a few with that, and the second day I caught a small limit doing it. I also caught a 6-pounder on the third day."

As the morning progressed, he slowed down and switched to plastics. On days 1 & 2, he fished a weightless Zoom Z-Nail, which is a Senko-type bait. In the wind on day 3, he swam a Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed worm.

"I think they were post-spawn," he said of his fish. "I think I caught one that was pre-spawn – that 7-07 the third day. So they were fish kind of in transit – moving in and out.

"It was a good spawning flat, and my best areas were about 3 to 3 1/2 feet deep," he added. "It was about 2 feet (deep) all around, but I was fishing the deeper little troughs and depressions. It seemed like that was where the better fish were laying up. You could catch a ton of small fish in 1 to 2 feet, but I never caught a big one shallow."

> Lipless crank gear: 7' medium-light Pflueger cranking rod (out of production), Plflueger Supreme and Patriarch casting reels, 40-pound Stren Super Braid, 5/8-ounce Spro Aruku Shad (gold/black) and 1/2-ounce Strike King RedEye Shad (blue-chrome, red highlights added with marker).

> Weightless worm gear: 7' medium-heavy All Star rod, Pflueger Supreme reel, 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, 4/0 offset Gamakatsu hook, 5 1/2" Zoom Z-Nail and 6" Yamamoto Senko (both junebug).

> Swim-worm gear: 7' medium-heavy All Star rod, Pflueger Supreme reel, 14-pound Stren Easy Cast mono, 4/0 straight-shank wide-bend Gamakatsu hook, 1/4-ounce Tru-Tungsten Worm weight (green-pumpkin, superglued to head of worm), Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed worm (watermelon/red).

> Main factor in his success – "Probably staying in 3 feet of water, fishing slower than I've ever fished before, and staying around pads next to the hydrilla. I'm a slow, southern fellow, but I'll tell you, I fished slow. I guess it's what you call soaking it. You had to be very patient. You'd sit there, flip the (weightless) worm out, let it sink until you know you're resting on bottom, twitch it, and let it sit again."

> Performance edge – "Probably the Stren Super Braid with the (cranks). I was able to fish the grass and jerk the baits over it. Also, feeling the bites with the Berkley fluorocarbon. They were just so light as a dink sometimes. The last day, I caught eight or 10, and might have felt only four of them."



ESPN Outdoors
Photo: ESPN Outdoors

Despite a disastrous practice, Scott Rook turned his second consecutive Toho Top 5.

3rd: Scott Rook

> Day 1: 5, 19-14
> Day 2: 5, 13-12
> Day 3: 5, 13-06
> Day 4: 5, 09-07
> Total = 20, 56-07

Scrubs Slough, where Rook, Sedgwick, and a ton of other pros fished (and where Brett Hite won the Toho FLW Tour a few weeks ago) was sort of the event's community hole. Rook shared prime real estate there with Jason Quinn, and the two worked together to milk it.

As noted, Rook fished shallower than Sedgwick, in the 2- to 3-foot zone, where he swam a worm.

"It was a 6-inch junebug worm, with a paddletail, and I was fishing it just like a spinnerbait," Rook said. "What I was really keying on were the little deeper spots and ditches."

> Swim-worm gear: 7' medium-heavy St. Croix Legend Elite rod, Abu Garcia Revo Premier casting reel, 20-pound Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, 5/0 Daiichi straight-shank hook, 1/4-ounce Tru-Tungsten Worm weight (black, pegged with a Bass Pro Shops Sinker Stopper), 6" unnamed paddletail worm (junebug).

> Main factor in his success – "Just being really patient. The fish I caught in practice weren't very big. I had a horrible practice. I just went to the area that I thought had the best potential. It had a lot of cover – lily pads, hyacinth, Kissimmee grass – but the main deal was the hydrilla. Also, I learned several years ago that you just have to be really, really patient in Florida. Don't panic, don't get in a hurry, fish slow and the fish will come."

> Performance edge – "Definitely the Trilene 100% fluorocarbon line. I jacked some big ones, especially the first day, and had them tied up. I just horsed them out of there. I wasn't losing them. I wasn't breaking them off. That stuff is unreal."

Notable

> Pattern information for VanDam, plus Kenyon Hill (4th) and Bill Lowen (5th) will be published soon.