Bennett Relied On Mix Of Bedding, Pre-Spawn Fish

The consensus opinion going into the Lewis Smith FLW Tour was that spawning fish would likely play a role in the outcome, but there weren't enough on the beds to carry an angler to victory. That's exactly how it played out.

Smith is a decent fishery, but it's not one of the bass Meccas of the South. Spotted bass are predominant, and there's a 15-inch minimum length requirement on them and their largemouth cousins. Many of the spots that are catchable throughout most of the year fall just short of that standard.

Also, the major wave of the spawn is a little bit late this year, probably due to cooler-than-normal temperatures in the region. Those factors combined to ensure that the tournament would be a low-weight event, and just catching a limit each day was a stern challenge.

California's Michael Bennett split his practice time between locating beds and developing a pre-spawn pattern, and then he executed it brilliantly across the 4 competition days. The spawners got him into the Top 10, and then the pre-spawners took center stage during the weekend.

The California caught the biggest bag on each of the final 2 days, and his 27-08 total gave him a winning margin of just over 3 pounds over rookie Scott Canterbury of Alabama. The triumph was his first at the tour level and moved him into 2nd place in the Angler of the Year (AOY) standings with a third of the six-tournament season in the books.

Here's how he did it.

Practice

Bennett went to Jasper, Ala. with a specific plan for his 4 practice days.

"I figured that 80 to 90% of the fish were still pre-spawn, so I wanted to dedicate the first 2 days to figuring out how to catch the ones that weren't on the beds yet," he said. "I got on them pretty quick the first day – I caught about 10 keepers and would've had about 13 pounds – and I developed a pretty solid understanding of what they were doing."

He found concentrations of spotted bass relating to docks that were on primary or secondary points.

"On one dock I caught a 3-pounder and 10 others came up with it. I knew I was doing the right thing, so it was just a matter of finding the right stretches."

He switched his focus to finding bedders on the 3rd day. There were quite a few largemouths spawning in the back ends of pockets, but a lot of anlgers were on them. So he looked for spots that had set up closer to the mouths of the creeks.

He found one pocket that had a gradually sloping bank and a lot of chunk rock, and figured he could get a 10- to 12-pound limit right there. By the time the day was over, he'd pinned down eight or nine spawners of at least 2 1/2 pounds each.

The final practice day was sunny and offered perfect conditions for looking, and he found another gradually sloping bank that harbored a 15-pound limit. There were three fish that combined for about 8 pounds all within a cast of each other.

"Not many people were looking for spotted bass, so I thought I'd have most of them to myself. And I was pretty sure I could get a few keeper bites every day (fishing for the pre-spawners) on a shakey-head or a Berkley Gulp! Sinking Minnow.

Days 1 and 2

Day 1: 5, 12-13
Day 2: 5, 12-04 (10, 25-01)

Bennett got a major break in the boat draw – he was No. 4 for day 1, and immediately ran to the spot with the three spawners all within casting distance of each other. After 15 minutes of fishing, that trio was in his livewell.

He next visited an aggressive bed-fish in about 8 feet of water, but buried the hook in its belly when he swung on it and had to release it. He finished off his limit with a 2-pounder and a 2 1/2, and then went and checked on some of his other spawners. They were still there, and he spotted a couple of others along the way.

He started day 2 in 10th place. The weather would get nasty as a strong storm blew in, but he capitalized on a few hours of calm in the early going to ensure his place among the Top 10.

He went back to the fish he'd snagged and caught it within 15 minutes, and then added two more spawners to his bag just minutes later. By the time he'd filled out his limit a couple hours later, the full brunt of the storm had arrived.

He wanted to cull once to solidify his position, so he went to a dock and caught a 3 1/4-pounder. He ended up climbing four spots in the standings.

"Sixth place is about exactly where I wanted to be," he said. "You don't want to burn too many fish to make the cut, but you don't want to cut it to close and not make it, either."

Days 3 and 4

Day 3: 5, 14-09
Day 4: 5, 12-15 (10, 27-08)

The cool, wet weather hung around for day 3, and Bennett figured he'd have an easier time going after pre-spawners than those that had already locked onto beds. "The bed-fish I had left weren't going to win the tournament," he said.

He ran to a point where he'd gotten a couple of bites in practice and boated a pair of 2-pounders in the first 20 minutes on the Sinking Minnow. Then he went to some docks and broke off a good one when it wrapped around a cable.

He went to the dock where he'd caught the 3 1/4-pounder the day before and caught an almost identical fish off the same type of cast.

"That was interesting because it looked like they were kind of replenishing themselves. I said, 'This could definitely could work.'''

He sandwiched a 3-pounder between two other good ones that broke off in the poles and cables of the docks. He filled out his limit and gave that stretch a 2-hour rest, then came back and culled twice.

"I figured that was enough for the day. In the worst case, I figured I'd be in 3rd place, and in the best case, I'd be leading."

He was indeed at the top of the standings, and with a 2-pound cushion to boot.

The final day started a little slowly – he got only one bite from his best stretch of docks. But at the next stretch, he caught a 3 3/4-pounder on his first cast and a 3 1/2 about 5 minutes later.

"At that point I knew I'd be okay. I had three in the boat and two of them were big, so I was pretty jacked."

He ran to one of his bed-fish, a 2 1/2-pounder, and caught it with his second cast. He finished up with a 2-pounder from his best dock stretch.

"Right at the end of the day I had another decent bed-fish hooked, but it came off. I was pretty frustrated, but it turned out I didn't need it, so it was no big deal."

Pattern Notes

> The outside edges of Bennett's best docks sat in about 80 feet of water, with the inside edges over 30 to 40 feet. The fish were suspended underneath.

He'd skip the Sinking Minnow underneath and let if fall on a slack line.

"In practice they were taking it after it had fallen about 5 feet," he said. "By the third day, it was 10 feet, and on the last day, it was 25 or 30 feet. I had to let it go for as long as I could stand it."

Winning Gear Notes

> Sight-fishing gear: 7'2" medium-heavy Fenwick Elite Tech Strokin' Special rod, Abu Garcia Revo casting reel, 17-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line, 1/2-ounce unnamed tungsten weight, 2/0 offset-shank hook, 3" Berkley PowerBait Beast (pearl).

> If he deemed a bed-fish non-aggressive: 7' medium-heavy Fenwick Techna AV Spinning rod, Abu Garcia Cardinal 702 spinning reel, 8-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon, 1/4-ounce unnamed dropshot weight, 1/0 unnamed offset-shank hook, Berkley PowerBait Hand Pour finesse worm (watermelon).

> Dock-fishing gear: same rod, reel and line used for non-agressive bed-fish, unnamed size 1 hook, 5" wacky-rigged Berkley Gulp! Sinking Minnow (watermelon).

The Bottom Line

> Main factor in his success – "Probably my knowledge of spotted bass – we have the same species of them in California."

> Performance edge – "The 100% Fluorocarbon line held up incredibly well for all that I put it through, and the Sinking Minnow was important because of how long I could keep it in the strike zone. Shakey-heads sunk too quickly if you didn't hit them right on the head with it."

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