Elias' Crankbait Skill Carried Him At Falcon

In BassFan's preview story of last week's Lake Falcon Bassmaster Elite Series event, Alton Jones said the anglers who'd be most successful on the southwest-Texas reservoir were those who fished their strengths. That proved to be a spot-on prediction.

Twenty-six year bass-fishing veteran Paul Elias amassed a record-breaking 132-08 4-day total at Falcon to earn his first tour-level win since an FLW event at the Atchafalaya Basin in 2003. And he did it by sticking with his strengths.

Saying Elias likes to throw a crankbait is like saying Lake Falcon has a few big bass swimming in its depths. He's a crankbait guru, and when there's a big-fish bite to be had on a diving plug, you can bet on him to be a strong contender.

At 56-years-old and over 5 years removed from his last victory, some might have written off Elias as past his prime, but he proved last week that he still belongs at the top level of the sport.

Here's how he cranked up the win.

Practice

Elias came down to scout Falcon earlier in the year, but he only had about half a day to explore and 25 mph winds kept him confined to the upper portion of the lake.

"I wasn't out there long, but I knew right away it would be the kind of lake I was going to like," he said. "There was lots of deep cover and that fits right in with my style."

He hit the lake last Monday not really knowing what to expect and "just went fishing." He ran the lake focusing on various structures labeled on his GPS and easily located several schools.

"I think everybody was really kind of feeling each other out that first day (of practice)," he said. "That lake has so many fish in it that nobody really knew what was good and what was just average. But I figured out really quick that 4- and 5-pounders weren't going to cut it.

"The good thing was that there were 7- and 8-pounders mixed in with my cranking fish, so I thought I might be on to something. The next day of practice I caught a 10-pounder cranking and that's when I knew I'd probably be throwing a crankbait a whole lot over the next 4 days."

Days 1 and 2

> Day 1: 5, 28-05
> Day 2: 5, 39-01 (10, 67-06)

The tournament started off on the wrong foot for Elias when he got a late boat draw on opening day.

"The fish were pretty easy to find on this lake and I think that's why you had so many guys who were sharing spots and fishing the same water," he noted. "I didn't know if guys would be on my areas or not, but I had a feeling I was going to have to change some stuff up."

His feeling was right. He arrived to his A spot to find it occupied by Ish Monroe. He watched Monroe for a few hours in hopes he'd move off the spot, but he never budged. When he arrived at his next spot and found Scott Rook working it over, he knew he'd have to scramble.

"I guess you'd call the areas I fished on day 1 my backup, backup spots," he said. "I caught a decent limit of fish on a shallow-diving crankbait, but I just didn't have the numbers or the quality in those areas that I knew were in those other spots."

He weighed 28-01 the first day and settled in 26th. To put it in perspective, Rook caught 35-12 and ended the day in 2nd, and Monroe weighed 35-06 and finished in 3rd.

With the boat order flipped from the previous day, Elias got the early jump on his best area.

"I told Ish that I was going to go in there, get my five fish and then leave," he said. "But I went in there and caught four that probably weighed 30-plus so I left early and let him have it."

He caught another fifteen fish over the next several hours, most of which didn't help his limit. With time running out on his day he ran back to a creak near the takeoff where he cranked an 8-pounder off a road bed that bolstered his sack by nearly 4 pounds. His day 2 total of 39-01 rocketed him up the leader board 22 places into 4th.

Days 3 and 4

Day 3: 5, 27-07
Day 4: 5, 37-11 (10, 65-02)

Elias began day 3 on his A spot, but he had to share it with Monroe.

"I knew we were in trouble when we both showed up on that spot," he said. "You just can't throw four lines through there constantly and expect to catch fish. And I couldn't maneuver around to crank the point the way I needed to, so I left."

He had about 22 pounds in the well when he left his first spot. He returned to his shallow-crankbait area and tanked a 7 1/2-pounder, then followed that up with a 6-pounder he caught flipping. That added up to his smallest bag of the tournament at 27-07, but weights dropped for most of the Top 12 competitors and he only slipped one place into 5th.

"I was about 15 pounds out of it going into the final day, but the way this lake fishes there's always that little voice in the back of your head that says, 'It could happen.'"

He started the day with a 5 pounder on a deep-diving crankbait, but the next two fish that hit the crank jumped off.

"I hadn't been losing many fish on the crank so when those two jumped off it made me wonder if they were short-striking it," he said. "So I put that crankbait down and decided to pick up a Carolina-rig."

The Carolina-rig produced another 20 pounds for him by noon, which is when he decided to give his shallow point another go. All he found there was a bunch of 3-pounders, so back to his deep point he went.

"When I came back in on my point I thought to myself, 'I need to show these fish another angle,'" he said. "I'd been out deep casting shallow, so I decided to switch it up and go up shallow and cast out deep.

"They'd seen that crankbait come by the same way too many times," he added. "Once I brought it through there at a different angle they started jumping on it again."

Three casts at the new angle produced his biggest fish of the day. He followed that up with two more on the crankbait that culled his two smallest in the livewell.

"I was just going up a quarter-pound here, a half-pound there. By the time I was done I figured I had about 39 pounds.

"I knew if anybody slipped I'd have a chance," he said. "I just had a weird feeling out there the whole time, like I knew something was going to happen. When I started catching those big ones I thought, 'Hmm, I remember these days.'"

Pattern Notes

> About his shallow-crankbait area, he said: "There were schools over there pushing shad up in about 2 feet of water. I was catching 2-pounders out of there and then I had one jump off and when he did a 5-pounder came up behind him and ate (my crankbait). That let me know the bigger fish were down below. If I could get the square-bill through there without a little one eating it I'd usually catch a big one. I'd burn it down to the bottom and just kill it. When it stopped, they'd eat it."

> The deeper point where he was throwing the deep-diving crankbait and the Carolina-rig tapered off into about 30-feet of water. His marker buoy was sitting in 28 feet of water off the side of the point.

> "I was kneeling and reeling to get that crankbait down deep enough," he said about his technique on the deeper point. "The sweet spot was right around 15-feet deep. I'd bring it down the side of that point and as soon as I felt it bouncing off the bottom I'd get bit."

Winning Gear Notes

> Shallow crankbait gear: 6'6" medium-action Quantum PT Series rod, Quantum PT Tour Edition 1160 casting reel (6.3:1 ratio), 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line, Mann's C4 square-billed crankbait (chartreuse/blue back).

> He swapped out the stock #4 hooks on the C4 for #2 Gamakatsu 4X Strong trebles.

> Deep crankbait gear: Quantum PT Signature Series Paul Elias crankbait rod, Quantum Energy PT Tour Edition E750 casting reel (5:1 ratio), 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line, Mann's 20+ deep-diving crankbait (Ol' Homer).

> He also replaced the stock hooks on the 20+ with #2 Gamakatsu 4X Strong trebles.

> He described the Ol' Homer color as a chartreuse bait with a light-green back. "I believe if you asked any good crankbait fisherman to choose one color, it'd probably have some kind of chartreuse in it."

> Carolina-rig gear: Quantum PT Signature Series Greg Hackney flipping rod, Quantum PT Tour Edition 1160 casting reel (6.3:1 ratio), 50-pound Stren Super Braid, 20-pound Berkley Big Game leader, 1-ounce tungsten weight, 6/0 Gamakatsu Superline EWG worm hook, 12-inch Mann's Jelly worm (plum).

The Bottom Line

> Main factor in his success – "I think it was spending the majority of my practice time out deep and being able to fish my strengths. That really gave me a lot of confidence."

> Performance edge – "I think a little bit of everything came into play. All my co-anglers and even my camera guy commented on how far I was casting. That's a combination of the rod, the reel and the line. In order to get the bait down you have to make the longest cast possible. That fluorocarbon line is really sensitive and it helps the bait get down deeper, too."

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