Sight-fishing alone wasn't going to carry anybody to a Top-5 finish at the Lewis Smith FLW Tour in Jasper, Ala.– anglers had to have something else going on to back it up, because the number of bed-fish was limited. A variety of different tactics filled that bill.
Only one member of that group didn't sight-fish at all – Luke Clausen. He used a shakey-head to work through large numbers of fish each day, which eventually resulted in double-digit sacks.
2nd: Scott Canterbury
> Day 1: 5, 11-08
> Day 2: 5, 15-04 (10, 26-12)
> Day 3: 5, 12-07
> Day 4: 5, 11-14 (10, 24-05)
Scott Canterbury, a rookie from nearby Odenville, Ala., never had an easy day on the water. He caught every bed-fish he found, and then filled out his limits with a couple of buzzbait bites per day.
His practice served just one purpose – it showed him that there were a lot of places that he didn't want to fish during the tournament. He fished by the seat of his pants all 4 days, and somehow parlayed it into a runner-up showing.
> Sight-fishing gear: 7'6" heavy-action G. Loomis telescopic flipping stick, Abu Garcia Revo casting reel, 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon, 1/4-, 5/16- or 3/8-ounce unnamed tungsten weight, 5/0 Owner wide-gap worm hook, 3" Berkley PowerBait Power Tube (green-pumpkin or avocado) or NetBait Paca Craw (green-pumpkin).
> "I'd try the tube on them first because I wanted something that was subtle," he said. "If I thought I needed something with a little more action, I'd go to the Paca Craw.
> Buzzbait gear: 6' medium-action G. Loomis rod, Shimano casting reel (7:1 gear ratio), 65-pound unnamed braided line, 1/2-ounce Lunker Lure buzzbait (chartreuse/white with a silver blade).
Main factor in his success – "Eliminating a bunch of water during practice. I stuck to one general area and fished it the whole tournament."
Performance edge – "It would have to be the flipping stick and my other sight-fishing equipment."
Koby Kreiger didn't win the tournament, but he did take over the lead in the Angler of the Year (AOY) race.
3rd: Koby Kreiger
> Day 1: 5, 11-12
> Day 2: 5, 11-03 (10, 22-15)
> Day 3: 5, 11-10
> Day 4; 5, 10-15 (10, 22-00)
Florida veteran Koby Kreiger became the new Angler of the Year (AOY) leader with his 3rd-place finish.
"I had a good practice and I was sort of cautiously optimistic," he said. "I caught a couple of big ones in practice, but I never got one during the whole tournament. I didn't lose any big fish because I never had one on."
His consistency was rock-solid, though – his four bags were all within a pound of each other. He did a lot of looking and also caught weigh-in fish on a Bomber Long A crankbait.
> Sight-fishing gear: 7' medium-heavy G. Loomis rod, Daiwa Steez 100 casting reel, 17-pound McCoy Mean Green line, 3/8-ounce Oldham's jig (black/blue) NetBait Paca Chunk Jr. trailer (okee craw).
> He also caught some bed-fish on an 8-inch Zoom lizard. He used the same rod, reel and line, a 3/16-ounce Bass Pro Shops XPS tungsten weight and a 4/0 Gamakatsu round-bend hook.
Main factor in his success – "Those fish were just coming up to spawn and cruising the banks, and I do my best when the fish are coming shallow. It just worked out for my style of fishing."
Performance edge – "My two eyeballs and my Costa Del Mar sunglasses."
Luke Clausen's pattern involved fishing stair-stepped bluffs with a shakey-head.
4th: Luke Clausen
> Day 1: 5, 12-05
> Day 2: 5, 10-02 (10, 22-07)
> Day 3: 5, 10-12
> Day 4: 5, 10-10 (10, 21-06)
Luke Clausen determined during practice that he didn't want to mess with sight-fishing because there weren't enough fish on the beds. He's more than adept with a shakey-head, and that was the horse he rode to the finish.
"I fished primarily stair-stepping bluffs that had ledges in 8 to 10 feet of water," he said. "I also fished where the bluff ends petered out."
His bait of choice was a Berkley PowerBait Fat Dover Crawler.
"The fish were on beds in 8 feet of water, but I couldn't see them. I'd let (the bait) hit the bottom and pick it up, then let it hit and pick it up, and they seemed to hold onto that bait longer than anything else."
> Shakey-head gear: 6'9" medium-action G. Loomis Bronzeback 822 GLX rod, Abu Garcia Cardinal 804 spinning reel, 10-pound Spiderwire Stealth main line with 12-foot prototype Spiderwire fluorocarbon leader, 3/32-ounce homemade jighead, Berkley PowerBait Fat Dover Crawler (green-pumpkin or watermelon candy).
> He threw the green-pumpkin Fat Dover when the sky was gray and the watermelon candy during sunny periods.
> He caught two schooling fish on the final day on a Megabass Giant Dog-X topwater bait (ayu).
Main factor in his success – "Finding new water every day and running that pattern on it."
Performance edge – "The fluorocarbon leader gave me better hooksets. Even when I picked up nothing but slack because they were swimming right at me, I was able to hook them."
Greg Pugh got excited when he found largemouths on beds during practice.
5th: Greg Pugh
> Day 1: 4, 8-10
> Day 2: 5, 17-11 (9, 26-05)
> Day 3: 5, 9-11
> Day 4: 5, 10-05 (10, 20-00)
Greg Pugh, who came into the event as a hometown favorite, failed to catch a limit on day 1. He made up for that on day 2, however, by hauling in the biggest sack of the tournament.
He sight-fished all day, every day except for day 3, when the wind and clouds made that tactic nearly impossible. He threw a jig that he transformed into a shakey-head rig that day and brought in a respectable limit.
"Normally I would've been finessing fish from the docks like (winner Michael) Bennett did," he said. "But when I started seeing the largemouths on the beds, I got away from doing that."
> Sight-fishing gear: 7'11" medium-heavy Fenwick Elite Tech Flippin' Stik, Abu Garcia Revo STX casting reel, 15-pound prototype Spiderwire fluorocarbon line, 5/16-ounce PJ's jig (green-pumpkin/chartreuse), unnamed chunk trailer (green-pumpkin).
> He also caught spawners on a white Berkley PowerBait Power Tube rigged with a 3/8-ounce Gambler Rattlin' Weight.
> Shakey-head jig gear: 7'3" Fenwick Elite Tech Riggin' Stik, same reel and line, 3/16-ounce PJ's football-head jig (green-pumpkin), 7" Berkley PowerBait Shaky Worm (green-pumpkin).
Main factor in his success – "When the fish start coming onto the beds, I lose my head. I automatically go and start looking for them."
Performance edge – "It seemed like on the cloudy days, the fish weren't interested in anything else, but they'd hit that white tube."
Much of the tackle referenced above is available at the BassFan Store. To browse the selection, click here..
