The prevailing mindset among tour-level anglers has always been that when the Lake Erie bronzebacks are biting, you're wasting your time if you try to go anywhere else.
That mentality held up during the first 2 days of competition at last week's Detroit River FLW Tour event. But as winds increased and Erie's surface turned into a tumbling mess of foam and spray, it was the smaller and less volatile Lake St. Clair that proved to be the wiser choice.
That's where North Carolina pro Alvin Shaw spent every hour of his practice and competition time, and it paid off with the second victory of his 13-year career and a $200,000 bump in the bank account.
Shaw racked up nearly 40 pounds of St. Clair smallmouths during the last 2 days of competition to hold off another St. Clair slugger, Vic Vatalaro, by just 3 ounces.
Here's how he did it.
Practice
Shaw came into the Detroit River event well within the cut for the Forrest Wood Cup championship at 18th place in the FLW Angler of the Year (AOY) points race, and his strategy was to play it safe in Lake St. Clair where he thought he could assemble a respectable finish and lock down a berth in the big dance.
"Winning (the tournament) never really crossed my mind during practice," he said. "My whole goal was to just catch enough fish so that I kept my place in the Cup."
He spent all 4 days of the practice period within the confines of Lake St. Clair. A little bit of prior experience combined with a whole lot of running and looking helped him come across a few productive areas.
"I just kept punching around until I caught a couple good fish," he said. "Your electronics are so important on that lake because everything is so far offshore. I'd run around, catch a good fish and then punch it into my Humminbird.
"I really didn't beat anything up in practice," he added. "I honestly didn't have a very good feel for what was on my spots. I knew I'd be able to manage a decent limit, but I didn't know I'd be able to scratch 20 pounds off those spots."
Competition
> Day 1: 5, 20-04
> Day 2: 5, 20-15 (10, 41-03)
> Day 3: 5, 20-14
> Day 4: 5, 18-13 (10, 39-11)
As is the case in most tour-level wins, Shaw's victory was a combination of a solid plan, smart decisions and a little bit of good fortune. When he pulled up to his first spot on day 1, it was already occupied by another boat. The same thing happened at his next two spots.
"I thought to myself, 'My gosh, how does everybody find these same places?'" he said. "But as it turns out, that was a good thing. All three of those spots were a little shallower than the areas I ended up catching my fish .
"I think those spots were holding fish, but the fish were moving out of those areas and into my deeper spots."
It wasn't until the scales locked in his limit at 20-04 on day 1 that he realized he was on to something a bit more productive than he originally thought.
Instead of just dragging his tube through the grass, Shaw says he "popped it" off the tops of the grass to excite the St. Clair smallmouths.
"That's when I knew that these fish might actually be good enough for a decent finish," he said. "I still wasn't thinking about winning the tournament, but I knew I could definitely make the championship with what I had."
Even with a 20-plus-pound day-1 stringer, Shaw finished the first quarter barely within the cut at 10th place. He knew if he wanted to fish the final 2 days he'd have to haul in another bag similar to the one he brought in the day before.
Fortunately for him, he didn't have to burn through too many fish on his way to amassing his day-2 limit.
"The biggest fish on each spot always bit first," he said. "In retrospect, that might have been what saved me and let me last until the end. When I pulled up in a spot, I knew the first fish I caught was going to be the best one in that area. So I didn't have to beat anything up. I'd just catch one and leave."
He jumped eight places up the leader board on day 2 and qualified for the cut in the 2nd-place position behind local stick David McCrone, but he had a lot of work to do in order to get ready for day 3.
On the final 2 days of competition, the Top 10 anglers fish out of boats provided by FLW Outdoors. Shaw runs Humminbird electronics on his boat, and that means he had to convert all his waypoints to the Lowrance unit on the sponsor boat.
"It was nerve wracking," he said about the process of getting everything in working order for day 3. "I was up until 12:30 converting all my waypoints to the new unit."
But the late night and frazzled nerves obviously didn't hurt him much. He tanked another 20-pound limit on day 3 to take the lead into the finals.
He showed up at his a-spot on the morning of day 4 only to find it packed with locals - both observers and anglers. On top of that, the wind had changed directions, which altered the drift pattern that'd been producing for him the first 3 days of competition.
"I caught one good fish on my best spot, but I just couldn't fish it the way I wanted to," he said. He hole hopped the rest of the day and scrounged up a respectable limit, but he knew it was smaller than anything else he'd weighed all week.
"I knew Vic (Vatalaro) was catching a lot of good fish, and I figured he'd caught them pretty good that morning. But once I started pulling those fish out my bag at the weigh-in they looked a little heavier than I thought they were.
"When those scales locked and I realized I'd won it, it was just a huge relief. This whole thing still hasn't really sunk in. I'm in a whole new tax bracket now."
Pattern Notes
Here are some notable quotes from Shaw about his winning pattern and technique.
> "The area I was working was a 6-square-mile flat that was adjacent to some spawning areas. I was looking for scattered grass and sand spots. The key was you had to be in the grass. If you made a drift and didn't hit any grass, you didn't get bit."
> "I think a big difference was the way I was working the bait. I'd let my tube hit the grass, and then I'd slowly pull up on it so it climbed up to the top (of the grass). Then once it was at the top, I'd just pop it off and that's when they were eating it."
A Berkley Gulp! Alive! 5-inch leech dragging through the grass captured one of Shaw's key bronzebacks.
> "I can't really explain it, but the fish I was catching were either 13-inches or they were 4-pounders. I'd almost say they were spawning, but I can't say for sure. I wish I could explain what was going on in this area, but I haven't been able to put it together yet. There was definitely some kind of male-female relationship."
> "I think there may have been some crawfish molting going on in this spot, too. Those fish were spitting up so much crawfish in my livewell that I had to clean the screens on my aerator so it would pump."
> "Most of my fish came on a tube, but I did get a couple key bites with a Berkley Gulp! Alive! leech. I needed to retie a few rods, so I threw that leech out there on a dropshot and just let it drag. I was just about done retying when my co-angler said 'You better get that rod.' I set the hook and it was a 4-pounder. I only won it by 3 ounces, so that bite made a big difference. It's amazing you can just let that Gulp! sit out there and they eat it."
Winning Gear Notes
> Tube gear: 6'6" medium-fast G. Loomis GLX casting rod, Team Daiwa TDX 103 reel (6.3:1 ratio), 6-pound Gamma fluorocarbon, 5/16- and 1/2-ounce Maumee jigheads, 3 1/2" Maumee tube (green-pumpkin/gold flake).
> "Those Maumee jigheads have a kahle-style bend as opposed to a standard round bend, and I think that made a big difference," Shaw said. "I didn't lose a single fish all tournament."
> "Using that light 6-pound Gamma fluorocarbon was a big key, too. I didn't break off a fish, and I think it helped me get a few more bites."
> He sprayed his tubes and jigheads with Bang crawfish scent so that the jighead would easily slide down into the tube.
> The Berkley Gulp! Alive! leech he caught the 4-pounder on was the black olive color.
> "I started out throwing green-pumpkin in practice, then I switched to that green-pumpkin with the gold flake and got a few big bites. I don't know if it made a huge difference, but I had a lot of confidence in it."
The Bottom Line
Main factor in his success - "I think it was dedicating all my time to St. Clair and expanding on my areas."
Performance Edge - "I'd say my G. Loomis rods and my Humminbird electronics. Those rods are so sensitive that I could envision everything my bait was doing down there in that grass. And your electronics are so key on this fishery. The other thing is my Ranger boat and Evinrude motor. You can't play around on that lake, and my Ranger got me back safe. I was glad to have it."
