Photo: ESPN Outdoors
Skeet Reese's decision to target deeper post-spawners resulted in a Bassmaster Classic victory.
Each year, BassFan takes a look back over the previous season to catalogue and analyze which patterns were most often represented in Top 5 finishes. Results are reported in an overall view, as well as month-by-month comparisons.
Through the years the data has illustrated trends like the growth of swimbaiting and frog-fishing, as well as the demise of techniques like the spinnerbait and buzzbait.
What were the trends in 2009? That'll have to wait until part 2 of this story. For now, here's a summary of each winning pattern from the 2009 tour season.
David Fritts, Guntersville FLW Tour (AL), Feb. 12–15
Legendary cranker Fritts zigged when the rest of the field zagged. He ignored the grass/lipless-crank bite and worked lipped cranks over rock. He also did some work in the main lake with a jig.
Crankbait gear: 7' medium-heavy American Rodsmiths David Fritts signature series cranking rod, Bass Pro Shops David Fritts signature series casting reel, 10-pound Sufix Pro Mix line, Rapala DT06 or Rapala DT10 crankbait (chartreuse/brown or blue shad).
He also designed the VMC Sure Set hooks employed on the crankbaits, but swapped out the standard No. 4s for No. 6s. "The bait performs a little better, but the main thing is if the fish aren't biting it real good and they're swatting at it, they catch them. I used to think just the opposite, but after many years I've realized that if you downsize the hooks and go with the smaller diameter, (the fish) get hooked easier."
Jig gear: 7' medium-heavy American Rodsmiths H3 Titanium rod, same reel, 10-pound Sufix Elite line, 3/4-ounce Fat Ratz jig (brown), Zoom Super Speed Craw trailer (green-pumpkin).
Click here to read more about his winning pattern.
Skeet Reese, Red River Bassmaster Classic (LA), Feb. 20–22
Skeet Reese fished the popular Bobo's Hole, but with a twist – he stayed more to the outside and intercepted pre-spawners as they entered the oxbow from the river. It was a winning decision because his fish were thus less affected by the spring cold fronts. He rode the same area for 3 straight days and switched between a spinnerbait and a plastic.
Spinnberbait gear: 7' extra-fast Lamiglas XR 704 rod, Abu Garcia Revo Winch (5.4:1), 50-pound Spiderwire Ultracast braided line, 3/8-ounce Lucky Craft Redemption spinnerbait (MS American shad head, nickel combination blades, customized translucent skirt).
He said he fished the spinnerbait on the Revo Winch because it's a strong, slower-geared reel. And he fished it on the braid because it cut through the pad stems better than mono or fluorocarbon.
Flipping gear: Lamiglas XFT 806 flipping stick, Abu Garcia Skeet Series Revo casting reel, 25-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, 3/16- and 1/4- ounce unnamed sinkers (1/4-ounce in wind), 3/0 unnamed hook, Berkley PowerBait Crazy Leg Chigger craw (black/blue-fleck).
Click here to read more about his winning pattern.
Anthony Gagliardi, Table Rock FLW Tour (MO), March 12–15
Gagliardi spent half of each day up the James arm and the other half up the White arm. He started shallow in the mornings but largely fished along the banks and moved shallower and deeper in search of new water all 4 days. He threw a jerkbait almost exclusively.
DD Pointer 78 gear: 7' medium-action Kistler Helium 2 spinning rod, Shimano Stradic casting reel, 6-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon, Lucky Craft DD Pointer 78 (unnamed color).
DD Pointer 100 gear: 6'9" medium-heavy Kistler Helium 2 rod, Shimano Core casting reel, 8-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon, Lucky Craft DD Pointer 100 (unnamed color).
Although he didn't specify jerkbait colors, photos clearly showed a "sexy" pattern.
Click here to read more about his winning pattern.
Jason Williamson, Amistad Elite Series (TX), March 12–15
Williamson waited 2 days for his best area to clear up, and when it finally did on day 3, he mined it for almost 69 pounds and coasted to an 8-pound win. He survived the first 2 days with a big worm, then did all his damage with a swimbait.
Worm gear: 7'3" heavy-action Falcon Cara rod, Abu Garcia Revo STX casting reel (6.4:1), 17-pound McCoy Fluoro100 line, 3/8-ounce tungsten weight, Zoom Ole Monster worm (watermelon-red).
Swimbait gear: 7'6" heavy-action Falcon Cara rod, Abu Garcia Revo STX casting reel (6.4:1), 20-pound McCoy Fluoro100, 8" Osprey Talon (hitch).
Click here to read more about his winning pattern.
Mark Menendez, Dardanelle Elite Series (AR), March 26–29
Menendez brought an aluminum boat to access skinny water and it paid off. He focused on an area in Spadra Creek that was about 3 miles off the main channel. He had to cross two wing dams and pass through a concrete culvert to reach it. Once there, he flipped wood.
Flipping gear: 7'6" moderate-action Power Tackle PG104 light-duty flipping stick, Pflueger Patriarch casting reel, 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon line, 1/4-ounce unnamed bullet weight (black), 2/0, 3/0 or 5/0 Ohio Pro Lure Sure-Grip shiner hook, Strike King Rage Tail Lizard (junebug), Coffee Tube (black neon) and KVD Pro-Model Tube (black neon).
> He inserted a large plastic rattle into both tubes. "That was a huge key," he said.
Click here to read more about his winning pattern.
Photo: FLW Outdoors/Rob Newell
Anthony Gagliardi's Table Rock attack was all about the jerkbait.
Tommy Biffle, Wheeler Elite Series (AL), April 2–5
Biffled worked in his trademark style – he camped in a backwater, flipped bushes and adjusted each day to rapidly rising and falling water levels. He had the place to himself.
Biffle's flipping gear was the same for all three baits – a 7'6" heavy-action Quantum Tommy Biffle Signature Series flipping stick, a Quantum Tour Edition PT "Burner" casting reel (7.0:1) and 25-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon.
A 3/8-ounce Lunker Lure Rattleback jig (black/blue) tipped with a Gene Larew Super Salt Biffle craw (black/blue with sapphire-blue claws)
A Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver 4.20 (black/red), Texas-rigged with a 5/16-ounce Tru-Tungsten Worm weight and 4/0 Reaction Innovations BMF hook, and pegged with a Tru-Tungsten Peter T. Smart Peg.
An 8.5" Gene Larew Biffle-O lizard (black-neon), which is a hollow-body and hollow-tail lizard. He Texas-rigged it with the same weight and pegging system, but used a 5/0 Owner hook.
Click here to read more about his winning pattern.
Stetson Blaylock, Norman FLW Tour (NC), April 23–26
Blaylock, a rookie, stuck with a jig at Norman, despite local lore that says fish get off the jig after they spawn. He fished docks and also picked up some sight-fish in-between docks. On the final day he mixed in a finesse worm.
Jig gear: 7' medium-action Abu Garcia Vendetta rod, Abu Garcia Revo premier casting reel, 12-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, 5/16-ounce homemade finesse jig (Texas-craw), 3" Berkley Power Chigger craw (green-pumpkin).
The worm he threw the last day was a Berkley Power Slim Shaky worm, which he fished on a shakey-head.
Click here to read more about his winning pattern.
Kevin VanDam, Smith Mt. Elite Series (VA), April 23–26
VanDam threw a curveball at the field when he targeted bedding smallmouths, not largemouths. He found most of them on main-lake and secondary points.
Sight-fishing gear: 7' medium-action Quantum PT Superlight or 7'4" medium-action Quantum KVD Tour Edition spinning rods, Quantum Energy PT 40 spinning reels, 8-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS fluorocarbon line, unnamed 1/8-ounce shakey-head jighead, Strike King 3X finesse worm (dirt).
He said the worm, which he nose-hooked, accounted for at least 80% of his weigh-in fish. "It was the best because it's buoyant – I could just let it sit there and wiggle."
> The worm color is a pumpkin-laminate/watermelon combination.
> He also caught fish on tubes, a Strike King 3X Centipede, Strike King Bitsy Bug Jig, Strike King Baby Rage Craw and dropshot rigs at various times throughout the event.
> He sprayed all of his baits with Mustad Activate Pheromone Bass Attractant and kept his Biosonix unit on at all times to keep the fish active.
> He would've fished his signature-series rods exclusively, but they're brand new and he had only three of them. That wasn't nearly enough to handle all of the baits he had rigged up.
Click here to read more about his winning pattern.
Aaron Martens, Guntersville Elite Series (AL), May 7–10
The key to Martens' win was he had more places where he could catch fish that weighed 5-plus pounds than anybody else, and a few of them were never encroached upon by another angler throughout the event. He fished from 3 to 10 feet and his best spots featured hard-bottom areas within the grass.
Cranking gear: 6'9" medium-action Megabass Chimera Evolution rod, unnamed casting reel, 20-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon line, Lucky Craft RC 2.5 DD crankbait (chartreuse shad) and LV 500 lipless crank (spring craw).
He said many of his fish were undeterred by grass hanging off his baits. "Those fish are used to chasing bait through grass," he said. "The (shad) will run to a clump of grass and get wedged in and just sit there."
Click here to read more about his winning pattern.
Photo: ESPN Outdoors/Gary Tramontina
Aaron Martens cranked his way to victory at Guntersville.
Ray Scheide, Walmart Open (Beaver FLW Tour) (AR), May 14–17
Beaver was about 8 feet above full pool and Scheide flipped the gnarliest floating debris he could find. Half the challenge was getting there – he'd work the boat over logs and everything else to reach debris others wouldn't fish. And he switched to new water the final day, which was the winning difference.
> Flipping gear: 7'11" medium-heavy Fenwick Elite Tech Flippin' Stik, Abu Garcia Revo STX casting reel, 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, 5/0 Gamakatsu Superline hook, 1/4- and 1/2-ounce tungsten weights (pegged with bobber stopper), 4" Berkley Crazy Legs Chigger craw (watermelon/candy).
"I was fishing some of the gnarliest stuff ever, but it was clear water, so I felt like I should be using that lighter line," he noted. "I never broke a fish off and I think the 15-pound got me a few extra bites each day."
He used the 1/2-ounce weight on day 1, but went to the 1/4-ounce after that. "They wanted a slower fall," he said.
About whether he swam the bait or soaked it, he said: "I never got bit swimming it. Most of the time I'd flip it and once it got to the bottom, I'd snap it a couple times before I brought it in. That seemed to trigger some bites every once in a while."
Click here to read more about his winning pattern.
Bobby Lane, Kentucky Lake Elite Series (KY/TN), June 3–6
Lane fished 1 hour at the same mussel bar each of the first 3 days, then sat right on top of it and played defense. And it gave him enough weight on a difficult day 4 to clinch victory by a comfortable margin. The top of his ledge was about 7 feet under the surface and he positioned his boat in about 15 feet of water.
Crankbait gear: 7'4" medium-heavy All Star rod, Abu Garcia Revo Winch casting reel (5.4:1 ratio), 12-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon line, Norman DD22 (splatter bass) or Bomber Fat Free Shad (citruse).
Swimbait gear: 7'9" heavy-action Fenwick rod, Abu Garcia Revo SX casting reel, 17-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, Berkley PowerBait Saltwater Mullet (dorado or watermelon pearl).
Worm gear: 7'1" heavy-action All Star rod, Abu Garcia Revo SX reel, 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, 3/4-ounce Tru-Tungsten weight, 5/0 Owner worm hook, 10" Berkley PowerWorm (plum).
He also caught one keeper with the PowerWorm on a Carolina rig.
Click here to read more about his winning pattern.
Keith Williams, Kentucky Lake FLW Tour (KY/TN), June 11–14
Williams fished south and worked a roadbed in the New Johnsonville area. "The roadbed was about 10 feet (deep), the ditch dropped into 20 feet, then it came up a little and dropped to 35 or 37 feet in the main river channel," he said. "It was just an old road that used to go along the river."
Jig gear: 7'6" heavy-action Team All Star flipping stick, Pflueger Patriarch casting reel, 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, 3/4-ounce Strike King Football jig (green-pumpkin) and 3/4-ounce homemade football jig (green-pumpkin), 6" Zoom Brush Hog (green-pumpkin/red).
Worm gear: Same rod, reel and line, 5/16-ounce Tru-Tungsten Worm weight (black), 5/0 Gamakatsu round-bend hook, Zoom Ol' Monster worm (plum).
Click here to read more about his winning pattern.
Kevin Short, Mississippi River Elite Series (IA), Feb. 20–22
Short fished a single area all 4 days – a cut that fish were using to spawn. "The real key to the area was that it was about a foot deeper than the places most other guys were fishing – it was about 4 feet deep in the center," he said. "It seemed to hold more fish and I felt it would hold up longer with the water falling. The water probably fell close to a foot from Monday to Sunday."
Flipping gear: 7'11" medium-heavy St. Croix Legend Xtreme rod, Ardent F500 Flip-N-Pitch casting reel, 20-pound Vicious fluorocarbon line, unnamed 3/8-ounce tungsten weight, 3/0 Reaction Innovations BMF or 3/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook, Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw (junebug) or Strike King Coffee Tube (watermelon-copper).
He used the Reaction Innovations hook with the Speed Craw and the Gamakatsu with the Coffee Tube.
Cranking gear: 7' medium-action St. Croix Premier fiberglass rod, Ardent XS1000 casting reel, 17-pound Vicious copolymer line, WEC E1 crankbait (chartreuse classic).
Spinnerbait gear: 7' medium-heavy St. Croix Legend Xtreme rod, Ardent XS1000 casting reel, 15-pound Vicious fluorocarbon, 1/4-ounce Strike King Premier Elite spinnerbait, Zoom G-Tail Ringer worm trailer (chartreuse-pearl).
> He replaced the blades on the spinnerbait with a No. 3 (gold) and No. 3 1/2 (copper) blades and installed an "old-school" green and white vinyl skirt.
Click here to read more about his winning pattern.
Photo: FLW Outdoors/Rob Newell
Scott Martin fished north, not south at Champlain and found gold in the milfoil.
Scott Martin, Champlain FLW Tour (NY/VT), July 9–12
While popular thought was the event would be won south near Ticonderoga, Scott Martin worked the milfoil in Mississquoi Bay for the win.
Cranking gear: 6'10" Kistler Argon cranking rod, Abu Garcia Revo Premier casting reel, 12- and 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, Strike King Series 4 and Lucky Craft Big Daddy Strike 3 (both in shad colors).
He used the 12-pound line on the Series 4, since the grass was more sparse.
He swapped out all his crankbait hooks for No. 2 Owner Stinger trebles.
Chigger Craw gear: 7' extra-heavy Kistler Helium rod, Abu Garcia Revo Premier, 17-pound Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, 3/8-ounce weight, 4/0 Gamakatsu hook, Berkley Chigger Craw (green-pumpkin).
Click here to read more about his winning pattern.
Greg Hackney, Three Rivers Forest Wood Cup (PA), Feb. 20–22
The Hack Attack worked way up the Allegheny where he focused on tailraces and mayfly hatches. He rotated through a staggering number of different baits to find what the fish wanted minute to minute. He literally kept 20 rods rigged and used them all.
He noted that he caught his biggest fish on a 1/4-ounce Strike King Premier Pro Model spinnerbait with a No. 4 gold willow-leaf and small Colorado. However, other baits that accounted for fish included:
> A 3/16-ounce Strike King Mini-King spinnerbait (better for numbers)
> An 1/8-ounce Strike King Mini Pro buzzbait (on days 1 and 4)
> An 1/8-ounce Aaron Martens Scrounger head with a 3" soft-plastic shad
> A 4" Strike King 3X Finesse worm (on a dropshot)
> A wacky-rigged 4" Strike King Ocho
> A Strike King Rodent
Click here to read more about his winning pattern.
Chad Griffin, Oneida Elite Series (NY), Feb. 20–22
Griffin mined a magical schooling spot each morning with a topwater, then went to working grass.
Topwater gear: 7' heavy-action RPM Rick Morris signature series Rat-L-Trap rod, Shimano Curado casting reel (6.3:1 ratio), 20-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon, XCalibur Zell Pop (chartreuse/pearl).
Flipping gear: 7'10" heavy-action Custom Angle flipping stick, Shimano Chronarch MG casting reel (6.2:1 ratio), 20-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon line, 1- or 1 1/2-ounce Ezee Jig (Brazos craw), NetBait Baby Paca Craw trailer (peanut butter/watermelon).
He also flipped a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver (sprayed grass) on a 3/0 straight-shank Gamakatsu hook with a pegged 1-ounce River2Sea Trash Bomb tungsten weight.
Click here to read more about his winning pattern.
Much of the tackle referenced above is available at the BassFan Store. To browse the selection, click here.
