Yesterday, BassFan reported on Tommy Biffle's winning pattern from last week's Ft. Gibson Bassmaster Elite Series. Biffle's key was hard bottom – rough rocks within otherwise soft-bottom areas in 2 to 10 feet. He 'cranked' a modified football-head jig.
Biffle's winning pattern can be found here. Below is a look at how the rest of the Top 5 caught their fish.
2nd: Skeet Reese
> Day 1: 5, 15-11
> Day 2: 5, 17-05
> Day 3: 5, 19-15
> Day 4: 5, 18-00
> Total = 20, 70-15
Although Reese ran all over the lake and caught fish from deep to shallow, the only common thread among the spots, he said, was the fish were either real deep or real shallow.
"I caught fish from out in the middle of the lake on humps and breaks all the way to the very backs of shallow bays on foundations and rocks in a foot and a half of water," he said.
His two primary weapons were a jig for deeper fish and a crank for shallower fish. He had to keep replacing his crankbait because the bills wore down as he ground bottom.
> Jig gear: Wright McGill Skeet Reese Jig & Big Worm rod (yet to be released), unnamed prototype reel, 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, 1/2-ounce unnamed football jig (green-pumpkin), 3" Berkeley PowerBait Chigger craw (green-pumpkin).
> Crankbait gear: 7' Wright McGill Skeet Reese Crankbait rod, same reel, same line, Lucky Craft RC 2.5 (chartreuse/copper-shad, splatterback).
Pat Golden caught half his weight from a single laydown.
3rd: Pat Golden
> Day 1: 5, 18-15
> Day 2: 5, 17-00
> Day 3: 5, 18-13
> Day 4: 5, 15-12
> Total = 20, 70-08
Golden, a third-year pro, was oh so close to clinching his first win, but lost several big fish the final day that cost him the victory.
His comments mirrored those of Biffle – the fish were in very specific spots, and where there was one, there were more. In fact, Golden caught half his weight from a single laydown.
He focused on creek-channels in pockets and thinks he was catching late-spawners – many looked like they'd just come off beds.
"I think they backed off the flats and were hanging around these ditches wanting to move out into the lake or something," he noted. "One little area I found was really unique. It was a creek that had a cold-water drain running through it, which caused a pretty thick algae bloom in the back. The bait just went nuts back there and I think the bass followed the bait."
He got bit all 4 days in about 3 feet of water. He started out with a crankbait, but early in the tournament they suspended in brush and around stumps, so he switched to flipping and pitching.
> Flipping/pitching gear: 7'5" heavy-action G. Loomis Mossy Back rod, Abu Garcia Revo STX casting reel, 15- and 17-pound Trilene Big Game mono, 5/0 Gamakatsu round-bend offset worm hook, 1/8- and 1/4-ounce tungsten weights, 5/0 Gamakatsu round-bend offset worm hook, 1/8- and 1/4-ounce tungsten weights, 6" Zoom Brush Hog (watermelon/red, scuppernong).
Matt Herren had a disastrous day-2 occurrence that may have cost him the win.
4th: Matt Herren
> Day 1: 5, 18-03
> Day 2: 5, 14-13
> Day 3: 5, 19-09
> Day 4: 5, 16-08
> Total = 20, 69-01
Herren, a river-rat at heart, spent a lot of time up the river, but in general fished from mid-lake up. And he might have won if not for a mishap on day 2. He culled at 2:00, then a half-hour later went to cull again with a 4-pounder and saw that all his fish had died. He had to toss the 4-pounder back and quit fishing, as the culling of dead fish is prohibited in BASS competition.
The mysterious event cost him at least 4 1/2 pounds, he said.
He caught his fish three different ways – a crank, a flip-bait and a big worm.
"I started off the first day cranking a Bandit 300 and caught the big fish of the tournament (7-05)," he said. "The next day I got into a little flipping/pitching deal with a Beaver. Then the rest of the tournament I caught them on a Big Unit 10" worm.
"What was happening was they had current coming into the lake but they were drawing the lake down. They were losing water every day so you had to chase it. The whole week was about adjusting and rolling with the punches. For me, once I caught them in an area, it didn't really reload, so I always had to find new water."
> Crankbait gear: 7' medium-action Colmic rod, Pflueger Patriarch casting reel, 12-pound Trilene XT mono, Bandit 300 (shad).
> Flipping gear: 7'6' medium-heavy Colmic rod, 15- and 20- pound Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, 1/2-ounce and 5/16-ounce tungsten weights, Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver (black/blue-glitter) and Reaction Innovations 10" Big Unit (plum).
> He rigged the Beaver on a 5/0 Reaction Innovations BMF hook, while the Big Unit went on a 5/0 Gamakatsu offset worm hook.
Rick Morris says he fished the river so hard, and with so much energy, he suffered heat stroke on day 3.
5th: Rick Morris
> Day 1: 5, 15-00
> Day 2: 5, 18-06
> Day 3: 5, 20-00
< Day 4: 5, 14-00
> Total = 20, 67-06
Morris, a river rat too, fished the river the entire time and roped several giants. He kept the RPM broomstick in his hands, hoisted all his fish into the boat (no lipping) and attacked the gnarly river cover. But he did it in a methodical fashion.
"The key to my success was just covering a lot of water," he said. "I only fished a 2-mile stretch, but I probably fished 6 miles of water during a day. This place has some giants, and they're strong. The water temp up the river's in the high-70s, so they've got some really mean fish up there.
"I was flipping laydowns and stumps, but the key was to find the laydown that lay in the right direction and was in the right depth of water."
He said the "right laydowns" were those pointing downstream, and they had to be big and bulky. And a lot of times the big fish were on the top side of the laydown, where the current was hitting it. But they were never out on the ends of the laydowns – they were always close to the bank.
"You had to flip the bait up there and let the current suck it under the tree. You'd never feel the bite – it would just pull down."
> Flipping gear: 7'11" heavy-action RPM Custom Rods Okeechobee Special, Pflueger Trion and President casting reels, 20-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon, 3/4-ounce War Eagle football jig (black/blue), Prowler Flappin craw (black/blue).
> He also flipped an unnamed 10" plum worm.
