Photo: BassFan
Kevin VanDam rattled his way to a Bassmaster Classic victory in Beeswax Creek – the key, he said, was to deflect the bait off cover, then let it flutter down.
(Editor's note: This is part 2 of a 2-part story. To read part 1, click here.)
Part 1 of this story illustrated how cranking – whether deep, shallow or lipless – has grown to dominate the tours. Certainly, geography and calendar play the most significant roles in determining which techniques dominate from year to year, and clearly, the post-spawn and the heart of bass-country
represent the focus of both tours.
Whereas part 1 presented the data, this second part provides an overview of the winning patterns from every 2010 tour event. From KVD's Classic win to Kevin Hawks' soaring Cup victory, it's all here in one convenient package.
Kevin VanDam, Bassmaster Classic, Lay Lake (AL), Feb. 19–21
The 2010 Classic was the Battle of Beeswax, because that was the only creek with warm enough water for an active bite. KVD ultimately almost won the 2007 Classic in that creek, but this time around he sealed the deal with a stunning 19 1/2-pound final-day limit. His key: Banging a rattlebait into cover, then letting it flutter down.
Rattlebait gear: 7' medium-action Quantum Tour KVD cranking rod, Quantum Tour KVD casting reel (5:1), 17- and 20-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS fluorocarbon, 1/2-ounce Strike King RedEye Shad (gold and gold/sexy-shad).
He said he fished the heavier line to help float the bait in shallow water.
About color, he said gold was important to help match the gizzard shad in the area. "Gizzard shad in dirtier water have a gold sheen," he noted. Red didn't seem to work as well for him.
He switched out the stock hooks for No. 2 Mustad KVD Elite Triple Grip trebles. "Treble-hook lures are known for losing bass. I'd been working for years to try to figure out ways to increase the number of bass I land with crankbaits of all sizes. I finally got Mustad to build the hook I wanted. It's extra short, so you can fit large hooks on a smaller bait without tangling. I used two No. 2s on the RedEye and two 4-pounders that I caught in the back – I landed them."
Brent Ehrler, Table Rock FLW Tour (MO), March 3–6
Like the Classic 2 weeks prior, Table Rock was a frigid fishery with water temps in the 30s. Ehrler ultimately triumphed by fishing channel bends up the White River. The flat areas atop the bends were littered with standing timber and served as staging areas.
Grub gear: 7' heavy-action extra-fast Lucky Craft shakey-head rod, Abu Garcia Soron SX40 spinning reel, 12-pound Sunline PE braid, 8-pound Sunline FC Sniper fluorocarbon leader, 1/4-ounce ballhead jig, 5" Yamamoto Single-Tail grub (smoke) and 4" Yamamoto Single-Tail grub (natural shad).
He used the same gear to throw the natural-shad Yamamoto Swimming Senko.
Jerkbait gear: 6'11" medium-action Lucky Craft Power Pointer rod, Abu Garcia Revo Premier casting reel, 10-pound FC Sniper, Lucky Craft Pointer 100DD (pearl wakasagi).
Crankbait gear: 7 1/2' medium-action Lucky Craft Deep Strike cranking rod, Abu Garcia Revo Winch casting reel, 10-pound FC sniper, Lucky Craft RC 2.5DD (ghost minnow).
The jig he threw on day 4 was a 1/2-ounce Pepper jig (Delta special) tipped with a 5" Yamamoto Double Tail grub (color 301).
John Crews, California Delta Elite Series (CA), March 11–14
Who can forget John Crews winning the Delta on his very last flip of the tournament? He flipped the outside edges of hydrilla and also did some flat-body cranking.
7'6" heavy action custom-made flipping stick, Daiwa Zillion casting reel (7:1 ratio), 65-pound Vicious braid or 25-pound Vicious fluorocarbon line, 1- or 3/4-ounce Tru-Tungsten weight, 5/0 Gamakatsu hook, Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver (penetration) or Gambler BB Cricket (riverbug).
Cranking gear: 7' medium-action custom-made rod, Daiwa Zillion casting reel (6:1 ratio), 12-pound Vicious fluorocarbon, Spro Little John (blood craw).
"I really made that color for fishing out West," he said of the crankbait. "It's not as good in water that's heavily stained, but if there's just a light stain I really like it."
Byron Velvick, Clear Lake Elite Series (CA), March 18-21
Byron Velvick made his name by winning the U.S. Open multiple times, but came into the national spotlight when he won a Bassmaster Invitational at Clear Lake with a hitch swimbait. That was before anybody was throwing them in competition. He badly wanted to win there each time B.A.S.S. went back, but never did it until this year. And once again, he threw a swimbait, but this time is wasn't a Basstrix, it was a Rago.
Swimbait gear: Prototype 7'10" medium-action Duckett Fishing swimbait rod, Abu Garcia Revo Toro casting reel (5.4:1 ratio), 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon line, 6" Rago BV3D swimbait (hitch).
He fished the bait with an Owner Stinger Harness Rig with a size 4 treble hook, which was inserted into the belly of the bait. He said that helped him boat some short-striking fish.
He worked the bait extremely slowly through the grass and across the twigs in 3 to 5 feet of water. "I was throwing it out and letting it sink to the bottom, and then just slow-crawling it," he said. "It was important that it just kept creeping along the bottom."
He also kept the bait slathered with Hot Sauce Gel attractant.
Photo: BassFan
Bryan Thrift used a locally made jig to skip docks at Norman in the quest for upgrade fish.
Bryan Thrift, Norman FLW Tour (NC), March 24-27
The Norman fish were staging and not yet on beds. That gave local Thrift – the eventual FLW Tour Angler of the Year – a solid advantage, because he knew where the best staging spots were. He started out each morning with a crank and tried for a limit of spots, then targeted brush under and around docks in the quest to upgrade.
Crankbait gear: 7' medium-action Damiki Dark Angel rod, Abu Garcia Revo Winch casting reel, 12-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, Damiki DC-100 (real shad).
About the Dark Angel rod, he noted: "I've been throwing with this rod for 2 years and it's hands-down the best crankbait rod I've ever touched. It has the perfect action – a little bit of a soft tip, but a lot of backbone. You can feel everything the crank's doing."
Jig gear: 6'9" medium-heavy unnamed rod, Abu Garcia Revo STX HS casting reel (7.1:1), 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, 1/2-ounce Shooter Lures jig (green-pumpkin), unnamed chunk-style trailer (green-pumpkin).
Third-place Andy Montgomery and 4th-place Brian Travis also threw a Shooter jig. It's a local make, and it's handtied, so the skirt doesn't slip down when skipping docks.
Skeet Reese, Smith Mt. Elite Series (VA), April 15–18
The first few days of Smith Mt. were easy – everyone found fish on beds and it was game-on. But then the easy bed-fish ran out, the wind began to blow and Skeet Reese went to work with a swimbait. The Californian averaged nearly 21 pounds over the final 2 days – roughly 6 pounds more than the next-best weekend performer (3rd-place Dean Rojas). His 78-01 total for 4 days outdistanced runner-up Jason Williamson by 15-09.
Swimbait gear: 7'6" medium-heavy Wright & McGill Skeet Reese signature Tessera swimbait/Carolina rig rod, Abu Garcia Revo Skeet Reese casting reel (6.4:1 ratio), 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon line, unnamed 1/0 treble hook, 6" Jerry Rago SKT Swimmer (light hitch).
"As a whole, I don't think too many guys really committed to throwing the swimbait – most of them were looking and not fishing," he said. "That front that came in really opened the door for me – when the wind blows, it breaks up the light and pushes the baitfish around and does everything you need to make the bigger fish more active. Otherwise I would've gone out and caught another 14 to 18 pounds again and maybe I still would've won, but I don't know. I was targeting big bites with it. I wasn't throwing that bait to catch 2 1/2-pound fish."
Sight-fishing gear: 6'8" medium-action Wright & McGill Skeet Reese signature Tessera shakey-head rod, Abu Garcia Soron spinning reel, 8-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon line, 1/0 Trokar dropshot hook, wacky-rigged 6" Berkley PowerBait Heavy Weight Sinkworm (watermelon).
Glenn Browne, Ft. Loudoun–Tellico FLW Tour (TN), April 21–24
The leaders over the first 2 days mostly weighed bedding smallmouths, but Browne carried the day by flipping a backwater that had recently come up in water level. The largemouths moved in but weren't bedding and he flipped his way to victory, helped by a few swimbait fish he caught in Tellico.
Swimbait gear: 7'3" Abu Garcia Vendetta rod, Abu Garcia Revo Premier casting reel, 6/0–1/8-ounce Davis Swim X hook, 30-pound Spiderwire Ultracast braid, Gambler Big Easy (white).
> Flipping gear: 7'6" heavy-action Fenwick Elite Tech Flippin' Stik, Abu Garcia Revo STX (left-handed), 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, Gambler 4" tube (black-neon/chartreuse).
> He started out with a 5/0 Gamakatsu Superline EWG hook, but ran out. "I went out that night and the only ones I could find were the new Trokars – the 5/0 MagWorm," he noted. "I put one on and those hooks are absolutely unbelievable. You'd hook that fish way back in the jaw and normally you'd be able to pop the hook out, but I needed pliers. That barb was so far in you owned him. I'm going to start using them more. I hate to pay the price, but if they put fish in the boat like that, I've got to."
> He's also not sponsored by Berkley (or Fenwick or Abu Garcia) – he lost his sponsorship last year when Pure Fishing didn't renew with FLW Outdoors – but he's still using the stuff. "That Berkley Trilene 100% is the best line I've ever put on a rod and reel. You can jack a fish as hard as you want and you don't need to worry about breaking it."
Kevin Short, Pickwick Elite Series (AL), April 29 – May 2
To the dismay of some in the 93-angler field and the delight of others, the Tennessee Valley Authority had dropped the water level in Pickwick about a foot overnight prior to day 1, ostensibly to make room for the rain that was headed that way. Many who were fishing extremely shallow were thrown for a loop, and that worked to the benefit of those working offshore haunts. Much of the stuff that Short had practiced on in his backwater area was high and dry. But he's a river fisherman at his core and knew what he needed to do. "I put all the jig stuff away, knowing it wasn't going to work," he said. "I'd seen that situation before when we've had floodwaters on the Arkansas River, and the fish pull straight out to the first piece of cover." That was the cypress trees. He tied on a WEC E1 crankbait and went to work around their flooded trunks.
Cranking gear: 6'6" medium/moderate St. Croix Premier glass rod, Ardent XS 1000 casting reel (6.3:1 ratio), 15- or 17-pound Vicious fluorocarbon line, WEC E1 crankbait (chartreuse classic or chartreuse/black).
The chartreuse classic bait was effective under the sunny skies of the first 2 days, but he switched to chartreuse/black once the sun went away for good on day 3.
He used the 15-pound line when he wanted the bait to run a little deeper and said that was critical on the final day.
Skeet Reese, Guntersville Elite Series (AL), May 6–9
The top patterns at this event all involved cranking either main-river ledges (summer haunts) or shallower hard-bottom areas (stopover areas). Reese didn't get locked into a single area – he relaxed and went fishing. "There was no grass involved, but I guess hard bottom as a whole was the key," he said. "Every one of my spots was so different, so it's not like I had this constant pattern going. I had a bridge, a jetty on the main river channel, a deeper shellbed, a river ledge with scattered stumps and rock, and also that bridge I used the last day. It was interesting because there wasn't really anything consistent to all the schools of fish."
Crankbait gear: 7'10 Wright & McGill Skeet Reese Magnum Crankbait rod (glass), Abu Garcia Skeet Reese Revo, 10-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, Lucky Craft R.C. 3.5DD (splatterback).
His mop jig was homemade.
He also weighed some fish caught on a Rapala DT16.
Jason Williamson, Clarks Hill Elite Series (GA), May 20–23
Williamson capitalized on the tail end of the blueback herring spawn by seeking cooler water upriver. A 7-12 lunker on day 3 helped push him to victory despite a light, 7 1/2-pound day 4.
Jig gear: 7'6" extra-heavy Duckett Fishing MicroMagic rod, Bass Pro Shops Johnny Morris Gold Series casting reel (7:1 ratio), 20-pound McCoy fluorocarbon line, 1/2-ounce Buckeye Lures Mop Jig (brown), Zoom Super Chunk trailer (green-pumpkin).
Fluke gear: 6'9" medium-heavy Duckett Fishing MicroMagic rod, same reel, 15-pound McCoy fluorocarbon, 4/0 Trokar TK 100 hook, Zoom Super Fluke (white/pearl).
Shakey-head gear: 7' medium-action Duckett Fishing MicroMagic rod, BPS Johnny Morris Gold Series spinning reel, 8-pound McCoy fluorocarbon, 3/16-ounce Buckeye Lures Spot Remover jighead, Zoom Trick Worm (green-pumpkin).
Photo: B.A.S.S./Seigo Sato
Tommy Biffle "bottom-bugged" at Ft. Gibson using a Gene Larew prototype jig that's now available as the Biffle HardHead.
Brent Ehrler, Ouachita FLW Tour (AR), May 26-29
Ouachita was a post-spawn, bedding bluegill tournament and Ehrler threw topwater and a neko rig in bluegill bedding areas.
Topwater gear: 6'10" medium-action Lucky Craft Sammy rod, Abu Garcia Revo Premier casting reel, 28-pound Sunline PE braid, 19-pound Sunline Machine Gun mono leader, Lucky Craft Gunfish 115 (pearl ayu) and Brian's Prop Bee (bluegill).
> He swapped out the stock hooks on both baits for Owner No. 4 Stinger-36 trebles.
> Neko rig gear: 7' heavy-action Lucky Craft Reaction Tube rod, Abu Garcia Soron spinning reel, Lunker City Nail weight, 1/0 Owner Weedless Wacky hook, 5" Gary Yamamoto Senko (green-pumpkin/amber laminate).
Kevin VanDam, Kentucky Lake Elite Series (KY), June 9–12
Nearly everyone at Kentucky Lake fished deep, including KVD, but he pinpointed the best schools and was able to get them to fire. "I threw a football jig, a worm, a (Strike King) Sexy Spoon and a big swimbait, but a crankbait was just the best at getting them to fire," he said. "You can be a lot more efficient with it because you can make a precise, pinpoint cast and the sweet spot you have to hit can be really small."
Cranking gear: 7'10" medium-heavy Quantum Tour Edition KVD rod, Quantum Tour Edition KVD casting reel (5.3:1 ratio), 12-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS flurocarbon line, Strike King Series 6 XD (chartreuse sexy shad).
When his action slowed down, he switched to the Silent Stalker version of the Series 6 XD, which is available only through Bass Pro Shops. "I'd throw the one with the rattles first to get them fired up, then follow it up with the silent one, and that's actually the one I caught most of my bigger fish on," he said. "I really discovered the effectiveness of it at Guntersville after I'd been catching them for an hour on the 6 XD, and then they started just bumping the bait and wouldn't take it. I started throwing the Silent Stalker and it was like I'd never even fished for them. They went for another hour and a half on the silent bait."
He changed out the stock hooks on his baits in favor of No. 1 Mustad KVD Elite Triple Grip Trebles. "That's a big one and it's also a real strong hook. I was able to land a lot of doubles and I didn't have to worry about my hooks being straightened out."
He caught one weigh-in fish on a 10-inch Strike King Rage Tail Thumper worm (green-pumpkin) fished on a 6/0 Mustad Big Mouth tube hook with a 1/2-ounce weight.
> He applied FishSticks Lure Enhancer to every bait he threw throughout the week. "I was doing everything I could to get them to bite and hold on a little better, and it seemed to help."
Tommy Biffle, Ft. Gibson Elite Series (OK), June 17–20
A last-minute venue change (due to flooding) put Biffle on his home water and he took full advantage. He bottom-bugged, which is "cranking" a hinged football-head jig tipped with a creature along bottom.
Bug gear: 6'10" heavy-action Quantum Tour Tommy Biffle rod, Quantum Energy PT SS casting reel (7.3:1 "Burner"), 20-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon, 7/16-ounce homemade hinged football-head jig (green-pumpkin/copper), Gene Larew Biffle Bug (watermelon-red/dark-back).
The jighead used a 4/0 Owner Wide Gap hook.
> He also used a 9/16- and 5/16-ounce head, depending on water depth.
Photo: BassFan
Kevin Hawk marked thousands of brushpiles and made stop after stop all 4 days of the Forrest Wood Cup.
Brent Long, Guntersville FLW Tour (AL), June 24–27
One key ledge made all the difference for Long. It was only the size of the combined square footage of a couple of bass boats, but he and his co-anglers pulled well over 100 pounds worth of fish off it over 4 days.
Jig gear: 7'1" heavy-action G. Loomis GLX Jig and Worm rod, Shimano Curado E700 casting reel (7:1 ratio), 15-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, 3/4-ounce Ernest Langley football jig (blue oyster), Zoom Fat Albert Twin Tail Grub trailer (green-pumpkin/purple flake).
Cranking gear: 7'3" G. Loomis GLX crankbait rod, same reel (5:1 ratio), 10-pound Bass Pro Shops Excel monofilament line, Bill Norman DD22 (sexy shad).
Worm gear: Same rod, reel and line as jig, 3/8-ounce lead weight, 5/0 Gamakatsu worm hook (black), Texas-rigged Zoom Ole Monster (redbug).
Kevin Hawk, Forrest Wood Cup, Lake Lanier (GA), August 5–8
Hawk moved from California to the shores of Lanier and practiced the lake for the better part of a year in anticipation of the Cup. He mapped thousands of brushpiles and that's what he fished all 4 days of the Cup.
Dropshot gear: 7' Lucky Craft dropshot rod, Shimano Symetre spinning reel, 7-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon, 3/8-ounce dropshot weight, 6" Roboworm Straight Tail (morning dawn).
> Fish Head gear: 7' G. Loomis 843 IMX rod, Abu Garcia Revo casting reel, 10-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper, 1/2-ounce Sworming Hornet Fish Head Spin (albino), Zoom Salty Super Fluke Jr. (white).
– End of part 2 (of 2) –
