Cliff Pirch, who emerged the victor at the Chickamauga FLW Tour Major, focused heavily on the spawn. He mixed sight-fishing with blind bed-fishing and also pitched a jig to staging and spawning cover. As the tournament wore on and the water rose back up, bed-fishing faded and Pirch went to pitching the jig exclusively.

Here's how the rest of the Top-5 finishers caught their fish.



2nd: Shinichi Fukae

> Day 1: 5, 23-11
> Day 2: 5, 19-13
> Day 3: 5, 16-01
> Day 4: 5, 10-15
> Total = 20, 70-08

Shin Fukae stood toe-to-toe with Pirch the first 3 days – the two traded leads and weighed about the same sack every day. But Shin ultimately faded on day 4.

He fished shallow – boat docks, brushpiles and breakwalls with several different presentations. He focused on depths from 1 to 10 feet but changed often: Water that was 1 foot deep on day 1 had 4 feet of water on it by day 4.

> Crankbait gear: 6'10" medium-heavy Megabass Tomahawk F3-610GT3 rod, Shimano Metanium Mg DC casting reel, 16-pound Yoz-Ami D-ARM fluorocarbon, Lucky Craft RC2.

> Texas-rig gear: 7'2" Megabass Orochi X4 F6-72X4 rod, Shimano Metanium Mg DC7 casting reel, 16- and 20-pound Yoz-Ami D-ARM fluorocarbon, 4/0 Gamakatsu Heavy Cover Worm hook, 3/8-ounce weight, Gary Yamamoto Flappin' Hog and other similar creature baits.

  • Main factor in his success – "The last day of practice, plus some adjustment during the tournament. I practiced as much as I could from dawn to dark like I always do. Although the first 2 days (of competition those banks) were ruined due to the condition change, I figured something out the last day of practice and it paid off with some adjustment."

  • Performance edge – "Number one, my two Megabass rods, to keep casting all day without tired muscles. They are very comfortable. Number two, my Power-Poles. One of my methods was fishing slowly and carefully. I could do that much easier using Power-Poles. I needed them all 4 days, but especially when the wind was blowing."



    3rd: Tom Monsoor

    > Day 1: 5, 22-02
    > Day 2: 5, 14-13
    > Day 3: 5, 17-04
    > Day 4: 5, 15-02
    > Total = 20, 69-05

    If there's a swimjig bite, you can bet Wisconsin pro Tom Monsoor will be right on top of it.

    He claims the Mississippi River as his home water, and he felt right at home in the ever-changing conditions at Chickamauga.

    He swam a jig through bullrushes, and also pitched the same jig into the holes.

    "The bullrushes were still brown – the green shoots were just starting to come up," he said. "I was swimming the outside edges and flipping the inside edges and holes."

    He noted his banks were adjacent to the main lake and the fish were in there "to spawn and to eat."

    > Jig gear: 7' medium-heavy St. Croix Legend Elite rod, Team Daiwa TD103 casting reel, 16-pound Gary Yamamoto Sugoi fluorocarbon.

    > His jigs were homemade in black/chartreuse and black/brown/purple.

    > His setup for swimming was a 1/4-ounce jig tipped with a junebug Gary Yamamoto grub. His flipping setup was a 3/8-ounce with a sapphire blue Uncle Josh pork frog.

  • Main factor in his success – "It was pretty much like fishing at home. I was real comfortable with it."

  • Performance edge – "The jig. It's built how I want it. It comes through the emerging vegetation and those bullrushes real nice. It's made for that."

    BassFan
    Photo: BassFan

    Scott Canterbury went with a heavier weight the final day to penetrate the densest cover he could find.

    4th: Scott Canterbury

    > Day 1: 5, 18-11
    > Day 2: 5, 14-13
    > Day 3: 5, 14-07
    > Day 4: 5, 19-09
    > Total = 20, 67-08

    Scott Canterbury flipped and caught the heaviest sack on day 4.

    He had stuff all over the lake and said he started in a different spot each day. Day 1 was a day of scattered success. On day 2, he caught a limit fishing "the outside edges of spawning pockets back up in creeks."

    He played it conservative on day 3 in order to make the cut, then on day 4 flipped the thickest, gnarliest cover he could find, and also landed a key ChatterBait fish.

    "I think why you saw a lot of guys struggle the last day or two is they probably banked on one area," he noted. "I totally changed areas and patterns every day.

    "I was flipping a Jackall Sasuteki craw in the thickest, heaviest cover I could find in areas where the fish started coming back up," he said of the final day. "They were moving in, I guess for security. Earlier in the week they were spawning and I was flipping a lighter weight for a slower fall, but after the water started coming up I went to 3/8- and 3/4-ounce to bury it in the thick cover."

    > Flipping gear: 7'6" Tigerodz flipping stick, Abu Garcia Revo STX casting reel, 20- and 25-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, 4/0 Paychex straight-shank hook (tied with snell knot), various worm weights (see note above), Jackall Sasuteki craw (junebug was best, but he also used green-pumpkin/candy).

    > He said when he switched to the heavier weights the final 2 days, he also mixed in a Netbait Paca craw and a Berkley Chigger craw.

    > ChatterBait gear: 7' medium-heavy Canoe Creek rod, same reel, 17-pound Berkley Trilene Maxx mono, 1/2-ounce Z-Man ChatterBait (sexy shad), Zoom Speed Craw trailer (pearl white).

  • Main factor in his success – "Just being able to adapt every day. The last 10 minutes of the second day was probably my best 10 minutes in FLW history. I caught six keepers and culled three times in a total of six different spots. I'd crank it up, run to another piece of cover and catch one on the first pitch. The third day I fished real conservative and sort of tried to save fish."

  • Performance edge – "There's so much to credit, and fishing slow was the key, but I'd have to credit my Typhoon Polarized Optics. They got me into the cut. The Sasuteki craw was real important too. Those two things got me into the cut."

    BassFan
    Photo: BassFan

    Brett Hite swam a jig all 4 days.

    5th: Brett Hite

    > Day 1: 5, 16-01
    > Day 2: 5, 17-03
    > Day 3: 5, 14-08
    > Day 4: 5, 14-13
    > Total = 20, 62-09

    A few years ago, Brett Hite won back-to-back events at Toho and the California Delta with a Phoenix ChatterBait-style swimjig. He did the same thing at Chickamauga and although he didn't weigh any eye-popping bags, he was consistent enough over the 4 days to land a Top 5.

    He ran all over the lake rather than focus on a single area.

    "I caught them all on my new signature Power Series Phoenix Vib Jig," he noted, and added that it's patent-compliant with the original Z-Man ChatterBait, with several improvements to the hook, materials and such. "A lot of the fish were spawning on the shoreline grass in a couple of the real good areas I had. When the water went down, they went to the docks and little stumps. They got real spooky and you had to make really long casts.

    "I was just winding that Vibrator jig next to the little stumps and stuff. It was so shallow you'd never think a fish was there, but all of a sudden one would just clobber it."

    When the water came back up, he went back to fishing the shoreline grass.

    > Swimjig gear: 7'4" medium-heavy Evergreen glass rod (prototype), Abu Garcia Revo Premier casting reel, 20-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon, 1/4- and 3/8-ounce Phoenix Vibrator jigs.

    > He tipped a GP-color Vibrator jig with a 4" pearl-white Yamamoto Swimming Senko, and a B Hite Delite-color Vib jig with the same Swimming Senko, but he dipped the tail chartreuse.

    > He swam the 1/4-ounce jigs when the water was lower.

  • Main factor in his success – "Honestly, the minute I picked up that Vibrator jig I knew the bite would be on. I went to Guntersville the week before and wore them out on it, so I just tied on those two colors – one whitish, one greenish – and I never put them down all of practice. I had maybe 25 pounds the first day of practice and three limits over 15 to 18 pounds. The next 2 days I just cut the hook off and went searching for water. I made thousands of casts. My shoulder's wore out."

  • Performance edge – "For me it was definitely that Vibrator jig. I just have so much confidence in that thing. It works so well in shallow water around grass or stumps or anything. It gets the big, big bites and when the fishing's good on the Tennessee River, those are the key bites."