Keith Combs is fast making a name for himself at the tour level. The Texan, a fourth-year tour pro, is ranked 19th in the world and he clinched his first major win on Sunday at the Toyota Texas Bass Classic (TTBC).

It would be hard to imagine a stouter field – the Top 15

from the Bassmaster Elite Series, FLW Tour and PAA Tournament Series, plus a few wildcards – and Combs bested them all.

The 3 days of competition actually ended in a tie between Combs and Mike Iaconelli, but Combs won the sudden-death fish-off when he landed a keeper 45 minutes into the overtime.

Following is look at Combs' winning pattern.

Practice

Combs, a Texan, had competed at Conroe several times over the years, including last year's TTBC in which he finished 4th.

This year he was able to pre-practice for 4 days. About that pre-practice, he said: "I spent a week last year trying to get ready for this event, and that practice gave me a little insight into what I thought I needed to do this time. I knew I'd fish primarily offshore, and I knew I'd fish manmade brush and would try to catch them cranking. I thought I had a better shot at big ones on big cranks, so that's what I tried to think about going into practice.

"In the 4 days of pre-practice I did very little fishing," he added. "I only fished to get my lineup on the brushpiles and get them marked real good on GPS. I ran two Humminbird 1198s with Side-Imaging, and that was one of the biggest factors in winning."

He estimated that he marked 300 different waypoints that had potential.

Then for the official practice he stopped on several of the waypoints to see if he could catch a fish there. In addition, if he'd ever caught a fish on a waypoint in past tournaments, he left that waypoint alone.

Winning Pattern Notes

Combs weighed a 15-fish, 76-12 total, which tied him with Mike Iaconelli. Combs then weighed the first keeper in the sudden-death overtime, a 15-incher from one of his waypoints, and thus was declared the winner.

The first 2 days, it took Combs all day to amass his limit, and he caught key late fish each day.

The final day, he caught all his weigh-fish in a 30-minute flurry that started at 3:00. The flurry came at a spot that hadn't necessarily produced that week, and it was a spot that let him down years ago in an event. Overall his bites were few and far between, and the final day, he went 5 hours between bites.

He cranked all his fish with a Norman DD14.

Water temp was in the low-70s.

He offered the following insights about his pattern:

  • "Although I fished it all, 80% of my bites came on main-lake stuff. The stuff way back in the creeks wasn't very good."

  • "It seemed like if there was some new, big, really bushy brush and some old brush, they'd be in the old stuff."

  • "I tried to hit 40 to 50 holes a day."

  • "The spot that produced my bites on the final day was a channel bend and there was a school of bass and stripers there. It was like two or three stripers for every bass. But the bass were in there. The timing was critical – I pulled up at the right time."

  • "Most of the stuff I fished averaged 6 to 8 feet deep."

  • "I tried to cast right into the heart of the brushpiles. I wanted to hit it aggressively. If fished a 7.3:1 reel and reeled it as fast as I could."

    Winning Gear Notes

    > Cranking gear: Power Tackle PG170 glass cranking rod, Shimano Curado casting reel (7.3:1), 10-pound Berkley Trilene XT mono (green), Norman DD14 (nutter shad), No. 2 Owner Stinger trebles.

    The Bottom Line

  • Main factor in his success – "I think looking back it was really just fishing to win. If you went shallow you cold catch some fish, but they wouldn't be very big – like an 8- to 10-pound limit. I just stayed out and threw that big crank and went long periods between bites."

  • Performance edge – "Two things really – the Humminbird 1198 with Side-Imaging. That was critical. And that Yamaha SHO – it worked flawlessly. I ran 50 to 60 stops a day and was hammering on it and it was flawless."

    Notable

    > Combs recently moved from Del Rio, Texas to Huntington. "It's more centrally located," he said. "It's right next to Rayburn and near the Red River and Conroe and Toledo Bend."

    Much of the tackle referenced above is available at the BassFan Store. To browse the selection, click here.