Dudley Sealed Win With Wacky Rig

By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor

The junk-fishing opportunities that presented themselves at the Beaver FLW Tour Major were almost innumerable, and that played into the hands of a number of anglers who enjoyed mixing and matching and fishing the conditions, including tournament champion David Dudley.

“I like anywhere we go,” he said. “I don’t mind power-fishing. I don’t mind bed-fishing. I’m comfortable whatever lake they put me on.”

By the afternoon of the final day of competition, however, Dudley had narrowed his tools of choice to the ever-evolving umbrella rig and a wacky-rigged worm. Both proved extremely productive for the all-time leading money winner in FLW Outdoors history, but it was the wacky rig that carried him through a furious late-day culling fest on day 4 and on to victory.

Here’s how he did it.

Practice

Dudley said his practice “absolutely stunk” as he was unable to get on a consistent bite with much quality. He essentially turned his tournament days into an extended practice session.

“Basically, I won this tournament by practicing for 4 days," he said. "The first half of the first morning, I tried the areas I’d found and I had one largemouth and four spots. At 11:30, I said, ‘Forget this, I’m going practicing.’”

Competition

> Day 1: 5, 12-05
> Day 2: 5, 11-12
> Day 3: 5, 13-13
> Day 4: 5, 16-09
> Total = 20, 54-07

By the midway point of day 1 of the tournament, Dudley knew he had to get on a largemouth bite if he wanted to contend. He had plenty of schools of spotted bass he could run to if need be, but those weren’t going to get him the quality he was looking for.

At noon, he more or less hit the restart button on his tournament, picked up an umbrella rig and came in with 12-05. From there, the momentum continued to build as he worked new water the rest of the way.

When the weather forecast for day 2 called for stiff winds in the 20- to 30-mph range, his confidence grew.

“I knew then from what the little bit I’d found in the afternoon of day 1, I was confident on what I could do,” he said. “Any time the wind blows on Beaver, you feel like you’re going to catch them. I was confident about that.”

Even without a big bite, he boxed 11-12 and made the weekend in 9th place.

He got off to a good start throwing the umbrella rig on day 3, but the bite tailed off. He switched to a wacky-rigged worm, throwing it in the same places, and saw immediate results as he caught 13-13 to pull himself into 4th place.

“I was learning as I went along,” he added. "They were the same fish people were catching on the A-Rig on wind-blown banks. I was fishing the banks that looked the same without the wind and I was catching them on the wacky worm.

"With the A-Rig you were looking for wind and when you don’t have wind, they were able to get a better look at it so I was using finesse tactics to catch the same fish. Any time they come off the spawn, they’re a little finicky."

He launched on day 4 trailing leader Scott Canterbury by 4-07, but after seeing Canterbury catch nearly 20 pounds on day 3, he knew the potential for him to bust a good sack was out there.

Again, he threw the umbrella rig in the morning, but managed just one keeper. He caught a couple more on a crankbait before going back to the umbrella rig. He had four in the livewell at 12:30 when he picked up the wacky rig. His first keeper bite on the worm nearly pulled him the water as it got hung up on a submerged tree limb that forced him to plunge his head into the water to break the limb off and free the fish.

It ignited a furious rally that saw him upgrade four times in the next 2 hours, with every bite coming on the wacky rig.

“From then on, I could just call my shots in the areas they were going to be in,” he said. “I went on a rampage. It was awesome. Those next 2 hours, it was lights out. I was really catching them. I’ve been on runs before where I rally back, but without a doubt this was the best one. It felt like hitting two grand slams in the ninth inning.”

He ran around plenty, but fished main-lake stuff and also in some creeks, staying more toward clearer water.

“I was just going all over the place,” he said. “Even what was muddy was still fairly clear.”

In the end, he weighed nothing but largemouths during the tournament, an almost unheard-of occurrence at previous Beaver Lake events.

Winning Gear Notes

> Umbrella rig gear: 7’11” heavy Abu Garcia Veritas casting rod, Abu Garcia Revo Premier casting reel (7:1 ratio), 25-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line, homemade 5-wire umbrella rig, unnamed 1/8-ounce jigs, unnamed 3” swim baits (shad color).

> While he threw a homemade version of the Alabama Rig, Dudley said Berkley is working on a prototype of the lure, which he’ll be using once it’s ready. Rigged with Berkley Powerbait Split Belly swimbaits, he believes the rig will be deadly.

> Wacky rig gear: 7’ medium-heavy Abu Garcia Verdict spinning rod, Abu Garcia Revo Premier 30 spinning reel (5.8:1 ratio), 10-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line, unnamed 2/0 straight-shank worm hook, unnamed soft stickbait (green pumpkin).

The Bottom Line
> Main factor in his success – “Just being mentally tough and making good decisions on the water.”

> Performance edge – “The rod and reel combo I was using. You can really cast the A-rig a long ways with that combo.”

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