Wednesday Warm-Up Brought Fish To Haynes

By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor

Randy Haynes came to Lake Eufaula for last week's FLW Tour event with a feast-or-famine outlook. Basically, he was going to fish the way he's most comfortable and take his chances that way.

That meant he was counting on a good number of fish having made the transition from the spawning areas out toward deeper water where he would be waiting, armed with an arsenal of deep-seeking crankbaits, mapping software and the know-how to put them to use. His gamble – and it was in some regards just that considering how drawn out the spring has been in the south – paid off.

While many of his competitors combed the shallow grass or targeted docks or mixed shallow targets and offshore structure, he committed to an area not far from blast off and found ledges and bars that attracted packs of fish every day. Once he got dialed in to how the fish set up on those areas and identified a few sweet spots and the right timing of when to be there, everything fell into place for the Counce, Tenn., resident.

He averaged better than 17 pounds through 2 days, then built an 8 1/2-pound lead with a 22-pound stringer on day 3. His lightest sack of the event came on the final day, but the 16-01 was more than sufficient to close out his first career Tour-level win after four previous victories in the EverStart Series.

He picked off the fish with a three-pronged attack that included Strike King's Series 5 and 6XD crankbaits, along with a swimbait and a Carolina rig that he picked up on day 3.

More than anything that happened during the tournament, though, he believes the real turning point occurred last Wednesday, the off day between practice and the start of competition.

"If those fish weren't deep, I'd have probably zeroed," he said. "It was a total do-or-die deal. I'd made my mind up what I was going to fish and just kept hoping. It really happened on the off day Wednesday. It got up to 88 degrees and was still calm. We had a 60-degree night that night. That's when those fish really moved out."

He got started fishing ledges on Tennessee River impoundments in the late 1990s and FLW Tour angler Mark Rose, widely hailed as a master of offshore structure fishing, credits Haynes with guiding him through the lengthy learning process of what it takes to consistently catch fish well off the bank. But Haynes was nearly speechless when asked to put words to what this triumph meant to him.

"The first one means everything and my win at Kentucky Lake was against such a tough field of competitors, but this is right there with all of them," he said. "David Fritts was there, so was (Bryan) Thrift and (Scott) Martin and (Justin) Lucas and (David) Dudley. It's pretty special."

Here’s how he did it.

Practice

While Haynes' offshore expertise has been built on the Tennessee River, he liked the potential Eufaula held due to its plethora of humps and ledges. The lake's history also intrigued him because it was a place anglers he grew up idolizing, including Fritts, made names for themselves.

He immersed himself in map study leading into practice, but it didn't translate to success on the water right away.

"You can't help but have a lot of information on a lake like that," he said. "I really studied the maps and the drains and ditches and high spots. I about went blind looking at that map.

"My first 2 (practice) days were terrible. I had some fish up the river one day, but got the bites so late in the day that it scared me to death, especially with the current generation. I got some bites Tuesday and when I saw the forecast, I knew it was a shot in the dark, but that's just the way I fish. I knew I was taking a risk, but I didn't have a choice."

Competition

> Day 1: 5, 17-03
> Day 2: 5, 17-11
> Day 3: 5, 22-02
> Day 4: 5, 16-01
> Total = 20, 73-01

While some anglers struggled to comprehend what happened to their pre-tournament game plans on day 1, Haynes saw his gamble start to pay off.

He caught 17-03 and was in 10th place after the first day of competition. Some of his competitors took notice, too, noting that if their patterns tailed off, he could be a threat to make a move upward.

He kept up the pressure on day 2 with a 17-11 stringer that put him in 2nd, 2 1/2 pounds behind Thrift. Because it didn't have the history at Eufaula that he does at TVA lakes, he was still in the midst of learning the way the fish related to the structure he was fishing during the tournament.

"I was still learning the bars and how to fish them and how each one sticks out and how the corners corner and all that," he said.

Another thing he noticed was the fish were in smallish packs of five to seven and it was hard to catch more than two out of a particular grouping before they scattered.

"They got me on camera (on day 3) catching a 4 1/2-pounder and I threw back and caught a keeper," he said. "I must've thrown back in there 20 times after that and couldn't get a bite."

That 4 1/2-pounder was part of a 22-02 stringer on day 3 that propelled him to a commanding 8 1/2-pound advantage.

As part of his spot rotation, he would let certain areas rest to give the fish time to replenish and reposition. During the afternoon on day 3, he had a brief but memorable encounter with Dudley, who moved in on his primary area.

"I moved off of it for a bit to let them rest," he said, "and he pulled up pretty close so I started inching back over. He said, 'Hey Randy, are you fishing this?' I said, 'Yeah, but you can go ahead and fish it.' He didn't say another word. He just picked up his trolling motor and left. I thought that was super nice of him."

On the final day, Haynes said he "got out of whack" on his rotations and started too early and struggled for a bit in the morning. But by the end of the day, he got back in sync and the sweet spots in Cowicki Creek produced one more time to allow him to close out the win.

"I had some places in Cowicki and some places in river, but my main places were in river the last 2 days," he said. "I don't have a choice but to fish offshore. A lot of people will catch fish around the bank and once they get five, they go deep and only catch one so they head back to the bank. It just worked out for me."

Pattern Notes

By the time tournament was over, Haynes knew exactly how and when the fish would position in relation to the ledges he was on.

"In the morning, they'd sit in front of the bar and that's when I'd throw the swimbait and crankbait," he said. "When the sun got up, it seemed to push them up on the bar. On day 3, they fed with the rain and storms coming through.

He said the water temperature reached 74 out where he was fishing and just a little bit of tint to it.

"After 4 days, I really figured out how they laid and how they fed," he added. "Each place I had, I figured out the three or four sweet spots on each one, but you had to lay it in there perfect on those places. A couple inches to either side and you weren't going to get bit.

"That lake set up like parts of Kentucky Lake with the shallow bars. They'd top out between 6 to 10 feet and most of them were on top, but were just off the top edge. Most of the bars were hard rock bottom with some chunk rock. If there was a kick out, that's where they'd be."

Winning Gear Notes

> Crankbait gear: 7'11" medium-heavy Kistler KLX Mark Rose Offshore casting rod, Lew's Speed Spool BB-1 casting reel (5.1:1 gear ratio), 14-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, Strike King Series 5XD and Series 6XD crankbaits (citrus shad).

> He swapped out the stock hooks for #2 Mustad KVD Elite Round Bend trebles on the 6XD and #4s on the 5XD.

> Swimbait gear: 7'6" heavy-action Kistler KLX casting rod, Lew's Tournament Pro casting reel (7.1:1 gear ratio), 20-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, 1/2-ounce unnamed swimbait head (5/0 hook), unnamed 5" and 6" swimbaits (various colors).

> He switched colors of swimbaits based on water clarity.

> Carolina rig gear: Same rod as swimbait, same reel, same line, 1-oz. unnamed Carolina rig weight, unnambed creature bait.

The Bottom Line

> Main factor in his success – "That ball of fire in the sky and that warm night we had Wendesday. That pretty well put them in transition. It was one of those tournaments that because everything's been late by 2 or 3 weeks, a lot of people turned a blind eye toward offshore. Guys would catch them in the grass and then go out deep and not catch them so they went back to the grass. Only the person willing to put the time in out there could do well and I was that guy because I had no choice. It was the reason I won at Pickwick and why I won here. That brought the fish to me."

> Performance edge – "My Lowrance electronics. I didn't really use them to much to find fish, but I relied heavily on the mapping and SideScan to see how those points and kickouts laid out. I wasn't interested in finding the fish because I knew they'd be on those bars. The Navionics and Lowrance mapping were big keys."

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