By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor


With high-water conditions at Sam Rayburn Reservoir last week for the second stop of the Texas Division of the Rayovac Series, competitors had plenty of options to choose from.

Some came in thinking sight-fishing spawning bass would be a productive method, but that quickly fizzled when it became apparent there were plenty of fish in the newly-submerged cover that was previously high and dry.

The result was an event dominated by anglers wrangling their catches out of buck brush and other thick, flooded cover. Runner-up Kris Wilson was one of the exceptions as he spurned the flipping and pitching pattern for a Carolina rig drug over points.

Below is a recap of how Wilson and 3rd-place finisher Jim Tutt worked their way close to the top of the leaderboard:

2nd: Kris Wilson

> Day 1: 5, 20-07
> Day 2: 5, 16-03
> Day 3: 5, 16-12
> Total = 15, 53-06

Wilson, who has a win and two runner-up finishes at Rayburn in Rayovac Series competition, has been fishing Rayburn since his pre-teen years, but it’d been a while since he’d seen it as high as it was for the Rayovac Series. The high water forced him to call an audible with his game plan.

“I figured they’d be spawning and going in, I thought I’d try to sight-fish, but when I got there, that was pretty well non-existent,” he said. “I found a few, but I knew it wasn’t going to hold up.”

He located a couple good schools of fish in practice and got on a pretty steady Carolina rig pattern that he built on during the tournament.

“I found more and more spots and figured that was the better option,” he said. “There were boats everywhere and guys were flipping all over the place and I had all of these Carolina rig spots and nobody else was doing that. I felt like it was my best option to win.”

Working in Wilson’s favor was the rapid rate at which the water was starting to fall. He figured that would entice more fish to pull out to where he was dragging a lizard around on main and secondary points.

“I’d focus mostly on the areas outside the bushes by the hay grass,” he said. “There’d be places with a good inside line between the hay grass and bushes. Later on, I’d move to between the inside edge of the hydrilla in 15 feet and the outside of the hay grass, which was in 10 feet.

“I caught a lot of fish that way. I must’ve caught 30 on day 1 and 50 to 75 between myself and my co-angler on day 2. Overall, it was a good tournament. I was pretty happy with it. I can’t complain at all.”

> Carolina rig gear: 7’8” heavy-action unnamed custom casting rod, Daiwa Zillion casting reel (9.1:1 gear ratio), 17-pound Seaguar Red Label fluorocarbon, 1-oz. unnamed tungsten Carolina rig weight, unnamed swivel, 4/0 Roboworm Rebarb worm hook, Big Bite Baits Kriet Tail lizard (green-pumpkin).

> Main factor in his success – "Paying attention to what the water was doing and my decision to fish for post-spawners. I feel like that gave me an advantage and I wound up on the right spots.”

> Performance edge – "My Humminbird 360. On one of the spots where I was catching them good, it was a main-lake, real flat point with scattered patches of hay grass. There was one patch about the size of your boat, but you couldn’t see it all as only the tips of some of it were sticking out of the water. I could see that with the 360 and throw around the edges of it and caught some doing that. It’s something I couldn’t have done without that 360.”



FLW
Photo: FLW

Jim Tutt targeted specific types of trees at Rayburn.

3rd: Jim Tutt

> Day 1: 5, 21-13
> Day 2: 5, 13-03
> Day 3: 5, 17-10
> Total = 15, 52-10

Like Wilson, Tutt has years of experience at Rayburn, but it’d been a while since he’d seen so much water there.

“One of the first EverStarts we had was there and it was about a foot higher than it was this time,” he recalled.

He also had a plan to sight-fish and spent most of his four practice days looking for new beds or fish already moved up. He switched gears almost immediately.

“It was different,” he said. “I don’t know how to explain it, but after half a day I couldn’t find any fish on beds or even see any cruising. Truthfully, I couldn’t figure out if they were coming or going.

“I was prepared for the high water, but after not seeing them I decided to just start fishing.”

He broke down the areas he fished into three segments:

> “There was the inside hydrilla line in 15 or 16 feet of water;

> “The outside of the hay grass was in 6 feet;

> “Then there was the buck brush and this other viney sort of thing and then the pines. I started deep and worked my way in,” he said.

During a rain storm in practice, he picked up a black/blue soft stick bait and started targeting certain species of trees.

“When it’s high like that at this time of year the fish tend to get on sweet gum trees or pine trees,” he said. “I think they spawn on the pine and then hold on sweet gum trees.”

He focused mainly on small, rounded flat main-lake points that had a scattered mix of buck brush with pine and sweet gum trees.

“There were a few areas that you could actually get to a hard bank without having to go over a bunch of stuff,” he added. “I was getting 40 to 50 bites a day in practice doing that, but most were small. I fished in a bunch of places I’d never fished before, but the pattern set up to take me to non-typical places.”

He was dialed in on more of a casting program rather than a flipping and pitching approach for the simple fact that he was able to cover more water that way.

“I didn’t fip a single bush in 4-plus days of practice,” he said. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but there were so many bushes in the water. I couldn’t cover enough water doing that.”

Tutt stuck with the soft stick bait pattern throughout the tournament, working through areas he’d practiced and other spots he’d never fished before.

“I just went to places that looked right,” he said.

He had a trio of 5-pounders in his day-1 stringer that weighed 21-13.

“I was just pitching the bait about 10 to 15 feet and targeting sweet gums that had little saplings at the bottom,” he said. “I’d pitch it right at the tree and let it drop vertically. I maybe felt two of them bite.”

He salvaged a spot in the Top 10 with a 13-pound bag on day 2 and then went to an entirely different area on day 3 to haul in 17-10.

> Worm gear: 6’6” medium-heavy Abu Garcia Villain casting rod, Abu Garcia Revo Premier casting reel (6.3:1 gear ratio), 14-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon line, 3/0 Gamakatsu EWG Superline worm hook, 6” Gambler Ace (black/blue).

> To make the bait sink a little quicker, he’d put a Storm SuspenDot on the hook shank.

> Larry Nixon had loaned him one of his Villian rods a couple years ago at the Potomac River, but later asked for it back. Tutt liked it so much, he later bought two of his own. “The shorter rod made it easier to fish in those trees,” he said.

> Main factor in his success – "Being familiar with the lake and knowing what I was looking for.”

> Performance edge – "Putting some Bang spray on the worm. I use that stuff on all my baits, especially when you know you’re around them. Some of them were maybe bedding, but I don’t think so. Maybe they were eating shad in there, but the Bang was critical. I’d go stretches without a bite and then put some on and start getting bites immediately.”

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