By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor
When asked to compare the St. Johns River to other fisheries in Florida or elsewhere in the south, several pros fumbled around before pronouncing that the St. Johns really has no equal.
With potential 30-pound stringers swimming around, it kept everyone on high alert even after so-so practice sessions. Experience seemed to be a common thread among the Top 5.
Winner Rick Clunn has more experience than anyone in the 110-man field and was competing in his fourth Elite Series event at the St. Johns since 2011. So was runner-up Greg Hackney, 3rd-place finisher Marty Robinson and 5th-place finisher Brent Chapman. Drew Benton, who wound up 4th, hadn’t fished the tidal system before, but as a Florida native and sight-fishing aficionado, the venue fell right into his comfort zone.
While sight-fishing dominated the first 2 days when conditions were conducive, resorting to other techniques and finding new and productive water for the weekend was pivotal to those who finished in Clunn’s wake. Pitching plastics and fan-casting jigs to presumed spawners was a key presentation, but reaction baits also played a role in filling the livewells of the top 5 finishers.
The other key was remaining consistent, which isn't always easy to do in Florida when fish can be here today, gone tomorrow. Save for Benton's 9-pound bag on day 2, the rest of the Top 5 only had one other bag under 16 pounds all week.
Below is a recap of how Hackney, Robinson, Benton and Chapman went about their business in the Elite Series season opener
2nd: Greg Hackney
> Day 1: 5, 21-05
> Day 2: 5, 18-01
> Day 3: 5, 17-09
> Day 4: 5, 21-00
> Total = 20, 77-15
After day 2, Hackney was lamenting the fact that he’d yet to tangle with a fish in excess of 6 pounds as he watched many of his competitors parade on stage with 8-, 9- and in some cases 10-pounders.
Finally, on day 3 he connected with a 7-10 brute to move back into the lead, but it was only temporary as by the end of the afternoon Clunn had stunned everyone with a 31-07 stringer that left Hackney 6 pounds back entering day 4.
He closed the tournament by fishing a fourth different area, not far from takeoff, and caught 21-00 to secure his third top-8 finish in the last four full-field Elite Series events going back to last season. In four Elite Series events at the St. Johns River, he’s yet to finish any lower than 16th.
“Every fish was either spawning, had just got there to spawn, was guarding fry or was around the nest,” he said. “I spent most of my tournament practice staying toward the dirtier water. That seemed to cut down on fishing pressure. In 4 days, I really wasn’t around anybody.”
He basically junk-fished his way to a runner-up finish, focusing on a different area each day and using a variety of baits to generate bites.
“On day 1, I spent the whole day in one area, then on day 2, I spent the majority of the day in a different area,” he said. “I went back to where I’d caught them on day 1 and found they were done.”
A swim jig produced his key fish on day 1, while a dropshot presentation fooled his day-2 catch.
On day 3, he opted to stay on the east side of Lake George, where the water had cleared up and offered the opportunity to target fish that had been mostly untouched. Those fish saw a steady diet of a Texas-rigged soft stickbait.
“It wasn’t as good, but it got me through,” he said. “The conditions had gotten better and I figured I’d check it because it’d been super dirty earlier in the week.”
He devoted the final day to a small creek near Palatka and relied on a balsa prop bait and pitching a creature bait to shallow cover.
“I had practiced all of the areas, but this is a funny place,” he said. “I’ve yet to really get on ‘em. (Terry) Scroggins is one of the few guys who consistently gets on eaters.”
> Swim jig gear: 7’6” heavy-action Quantum Tour KVD casting rod, Quantum Tour KVD casting reel, 50-pound Gamma Torque braided line, 3/8-oz. Strike King Hack Attack swim jig (black/blue), Strike King Rage Craw (blue bug).
> Hackney also caught one on a Strike King Shim-E-Stick on day 1.
> Dropshot gear: 7’6” medium-heavy Quantum Tour PT casting rod, same reel, 16-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon line, 3/0 Hack Attack flipping hook, Strike King KVD Magnum Dream Shot (brown purple), 1/8-oz. Strike King tungsten dropshot weight.
> On day 2, he switched areas and presentations, opting for a dropshot that he would blindly pitch around on low tide to capitalize on an area that still had fish that he’d found in practice.
> Soft stickbait gear: 7’6” heavy-action Quantum Tour PT flipping stick, same reel, 20-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon line, 3/16-oz. Strike King tungsten worm weight, 5/0 unnamed straight-shank flipping hook, 5” Strike King KVD Perfect Plastics Shim E Stick (black/blue).
> On day 4, he slung a homemade balsa prop bait (bluegill) on 25-pound Gamma copolymer line. He also pitched a Strike King Rage Bug (black neon) on the same gear as the Shim E Stick.
> “Fishing was kind of junky,” he said. “I never could get dialed in and a lot of that stemmed from experience. With hindsight being 20-20 – and we have a lot of hindsight here – built d a lot
> Main factor in his success – “Probably just not getting locked down and never committing to an area the whole time. I flew by the seat of my pants. It was typical junk fishing.”
> Performance edge – “Those Power-Poles – I don’t know how I made it without those. And my (Phoenix) boat and (Mercury) motor. I filled up with gas Sunday morning and didn’t go anywhere, but the first 3 days I covered ground and covered it quickly.”
Marty Robinson rode a sight-fishing pattern then relied on a jig to close out the tournament in 3rd.
3rd: Marty Robinson
> Day 1: 5, 18-09
> Day 2: 5, 19-12
> Day 3: 5, 16-07
> Day 4: 5, 21-09
> Total = 20, 76-05
Marty Robinson was part of the Lake George sight-fishing regatta on days 1 and 2 and it carried him to more than 38 pounds and a spot in the Top 10 entering the weekend. He knew, though, that it wouldn’t be enough to carry him through 4 days.
“The sight-fishing started running out on day 3,” he said. “I’d found some new sight-fish at the end of the day 2 that I figured I’d go to to start day 3. They were at the south end of George and I stayed down there long than I wanted to.”
That left him a little bit of time to check out his alternate area where he’d caught some casting a jig around in practice.
“I felt good about the area where I could catch them fishing, but I didn’t know how big a bag I could have because in practice I caught a few nice ones and shook some off,” he said.
The area produced a 7-04 brute to cap off a strong day 3 that earned him a spot among the 12 finalists.
“Sunday, I figured I’d just go there and fish all day and see what I could catch,” he said.
He wound up sacking up his best limit of the week to move into the Top 3.
> Jig gear: 7’ mag-heavy Castaway Rods Invicta casting rod, unnamed casting reel, 65-pound P-Line braided line, 3/8-oz. Buckeye jig (black/blue), unnamed craw trailer (black/blue).
> He went with the 65-pound braid due to the pads in the area.
> Sight-fishing gear: 7’ heavy-action Castaway Rods Invicta casting rod, unnamed casting reel, 20-pound P-Line fluorocarbon line, 3/16-oz. unnamed tungsten worm weight, 5/0 Hayabusa offset worm hook, Zoom Critter Craw (green-pumpkin).
> Robinson likes a shorter rod when sight-fishing because he likes to stay back off the fish. “I feel like if I’m back off of that fish where I can’t see what he’s doing, I’m more apt to let them take the bait good.”
> Robinson also caught topwater fish on a 3/8-oz. Buckeye buzzbait and a Booyah Pad Crasher frog.
> Main factor in his success – “Not being in the crowd this week. The last time we here I was in the crowd. It started out good, but went south real quick. I didn’t want to do that this year. I had to pick areas with less fish, but I had less boats around me.”
> Performance edge – “Line here is a big deal here. These fish are so big strong and there’s so much junk in the water. I never broke a fish off. I lost one, but never broke off. That P-Line is such a great line.”
Drew Benton was on the constant hunt for new bedding areas during the tournament.
4th: Drew Benton
> Day 1: 5, 22-15
> Day 2: 5, 9-14
> Day 3: 5, 20-11
> Day 4: 5, 21-14
> Total = 20, 75-06
Those who know how Drew Benton likes to catch fish know the St. Johns River in March sets up to be in his wheelhouse. He was the lone angler to catch 20 pounds or more on three of the four days and he did it largely by stalking spawning fish all around Lake George.
“In practice, I found everything I could, but it’s never enough,” he said. “I burned everything I could trying to make the cut. That’s the only way to fish a sight-fishing tournament. You can never find enough. You might have 100 marked, but maybe only get a shot at 15 of them.”
The key to locating beds was finding the right kind of vegetation.
“Almost always they were in the eelgrass,” he added. “They were not in the open sandbar area. There some in the dollar pad area. They needed some kind of vegetation and then it was a matter of finding those sweet spots.”
He opened the event by targeting the western side of George down to the southwest corner.
His downfall was day 2 when he recycled water from day 1. His weight fell off by more than half. He bounced back on Saturday with 20-11 out of the northeast corner of George to clinch a top-12 berth.
“On day 3, I went to totally new area where I’d a few big ones cruising around in practice,” he said. “They were locked on beds Saturday and that’s how I caught them.”
He had a chance at a 10-plus pounder on day 3 that would’ve gotten rid of a 3-pounder, but the fish came off.
On the final day, he returned to an area where the river empties into Lake George where he’d seen some 3-pounders the day before.
“When I got there, I started seeing some big ones,” he said.
He sight-fished mostly with a TightLines UV Whisker craw, which is a soft-plastic craw bait with skirt material incorporated into the bait. He also mixed in a Bagley Tail Spin that he threw while scanning for new spawning areas.
“I caught a few that I weighed in on that,” he added. “When they ate it they choked it. They exploded on it. I’m not sure if they were guarding fry, but they wanted it.”
> Sight-fishing gear: 7’7” heavy-action Phenix MBX casting rod, Lew's Team Pro Magnesium Speed Spool ACB casting reel, 20-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, 3/8-oz. Elite Tungsten worm weight, 5/0 Owner worm hook, TightLines UV Whisker Hy-brid craw (COLOR).
> Prop bait gear: 7’2” medium-heavy Phenix M1 casting rod, same reel, 50-pound Seaguar Kanzen braided line, 20-pound Seaguar Senshi monofilament line, Bagley BangOLure Spin Tail (olive shad).
> Main factor in his success – “I’m just so comfortable catching them off beds. It’s the way I love to catch them. I have a lot of experience sight-fishing being from Florida. Since I’ve started fishing, I’ve always been able to see them and catch them that way.”
> Performance edge – “My Costas were key and so were my Power-Poles for sure. We depend on the best of everything from line to rods and hooks. It all played a role. It also didn’t hurt to have the fastest boat.”
Brent Chapman notched his second career top-5 finish at the St. Johns River last week.
5th: Brent Chapman
> Day 1: 5, 13-05
> Day 2: 5, 17-15
> Day 3: 5, 23-09
> Day 4: 5, 19-05
> Total = 20, 74-02
Brent Chapman has three top-20 finishes in four trips to the St. Johns after he mounted a weekend rally last week to notch his first top-5 outcome since the Alabama River in 2013.
“This one was similar to the others,” he said. “I’ve had three good tournaments here, but the 2014 event left a bad taste in my mouth. My problem then was I underestimated what the weights were going to be and I did it again this time. I thought 12 pounds (per day) would get a check. It was way better than that. People are learning it and the bar has been raised.”
In 2012, when he finished 4th, Lake Woodruff was a big part of his success. He checked it during a pre-practice trip and immediately wrote it off.
“They sprayed it and it was nothing it was the year it was so good,” he said.
Once practice got started, he said it was hard to gauge what kind of quality he was around.
“I don’t even set the hook on fish so it’s hard to tell how practice went,” he said. “You can make a flip here and catch a 13-incher or a 13-pounder.”
He was boat 80 on day 1 so he didn’t have first dibs on any premium sight-fishing locations. Still, he figured out how to salvage the day with 13-05.
“That took the wind out of my sails as far as getting on one of those good fish,” he said. “I have enough experience here, thought, and I like fishing Florida that I’m type to put my poles down and really fish slow.”
He targeted the edges of the eelgrass as well as the holes that fish would use as bedding areas.
He was one of the few anglers who crossed paths with Clunn and also got on the vibrating jig program.
“I had waypoints in another area and had kind of written it off, but after day 2 I knew I had to do something to make something big happen,” he said. “Lo and behold I sat down in that area and lost one and caught one. Then an hour or so later, Clunn shows up and so does Cliff Crochet.”
> Flipping/pitching gear: 7’6” Wright & McGill Brent Chapman Insight Pro Advantage casting rod, Wright & McGill Brent Chapman Insight Pro Advantage casting reel (7:1 ratio), 20-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon line, 3/8 Picasso tungsten worm weight, 3/0 Lazer TroKar flipping hook, 4” TightLines UV Whisker Beaver (watermelon red).
> Vibrating jig gear: 6’8” Wright & McGill Brent Chapman Insight Pro Advantage crankbait rod, same reel (6.4:1 ratio), 60-pound Gamma Torque braided line, 3/8-oz. Picasso Shock Blade, unnamed swimbait trailer (shad).
> Chapman also caught a couple keepers on a Texas-rigged TightLines UV Enko stickbait.
> Main factor in his success – “My past experience here and slowing down and being thorough.”
> Performance edge – “My Power-Poles allowed me to be thorough and execute.”
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