By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
Many of the 108 anglers who competed in the Toledo Bend Bassmaster Elite Series couldn't make up their mind as to whether to target shallow or deeper-water fish. Those guys were pretty much doomed from the get-go.
A 20-pound average could be achieved either way, but a commitment to one or the other was necessary. Due to the time of year and the water temperature, here was no question that the offshore ledges and humps were harboring big post-spawners, but the super-high water level had lots of them still hanging around skinny-water vegetation, too. The primary factor that complicated matters was the fierce wind that blew throughout practice, preventing many competitors from spending much time on the deep structure.
Three of the Top-5 finishers, including winner Kevin VanDam, did most of their damage with deep-diving Strike King crankbaits. Runner-up Chris Lane caught most of his weigh-in fish on topwaters and 3rd-place Ish Monore flipped the bushes and cypress trees.
Following are some details on the patterns of the 2nd- through 5th-place finishers.
2nd: Chris Lane
> Day 1: 5, 23-14
> Day 2: 5, 23-15
> Day 3: 5, 21-03
> Day 4: 5, 19-07
> Total = 20, 88-07
Chris Lane had never before thrown a Dahlberg Whopper Plopper, now marketed by River2Sea, before coming to Toledo Bend.
"My neighbor (in Guntersville, Ala.) gave me two of them and asked me if I wanted to try them," he said. "I told him that I'd heard about them and I'd love to try them. I brought them over here and the first strike I had, halfway through the first practice day, was a fish that weighed 10 to 12 pounds. I had it all the way to the boat – I wanted to get a picture of it – but it got off. That's when I realized I needed to put new hooks on them.
"I liked the way it worked. I'd been throwing a buzzbait before and had some come up behind it and blow up on it and not get it. I didn't get a whole lot of bites on the Whopper Plopper, but the ones I did get were all in the 5-pound class."
He threw it for a couple of hours the next day without success, then crossed to the other side of the lake and connected with an 8-pounder. He then removed the hooks and continued to throw it throughout practice.
"I did have to learn how to fish it. I threw it on the points with scattered grass with a steady retrieve – not fast and not slow.
"It's kind of a hard way to fish. I'd get that thing hung up in the grass on a long cast and I'd have to rip it out. My wrist and hands are sore, but I have no regrets."
He also caught some weigh-in fish on a Zara Spook and flipped up a few with a Luck-E-Strike Drop Dead Craw. He picked up a lone 4 1/2-pounder on a white Snag Proof frog.
> Topwater gear: 7'4" medium-heavy Bass Pro Shops titanium rod, Bass Pro Shops CarbonLite casting reel (7.3:1 ratio), 50-pound Stren Braid, River2Sea Dahlberg Whopper Plopper (white) or Zara Spook (white).
> Flipping gear: Same rod, reel and line, 1/2-ounce Bass Pro Shops XPS weight, 4/0 Lazer TroKar flipping hook, Luck-E-Strike Drop Dead Craw (Okeechobee craw).
Main factor in his success – "I just kind of followed what the fish were doing throughout the week."
Performance edge – "The Stren braided line, hands down. I was making the hardest, longest casts I could and catching giant fish, and my hooksets were good. I've been using it since before I was sponsored by Stren and it's the best braided line, period."
A flipping stick produced all of Ish Monroe's weigh-in fish.
3rd: Ish Monroe
> Day 1: 5, 18-15
> Day 2: 5, 24-10
> Day 3: 5, 22-04
> Day 4: 5, 17-07
> Total = 20, 83-04
Shallow water is Ish Monroe's comfort zone and the abnormally high amount of it for this time of year allowed him to stay in it throughout the week.
He spent the tournament in the northern part of the lake where the water was much dingier than in the mid-lake or southern portions. Most of the field opted for one or the other of the latter.
"The rule of thumb on Toledo Bend, and this is from 15 years ago when I first started fishing B.A.S.S., is that it could be July and 100 degrees out, but if the water's in the bushes, the fish are in the bushes. The first day of practice I launched almost up in the (Sabine) River and I got a look at a lot of fresh water I'd never fished before."
Shade around the vegetation was a key factor.
"The less shade, the better, but there had to be some of it there. You could have a basketball-sized patch of shade on a bush, and that's what I flipped to."
He also caught some frog fish, but ended up culling all of them out.
> Flipping gear: 8' heavy-action Daiwa Steez AGS rod, Daiwa Zillion HD casting reel (7.3:1 ratio), 50- or 65-pound Maxima braided line, River2Sea Tommy Biffle Junkyard Jig (black/blue), Missile Baits D Stroyer trailer (black/blue).
Main factor in his success – "Having a clear head and fishing fresh water. I didn't listen to the dock talk that was all about out deep, out deep, out deep, and with a little help from my roommates (John Crews, Mike Iaconelli and Fletcher Shryock), I knew what I needed to be doing."
Performance edge – "The Steez AGS is the most sensitive rod I've ever picked up – I can feel everything. There were times when I happed the jig out of the root and a fish would hit it, I could feel the hit on a slack line."
Keith Combs had one day when the number of fish he caught might've reached triple digits.
4th: Keith Combs
> Day 1: 5, 21-03
> Day 2: 5, 16-04
> Day 3: 5, 20-07
> Day 4: 5, 24-13
> Total = 20, 82-11
Keith Combs surmised that he wasted a lot of time and a lot of gas on this visit to Toledo Bend.
"On the first 3 days I spent the mornings down by the dam and then went north," he said. "I was running over 100 miles (round trip) every day.
"I wish I would've just stayed north because that's where I did all my damage at. I ended up stringing myself out too much."
He had 20 different schools of offshore fish that he visited at one time or another during the event.
"On the first day of practice I told myself I wanted to determine whether I was going to fish deep or shallow. I started deep and I was seeing a lot of bait, and that told me I needed to stay out.
"I wasn't way out in like 25 or 30 feet, but I did catch some in 20. All of those places had 12-foot close by."
On day 1 he caught at least 80 keepers and perhaps as many as 100. On three different occasions he boated 20 fish or more on the same number of casts.
"I had one day (day 3) where the biggest fish I weighed was 4-03 and the smallest was 4-01. The lack of really big fish kind of plagued me – I caught one 6-pounder in the tournament and that was about it."
He cranked up 18 of the 20 fish he took to the scale and caught the other two on a Carolina rig.
> Cranking gear: 7' medium-action Power Tackle Keith Combs Signature Series rod, Shimano Curado casting reel (7.3:1 ratio), 15-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, Strike King 6XD crankbait (Tennessee shad).
> His two Carolina-rig fish were enticed by a Strike King Game Hawg.
Paul Mueller was able to connect with a couple of big fish on each day of the event.
5th: Paul Mueller
> Day 1: 5, 17-13
> Day 2: 5, 22-12
> Day 3: 5, 19-01
> Day 4: 5, 22-02
> Total = 20, 81-12
Paul Mueller had no problem getting kicker bites, but some of the supporting fish he was forced to bring to the scale were miniscule. Deep cranking was his primary program and throwing a dropshot served as his secondary approach.
"I could only generate a few big bites each day," he said. "Every day I'd have a couple of giants, but then I'd have to go and catch some smaller ones just to get a limit."
He took a scouting trip to the lake last November, but found only a shallow bite and an absence of grass, so he derived little of value from the excursion. Upon his return, he found all of his spots with his Garmin LakeVu HD mapping.
He pulled the majority of his fish from 15 to 23 feet of water. He lost only one fish all week, and it was a big one that came toward the surface along with an even larger specimen, both attached to his Strike King 10XD.
"I had a 7 1/2-pounder and one that was 6-and-change hooked at the same time on day 2," he said. "The 6-and-change came off and I was able to grab the 7 1/2. The one that came off had straightened out the treble hook. Other than that, it was a clean week, so I can't complain."
He said he has a bunch of 10XDs at home in Connecticut, but didn't have the right colors with him when he arrived for the event.
"It had to be something that looked like a white or yellow bass. I started out catching fish at 15 feet, but as practice progressed they went deeper each day. I ended up buying a bunch (of 10XDs) at a tackle shop."
His dropshot gear was stouter than usual. "They were bigger, meaner, stronger fish than normal and they were coming out of heavier cover."
> Cranking gear: 8' medium-action Dobyns Champion Paul Mueller Signature Series glass rod, Lew's BB1 Pro casting reel (5:1 ratio), 14-pound Gamma Edge flurocarbon line, Strike King 10XD crankbait (citrus shad or spatterback).
> Dropshot gear: 7' medium-heavy Dobyns Champion spinning rod, Team Lew's Pro Speed Spin 3000 reel, 15-pound Gamma Torque braided line, 10-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon leader (10-12') 4/0 Gamakatsu worm hook with modified keeper, Reins Bubbling Shaker (margarita mutilator), 3/8-ounce Do-It Molds cylindrical dropshot weight.
Main factor in his success – "On the last day, it was keeping an open mind and knowing I was around some big fish."
Performance edge – "Without the Garmin map, I could not have found the place where I caught the three big ones (on day 4). I would've finished in 12th place, for sure."
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