Tubes Were All Knapp Threw

Photo: FLWOutdoors.com Jason Knapp felt no pressure at Champlain, and that made a world of difference.

That one-two punch knocked the socks off everybody else, and he won his first EverStart by a comfortable 4-pound margin. Here's how he did it.

Mixed Bag and Tubes

> Day 1: 5, 16-13
> Day 2: 5, 16-10 (10, 33-07)
> Day 3: 5, 18-13
> Day 4: 5, 19-09 (10, 38-06)

The first day of the tournament, Knapp ran straight to the smallmouth area he'd found in his few hours of practice the day before. It was a submerged laydown on a sandy flat about 6 feet deep, with scattered grass.

"They were relating to the log, but not necessarily on it," he said. "There was a lot of bait in the area. They were there to feed. I got a good limit early, like in the first 10 minutes. I stayed another 2 hours and culled up some."

He was casting a Mizmo tube and "just dragging it, a nothing-special retrieve." With 2 hours left in his day, he decided to leave the smallmouths and look for a flipping bite nearby. He found some heavy grassmats in 1 to 3 feet of water at the back of a shallow flat. Again using the tube, he nailed a 4-pounder to anchor his limit.

"I did that both of the first 2 days," he noted. He weighed nearly identical limits, even though the weather was windy and sunny the first day, and overcast and calm the second. He made the Top 10 cut in 9th, only 1 ounce away from losing on a tiebreaker. (Had he been in a three-way tie for 9th, he would have lost out to the other two contenders, each of whom had a 1-day weight bigger than Knapp's.)

On day 3, after weights were zeroed, it was more of the same – back to the underwater log for a limit of brown fish. This time when he switched gears afterward and went flipping. He caught three good green fish and weighed an 18-13 limit. That put him in 2nd, exactly 1 1/2 pounds off the lead.

With his eyes on the prize and a solid performance under his belt, he saw no reason to change on the last day. But the fish gave him a reason – they quit biting as well and shrank.

"It took me a lot longer to catch a limit the last day," he said. "And it was only 12 or 13 pounds. I didn't know whether to stay and try for 15, or (go to the largemouths). I decided to leave. I knew I couldn't win with mostly smallmouths."

Good move. In 10 minutes he flipped up a 5-pounder. Not too long after that he added two 4-pounders and had his final weight of 19-09. It was more than enough to overcome the leader, who struggled to bring in a small limit.

Knapp turned the 1 1/2-pound deficit into a 4-03 surplus and nailed his first EverStart victory.

Winning Gear Notes

> Tube casting gear: 7'6" Kistler flipping stick, unnamed casting reel, 20-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon line, 3/16-ounce Penetrator tungsten weight, 3/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook, Mizmo tube (green-pumpkin).

> Tube flipping gear: 7'11" Kistler flipping stick, unnamed reel, 50-pound PowerPro braided line, 3/4- and 1-ounce Penetrator tungsten weights, 4/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook, Mizmo tubes (green-pumpkin and black neon).

Notable

> Main factor in his success – "Not having any practice, so I didn't have any preconceived notions. I just went fishing, followed my instincts, and went with what the day was telling me."

> It also helped that he was fishing for fun, experience, and the money, and not concerned about the points. "That frees you up to go for the gusto," he noted.