Unlike Erie, though, dipping a drop-shot rig into a deep school of fish at Douglas wouldn't have even caught a limit. They wanted no part of a finesse presentation. Instead, it was a big, wobbly crankbait that ruled the day and triggered reaction strikes from fish stalking wads of shad. Cast after cast, he made sure his deep-diving plug got into the strike zone and with the help of an old technique that got his baits to run real deep, he pulled more than 80 pounds of bass out of the French Broad River impoundment in eastern Tennessee to lock up his second career Elite Series title.
"I don't think anything will compare to the first win because it changes your entire career, but it still means a lot," he said.
His 20-plus-pound average blew away what many thought it would take to claim victory and he needed virtually every ounce to overtake Britt Myers, who led the middle 2 days of the event and held nearly a 6-pound lead entering the final day. After sitting out the 2011 season due to medical reasons, he's in the mix for the Toyota Tundra Angler of the Year (AOY) with four tournaments remaining and has earned himself a ticket to his first Bassmaster Classic next February.
Deep water was not on Starks' practice agenda.
He estimates he made maybe 10 casts on offshore fish and decided he would stalk the deeper schools once the event got started. "I practiced shallow and caught some small fish," he said. "I thought it was terrible. I knew there were a lot of fish offshore and I thought I'd just figure out how to catch them through the tournament. It was a terrible practice for me."
Competition:
Starks came off the water early on day 1 after experiencing a recurrence of the extreme dizziness that kept him out of competition last year. Luckily, he had bagged 16-01, but he thought his chances to contend for a victory were gone. "Honestly, I thought quitting early with 16 pounds was going to cost me the tournament, but it didn't," he said.
He felt much better when he woke up on day 2. His catch improved dramatically as well. His 23-01 stringer was surpassed only by Myers' 24-01 sack and it was enough to propel him into 3rd place. All of his weigh fish came out of Muddy Creek, a vast creek arm that's situated to the southwest of the takeoff point. Myers and 3rd-place finisher Aaron Martens also caught a majority of their fish there.
The school of fish he worked on day 2 numbered into the 60s and he was not faced with the spot-sharing others had to deal with. He boxed 19-11 on day 3 to clinch his second career Top-12 finish. It also moved him past Martens and into 2nd place behind Myers.
When he pulled into his key spot on day 4, there were upwards of 200 slashes on his sonar graph. He worked them over the entire morning, but by 2 o'clock the school had dissipated. "There was not one fish left," he said. It prompted him to run to new water where he found a similar-sized school. He upgraded with a pair of 5-pounders in the final hour that virtually sealed the win.
Winning Pattern:
As is evident in the picture of Starks' sonar graph, the fish he was targeting were hugging the bottom on points in 35 to 45 feet of water. To reach those depths, he would cast his bait as far as he could and not engage his reel. Then, he would idle away from the area, allowing the line to freely peel off his reel.
How much line was he letting out?
"I'd let it go completely down to the spool every time. I had 300 yards on it," he said. Once all the line was out, he would engage and start cranking - fast. He'd also kneel and reel to maximize the time the bait would spend around the fish. Frequently, he'd get bit halfway back to the boat as the bait zipped through the school. The technique made for a couple of sore arms that he'll gladly deal with. "They don't make enough Aleve for how sore they are," he said.
Despite the changes in weather the field endured during the course of the tournament, especially in the mornings, he didn't notice a negative impact of the fish he was after. "Those deep fish are so less affected by pressure changes than shallow fish," he said. He tried a jigging spoon on day 4, but couldn't trigger any bites even though he could feel the slab bouncing off the fish as he snapped it through the school.
Winning Gear:
Crankbait gear: 7'11" medium-heavy Airrus Ken Whiting prototype cranking rod, Abu Garcia Revo (6.4:1 ratio) or CarbonLite (5.1:1) casting reel, unnamed fluorocarbon line, Strike King Series 6XD (green gizzard shad, powder blue back chartreuse or sexy blue back herring).
Starks declined to disclose the brand or weight of the fluorocarbon he used, saying, "That was the trick to getting it deep." He used the silent version of the Series 6XD because it triggered more true reaction strikes.
Main factor: "Patience, no doubt. And not getting in a hurry."
Performance edge: "My Lowrance electronics. It's unbelievable how you can drive around and find these fish and tell how big they were. You could see the fins on them."
ÒI knew that's where they live, but the key was finding a way to catch them,Ó he said. ÒGoing into the tournament, I didn't know what I'd catch, but I knew if I could catch five I could have a big bag every day. To average almost 20 pounds a day over 4 days is almost unheard of on this lake.Ó
He did have a 22-pound day in practice and essentially spent the rest of practice idling around marking spots and schools. He estimated he had about 25 spots he had confidence in by the time the tournament started. ÒThat's a ton (of spots) and there were people on a bunch of them and I would just wait until they'd leave and then go catch them,Ó he said. ÒYou could idle around and find where the current broke, either a depression or a little step in that point. That's where the fish would be.Ó
He was convinced the winner would catch 70 pounds or so with a 20-pound bag mixed in along the way. But after he weighed 21-01 on day 1 and 24-01 on day 2, even Douglas veteran Ott Defoe was impressed. Ò(He) told me after day 2 that he had no idea anyone could back it up with that kind of weight,Ó he said.
The fish on many of his spots were related to the bottom and were most active on the corners of the points. Long-lining was the technique he used to reach the bottom-dwellers. When they'd come up and suspend, it was very difficult to catch them, he noted. ÒThe key to this tournament, other than Jeremy finding one big spot, was dedicating your entire practice to off-shore fishing,Ó he said, Òbecause a guy who spent half his practice fishing shallow and half his practice fishing deep, by the time the tournament started, five boats would be sitting on your spots if you only have five deep spots and you'd have no place else to go.Ó
Crankbait gear: 7'11" medium-action Pinnacle cranking rod, Pinnacle casting reel (4.7:1 ratio), 10-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line, Strike King Series 6 XD crankbait (citrus shad) or 3 1/4Ó Luhr Jensen Hot Lips Express TA crankbait (Tennessee shad/crystal).
He found the Hot Lips was good in low-light or windy conditions while the silent Series 6 XD seemed to produce better under sunny and slick conditions. He tried a flutter spoon and jig in practice, but found it to be, "a waste of time," he said.
Main factor: ÒHard work and believing in yourself. Coming into this year, I had confidence this was going to be a great year. I started out with the worst tournament of my career - a dead-last at the St. Johns River. It was strange because once I left there, I told myself, 'I'm fine. I'll be okay.' Somehow, I started catching them.'Ó
Performance edge: ÒThe key to tournament was having very good electronics and understanding them. I have Lowrance and I could actually pick out one bass and if I could get the bait down there behind him at the right depth, I could catch that one bass.Ó
ÒSome guys were using their big motors and going 100 yards and then jumping up and reeling and going back the other way, which I can see was a huge advantage,Ó he said. ÒI felt weird about doing that because I know the bait's moving forward and the line's sinking and it's swimming. I thought it was pushing it. I just didn't have the (guts) to do it.
ÒIt's a huge advantage, and I've done it for years. I've never gone over 100 feet. A lot of times I'll cast as far as I can and I'll start to move forward and make sure the bait doesn't move so I'm not pulling it all. Then I'll free-spool it and get into position so I can kneel and reel, which I've done forever. I just use the boat as leverage, which most of the guys do.Ó
His pre-tournament winning weight guess of 20-pounds-per-day held up, but sharing spots hurt his chances at hitting that number.
ÒA lot of times, I didn't get to fish a spot I wanted to fish for a day or a day and a half because three or four other guys would be there and I'd have to run somewhere else,Ó he said. ÒThat's just how it was. Britt got fortunate that I didn't start where I wanted to on the second day because that's where he ended up catching most of his big fish. ÒAt the beginning of the tournament, I talked about how decisions would lose it or win it for you and I think the only mistake I made was not going to where Britt was catching them in the morning. I could've gone there the 2nd day since I was leading, but I just didn't do it.Ó
Crankbait gear: 7'11Ó medium-action Megabass Destroyer Tomahawk GTA cranking rod or 7'6Ó Megabass White Python swimbait rod, Shimano Scorpion casting reel (7:1 ratio), 10-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon line, Mann's Depth Plus 30+ crankbait (variety of shad-pattern colors) or Luhr Jensen Hot Lips Express TA crankbait (variety of shad-pattern colors).
He threw the Mann's 30+ on the swimbait rod because the stout backbone allowed him to maintain leverage and tension on the fish. ÒThey were fresh, hard-fighting fish. They were feisty,Ó he said.
Spoon gear: 7'11Ó medium-action Megabass Destroyer Racing Condition flipping rod, same reel, 14-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon line, 5 1/2Ó Strike King Sexy Spoon (sexy shad).
Main factor: ÒPre-practicing. That was a huge advantage for me. It was the first time, literally, I can remember doing it. It's been years. Not researching lakes at all has hurt me in the past.Ó
Performance edge: ÒMy electronics were my most important tool and most used. Obvously, my motor was being used the whole time to use them and my boat was definitely a big part of it, but my eyes and my focus was on my graph 100 percent of the time.Ó
Once he saw the mass of boats beating the bank during practice, he knew he'd need more than one pattern going in order to contend. His cranking and jig bite were better in the morning and then he went frogging with a Spro Bronzeye 65 in the afternoons. ÒI had to do three different things to try to come in with big bags every day,Ó he said. ÒAll three techniques played a pivotal part in weighing consistent bags all the way through. I didn't think it was much of a pattern lake for what I was doing. I just tried to stay in areas and fish my strengths.Ó
He focused on certain stretches of bank that others may have overlooked. ÒEverybody's going to look for the obvious stuff, but I try to find the stuff that's just a little different,Ó he added. ÒI left a lot of fish out there. There were still a lot of fish I never went to.Ó
Crankbait gear: 7' medium Quantum Tour Rojas casting rod, Quantum Tour KVD casting reel (5.3:1 ratio), 14-pound Sunline FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, Spro Little John DD crankbait (nasty shad).
Jig gear: 7' medium-heavy Quantum Tour Edition PT casting rod, Quantum EXO PT casting reel (6.6:1 ratio), 5/8-ounce Spro K-Finesse jig (green-pumpkin), 3 1/2Ó Big Bite Baits Fighting Frog (watermelon red).
Frog grear: 7' medium-heavy Quantum Tour Rojas frogging rod, Quantum EXO PT casting reel (7.3:1 ratio), 80-pound Sunline FX2 braided line, Spro Bronzeye 65 Frog (killer gill).
Main factor: ÒBeing versatile and keeping and open mind and using three patterns this week to finish in the Top 5. It helps to have different options. So many times you don't have the luxury of having three. You're usually on one or two patterns. I was fortunate to have three and it helped out a lot.Ó
Performance edge: ÒMy Power-Poles worked great this week. The first day, I caught three key bed-fish, which were huge for me. That and my Skeeter/Yamaha were trouble-free all week.Ó
ÒI saw everything dry land where I caught my fish,Ó he said. ÒThat helped my confidence of knowing what was there. My whole iPhone was full of pictures of places and I'd pull up on the waypoint and pull the picture up in practice and know how it laid out. That was really cool and unique to be able to do it that way. That was one of the things that helped me a lot - coming to pre-fish during a drawdown time so I could see everything.Ó
When he found that fish weren't holding on obvious pieces of off-shore structure like house foundations and boulders, he searched for schools. ÒIt was weird when I realized these fish school up and lay on slick, nothing bottoms along the drops,Ó he said. ÒI stopped wasting time on structure and just went looking for fish and that made it easier.Ó
He spent the first half of the tournament focused solely on deep water, playing the merry-go-round game of running spot to spot and hoping no one else was sitting on it. He made the 50-cut in 13th place with 29-10. He finished his limit on days 1 and 2 on the same spot around 1 o'clock and after seeing the potential that was there he opted to start there on days 3 and 4. It turned out to be the key to a monster weekend as he caught 43-02 over the final 2 days to catapult himself into the Top 5.
ÒIt made it easier to have that limit early because it helps me fish better,Ó he added. ÒIt made it harder on the first 2 days choking on that off-shore thing and worrying if they wouldn't bite and only having three fish at noon. You have to fight off all of those thoughts.Ó
Crankbait gear: 8' heavy Daiwa Steez flipping rod, Daiwa Zillion casting reel (6.3:1 ratio), 12-pound Molix Enki fluorocarbon line, Mann's Depth Plus 30+ crankbait (citrus shad) or 3 1/4Ó Luhr Jensen Hot Lips Express TA crankbait (lemonade).
He also caught some key fish vertically jigging a 1.5-ounce Sebile Vibrato jigging spoon (natural shiner) as well as the Lake Fork Flutter Spoon. His morning topwater bite was keyed by Paycheck Baits' The One, a 5 3/4Ó rattling walking bait. Bone Saw was his preferred color.
Main factor: ÒKnowing 100-percent in my gut that it was going to won out deep and to not sell out and go shallow. I've tried to stretch myself every year and it's the evolution of trying to improve and get better every year. I've been doing it for a long time now and that's the goal -- to never be satisfied with making a living out here. You have to strive every year to learn and I'm a student of the game and I love to get better. This was just a whole new realm of fishing off-shore that I never really had the opportunity to do a lot of.Ó
Performance edge: ÒThe Lowrance HDS SideScan and StructureScan. That gave me condifence to know where the bass were and I spent a lot less time idling and finding where the schools were at.Ó
Douglas Lake Elite Series Winning Pattern Bassfan 5/8/12 (Todd Ceisner)
Douglas Lake Patterns 2-5 Bassfan 5/9/12 (Todd Ceisner)