Gary Klein spent most of the tournament in scramble mode, but stayed within one large area. It was a place that was frequented by some other high finishers, including Scroggins and Derek Remitz (6th).
"I put myself in an area of the lake that I knew somewhat well," he said. "You fish those places over and over, and then you find some new stuff every time you fish it."
"I was concentrating on fish that were on top of ridges and on top of points. I wasn't worried about fishing down the slopes too far because I couldn't catch them out there in practice. I'd run fast from place to place, but then I'd get there and fish slow."
His main baits were finesse worms - either on dropshot or Carolina rigs - and a jig. He caught a couple of quality fish on a Spook on day 4.
Shakey-head gear: 7' medium-action Quantum Tour Edition Mike Wurm Signature Series spinning rod, Quantum Catalyst spinning reel, 8-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line, 1/8-ounce Spro Shaky Head jighead, 5" Berkley PowerBait Shaky Worm (green-pumpkin).
Jig gear: 8' heavy-action Quantum Tour Edition Gary Klein Signature Series flipping stick, Quantum Accurist casting reel (7.3:1 ratio), 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon, 1/2-ounce Boss jig (green-pumpkin), unnamed chunk trailer (green-pumpkin).
Carolina rig gear: Same rod and reel as jig, 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon main line and 12-pound leader (2 1/2 feet), unnamed 3/4-ounce weight, clear bead, barrel swivel, unnamed 3/0 hook, Berkley Power Hand Pour Finesse Worm (watermelon).
Topwater gear: 7' Quantum Tour Edition Gary Klein Signature Series rod, Quantum Accurist casting reel, 15-pound Berkley Trilene Big Game line, Heddon Spook Jr. (clear).
Main factor: "Everybody always talks about how you have to run, run, run at Clarks Hill, and I moved around a lot, but I had a little rhythm in my fishing. Sometimes the fish would be on the end of the ridge or on the backside and it might take me 20 minutes to an hour to fish it before going to the next place."
Performance edge: "My Lowrance HDS with the mapping feature it has and the structure scan. I used it to find enough to keep busy for 4 days."
Clarks Hill Patterns 2-5 May 26, 2010. Bassfan.com http://www.bassfan.com/news_article.asp?id=3624).
Matt Reed shared an area with 8th-place finisher Mark Davis throughout the event and they took turns working various pieces of structure.
"It was mainly just one major bay, and it was pretty big but it didn't have that many good spots," he said. "There were some points and some offshore humps that were 4 or 5 feet deep on top. "I knew they were there - I could've had a couple of 15-pound practice days. I felt pretty comfortable going into the tournament."
He caught most of his fish on a Carolina rig over the first 3 days, and then downsized to a dropshot rig to compile his biggest bag on day 4.
Carolina rig gear: 7'6" medium-heavy Extreme rod, Johnny Morris Signature Series casting reel, 17-pound XPS fluorocarbon main line with 14-pound XPS fluorocarbon leader, brass clacker, barrel swivel, 3/4-ounce lead weight, 3/0 Gamakatsu offset round-bend hook, Yum Wooly Hawgtail (watermelon candy).
Dropshot gear: 7' medium-action Qualifier rod, Johnny Morris Signature Series spinning reel, 8-pound XPS fluorocarbon, 3/16-ounce dropshot weight, size 1 Gamakatsu straight-shank hook, Yum Houdini Worm (green-pumpkin/purple flake).
Main factor: "Dropping down to the smaller bait for the final day."
Performance edge: "The XPS fluorocarbon line was the key for me being able to catch those fish. It's got a small diameter and great sensitivity, but the main thing is it's less visible."
Terry Scroggins' high finish was achieved primarily on the strength of an outstanding day 1. His weights went down each day from there, but he never fell out of the Top 3. He threw a combination of three baits - a dropshot rig, a Super Spook and a Carolina rig. He ran all over the lake throughout the event and often had to force himself to fish extremely slowly in order to entice bites.
"It was pretty miserable and I think everybody who was fishing fast and covering water was fishing over the fish," he said. "Some places I fished I had to go back over again and slow way down."
Dropshot gear: 6'6" medium-action Duckett Fishing MicroMagic spinning rod, Shimano Stella 4000 spinning reel, 8-pound Hi-Seas fluorocarbon line, 1/8-ounce XCalibur dropshot weight, No. 2 Gamakatsu wide-gap hook, unnamed finesse worm (brown/purple).
Topwater gear: 7' medium-heavy Duckett Fishing MicroMagic rod, Shimano Curado casting reel (7:1 ratio), 50-pound Hi-Seas braided line, Heddon Super Spook (wounded shad).
Carolina-rig gear: 7' heavy-action Duckett Fishing MicroMagic rod, Shimano Curado casting reel, 20-pound Hi-Seas fluorocarbon main line with 15-pound Hi-Seas monofilament leader (4 feet), 1-ounce unnamed egg sinker, plastic bead, barrel swivel, 3/0 Gamakatsu straight-shank hook, Yum lizard (green-pumpkin).
Main factor: "Being persistent and staying where I thought the fish were."
Performance edge: "Probably the combination of my Triton/Mercury and my Humminbird electronics. There were about four cases where I was running up to a point and saw structure (on the Humminbird) and caught fish out of 10 or 12 feet of water. I got two 4-pounders doing that the first day."
Cliff Crochet, the rookie from Louisiana, endured a major heartbreak at the final weigh-in when Williamson's total surpassed his by just 2 ounces. Nonetheless, it was easily his best finish in his six Elite outings - his first higher than 34th.
He fished a grassy area that he'd first seen from his truck while crossing a bridge. When he visited it for the first time he found it was teeming with bluegill and he mentioned it to Fred Roumbanis that evening. Roumbanis guaranteed him those fish would bite a frog and told him to camp there, and it was sound advice.
He threw the frog the first 3 days, but resorted to flipping on the final day when the bite became super-tough.
Frog gear: 7'3" heavy-action Powell 735 rod, unnamed casting reel, 50-pound Fins braided line, Spro Dean Rojas Signature Series Poppin' Frog (natural green).
Flipping gear: 7'10" heavy-action Powell 7105 flipping stick, same reel and line. unnamed 1/2-ounce tungsten weight, unnamed 5/0 hook, Bucket Craw (black/red flake).
Main factor: "My lack of knowledge of Clarks Hill - my ignorance was my biggest asset. Sometimes I'd go an hour or 2 without a bite, but I had nowhere else to go."
Performance edge:"My Skeeter boat and Yamaha motor got me there and back on that 25-minute run, and also the whole frog set-up."
Williamson drew the No. 12 boat position for day 1, and that prompted him to spend that day on the lower end of the lake. It pretty much assured that he'd be able to start on one of his preferred areas, and he could catch a decent bag while saving his upriver fish for ensuing days.
He started day 2 in 23rd place, but climbed 18 spots with his initial bag from up the Savannah. His starting spot was a 35-mile run from the launch in Evans, Ga. "I didn't catch any real big ones, but I got a lot more bites and there was a lot more quality," he said. "I left pretty early trying to save some for the next day, and on my run back down I culled once with a 3 3/4-pounder."
He moved to the top of the leaderboard on day 3 with his tournament-best sack that was headed up by a 7-12 brute - the biggest fish of the derby by more than a pound and a half. The monster was his first fish of the day - it bit his mop jig at about 7:30. "After that I was thinking it was going to be a great day. I was fishing with confidence and they turned on, and it was just incredible for awhile."
Holding the substantial lead, he was presented with a tough decision on day 4. He knew the current was a big factor in his success up the Savannah the previous 2 days, and he knew that the Army Corps of Engineers rarely pulls water for power-generation purposes on Sundays.
"It was really dead - there was no activity on the surface and no water movement and I couldn't hardly get bit. I had to pull out a spinning rod with a shakey-head and I fished the same places real slow, and I finally got a few to bite.
"I think I could've stayed down in the lower end and caught several 2-pounders - enough to where it wouldn't have been so close. But even if they didn't pull water upriver I thought I could catch a few good ones. It didn't work out that way."
With his measly 7-10 already in the well, he pulled up stakes at about 10:45 and came back down. He went the rest of the day without a bite and became convinced that he wouldn't win. "I was pretty sure I'd be a few ounces short and I was wanting to puke." It turned out that the queasy feeling was all for naught.
Jig gear: 7'6" extra-heavy Duckett Fishing MicroMagic rod, Johnny Morris Gold Series casting reel (7:1 ratio), 20-pound McCoy fluorocarbon line, 1/2-ounce Buckeye Lures Mop Jig (brown), Zoom Super Chunk trailer (green-pumpkin).
Fluke gear: 6'9" medium-heavy Duckett Fishing MicroMagic rod, same reel, 15-pound McCoy fluorocarbon, 4/0 Trokar TK 100 hook, Zoom Super Fluke (white/pearl).
Shakey-head gear: 7' medium-acdtion Duckett Fishing MicroMagic rod, Johnny Morris Gold Series spinning reel, 8-pound McCoy fluorocarbon, 3/16-ounce Buckeye Lures Spot Remover jighead, Zoom Trick Worm (green-pumpkin).
Main Factor: "Knowledge of the lake was the biggest factor. When it starts to get really tough, that's when it really shines."
Performance Edge: "My Nitro boat and Mercury motor. I was running 75 miles a day and they got me there and back."
Clarks Hill Winning Pattern May 25, 2010. Bassfan.com (http://www.bassfan.com/news_article.asp?id=3622).
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