FLW Guntersville Baits, Gear & Patterns

Long, a 39-year-old housing contractor, primarily used a 3/4-ounce football jig - occasionally mixing in a deep-diving crankbait - to catch bags that surpassed the quarter-century mark on each of the first 3 days. He was 1 ounce behind Vic Vatalaro after the day-1 weigh-in, then took over the lead the following day and never relinquished it.

The special ledge was one of a half-dozen he waypointed during practice - places where he'd gotten multiple bites and hooked at least one fish that was 4 pounds or better. He didn't know that it was dramatically better than the other five until competition got under way.

He'd already caught an average limit (15 pounds or so) when he arrived there at about 10:45 on day 1. It took him just a short while to cull four of those five fish and he spent the rest of the day camped on the spot to keep other competitors from moving in.

His boat was the 81st out of 136 to leave the launch on the morning of day 2 and the spot was occupied before he arrived. He went back to the previous day's starting area and caught another pedestrian bag, then went back to the hot spot at 9:00 to find that the other boat had departed. He stayed there the rest of the day and loaded up again.

He was boat No. 2 out on day 3, so he had no trouble securing the spot. It was more of the same as he extended a 1 1/4-pound lead to 8 1/2. "The action seemed to come in flurries, and then there'd be some singles," he said. "Sometimes I'd catch three on consecutive casts, then I'd go an hour and a half or 2 hours without a bite. "The key was being there during the couple of times a day they would feed."

Day 4 was an entirely different story. The field had been cut to just five anglers and he was able to get on his ledge despite a significant number of local competitors and recreational anglers on the water. But the hefty fish - if there were some still there - didn't cooperate. He had three small keepers that combined two weigh about 8 pounds when he decided to make a move to his other spot.

"I told my cameraman that I wasn't just going to sit there and lose the tournament. To win, you have to make some decisions and take some chances, and I decided to try to get a couple of big ones somewhere else." The other place was wide open when he arrived and he opted to try a Zoom Ole Monster worm. The big plastic snake produced five quality bites in a 10-minute span, and he boated three of them. Those 11 pounds were more than enough to ensure the biggest win of his career.

Jig gear: 7'1" heavy-action G. Loomis GLX Jig and Worm rod, Shimano Curado E700 casting reel (7:1 ratio), 15-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, 3/4-ounce Ernest Langley football jig (blue oyster), Zoom Fat Albert Twin Tail Grub trailer (green-pumpkin/purple flake).

Cranking gear: 7'3" G. Loomis GLX crankbait rod, same reel (5:1 ratio), 10-pound monofilament line, Bill Norman DD22 (sexy shad).

He swapped out the stock hooks on both baits for Owner No. 4 Stinger-36 trebles.

Worm gear: Same rod, reel and line as jig, 3/8-ounce lead weight, 5/0 Gamakatsu worm hook (black), Texas-rigged Zoom Ole Monster (redbug).

Main Factor: "Making the decision to leave that hole on the final day and go to another place."

Performance Edge: "The jig with the Fat Albert grub was what I caught most of my fish on. Then the next main thing would be the Lowrance electronics because they allowed me to sit right on my spot and make the right cast."

Guntersville Winning Pattern June 29, 2010. Bassfan (http://www.bassfan.com/news_article.asp?id=3660).

Arkansas veteran Mark Rose was in a toe-to-toe slugfest with Long until day 3, when he farmed two massive bites and was forced to weigh a run-of-the-mill sack. He got three of that type each day of the event and landed all six the first 2 days, but only two of them from the midway point on. He rotated through about 15 spots and hit some of them multiple times during a day.

"I spent a lot of time pre-practicing and a lot of that time I spent idling around. I didn't practice shallow at all - I went around with my Lowrance (electronics) trying to find the subtleties on those ledges where the fish would be holding."

Two crankbaits - one with rattles and one without - accounted for the vast majority of his weigh-in fish.

Cranking gear: 7'11" medium action Kistler Z-Bone rod, Shimano Chronarch casting reel (5:1 gear ratio), 12-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, Strike King 6 XD or Strike King 6 XD Silent Stalker (sexy herring).

Among the other offerings he threw were a Strike King Sexy Spoon, a 3/4-ounce football jig, a 6-inch swimbait and a 10-inch worm.

Main factor: "Not doing anything but ledge-fishing."

Performance edge: "The entire rod, reel and line setup, and that 6 XD is the best deep crankbait in the world, in my opinion. It was a combination of all of them."

Guntersville Patterns 2-5 June 30, 2010. Bassfan (http://www.bassfan.com/news_article.asp?id=3661).

A lackluster day 1 kept David Fritts out of serious contention for his second straight win at Guntersville. He figured things out on day 2 (he went considerably deeper) and weighed the biggest bags on each of the two ensuing days, including a tournament-best stringer on day 3.

He caught the huge bag with a Carolina-rigged Zoom Brush Hog on a day when the fish were tight to the bottom in 30 feet of water. A big-lipped crankbait was his other primary weapon. "The bait was moving up and down the ledges and you had to figure out where the shells and the other rough spots were to know where you needed to be fishing," he said.

Cranking gear: 7'6" medium-action fiberglass American Rodsmiths David Fritts Signature Series cranking rod, Lew's Speed Spool casting reel, 10-pound Sufix Deep Crankin' line, Rapala DT16 or DT20 (pearl gray shiner).

Carolina-rig gear: 8' American Rodsmiths H3 Titanium Carolina-rig rod, same reel, 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line (main line and 18-inch leader), 3/4-ounce lead weight, barrel swivel 5/0 VMC SureGrip hook, Zoom Brush Hog (green-pumpkin with dyed chartreuse tail).

Main factor: "It's the way I've fished all my life - it was right down my alley. I just wish I hadn't stubbed my toe so bad the first day."

Performance edge: "I had to have everything - the Lowrance (electronics), the rod and reel, the whole deal. Without any part of it I couldn't have caught those fish."

Guntersville Patterns 2-5 June 30, 2010. Bassfan (http://www.bassfan.com/news_article.asp?id=3661).

David Walker was ultra-consistent - he was the only competitor who topped 20 pounds on all 4 days. He just never got up into that mid-20s range where Long resided for the first 3 days and Walker and Fritts visited. He fished some ledges with a crankbait and a big worm and also flipped some grass, moving in or out whenever the time seemed right. His calls were spot-on for the most part. "I had so much fun out there - I'd never caught 20-pound bags 4 days in a row before. I can't say enough about this lake."

Flipping gear: 7'11" heavy-action G. Loomis flipping stick, Shimano Curado casting reel (7:1 ratio), 56-pound Sunline braided line, 1-ounce homemade jig (black/blue), Berkley PowerBait Chigger Craw or NetBait Paca Craw trailer (black/blue flake).

Cranking gear: 7'10" medium-heavy Quantum Tour Edition Kevin VanDam Signature Series cranking rod, same reel, 10-pound Sunline Sniper fluorocarbon line, Rapala DT16 (shad) or Koppers Live Target Deep Runner (blue/white).

Worm gear: 7' medium-heavy Denali jig and worm rod, same reel, 16-pound Sunline Sniper, 1/2-ounce Jewel Rock weight, 5/0 XPoint offset round-bend hook, 10-inch Berkley Power Worm (plum/blue flake).

Main factor: "Really just versatility - I didn't rely on one place and I caught them a variety of ways."

Performance edge: "The new Lowrance HDS with the Navionics chip. With its scanning capabilities, you just drive right to the spot. Ledge-fishing is way better than it used to be."

Guntersville Patterns 2-5 June 30, 2010. Bassfan (http://www.bassfan.com/news_article.asp?id=3661).

Keith Combs had quite a few ledges that he bounced between throughout the event. He'd crank each one furiously when he first arrived, and then slow down with a jig or a prototype bait from Power Tackle called the Lateral Perch, which he described as a combination of a spoon, a jig and a swimbait.

"The places varied, but the main factor a lot of them had was a drain that intersected a main creek channel and formed a point," he said. "A couple of the other ones were just really vertical ledges." He had six primary locales that he visited several times a day, rarely spending more than 10 to 20 minutes in one place.

Cranking gear: 7' medium-action Power Tackle PGC170 fiberglass rod, Shimano Curado casting reel (7.3:1 ratio), 10-pound Seaguar AbrazX fluorocarbon line, Strike King 6 XD or 6 XD Silent Stalker (chartreuse/blueback)

Jig gear: 7'6" heavy action Power Tackle PG104 rod, same reel, 20-pound AbrazX fluorocarbon, 3/4-ounce Oldham's jig (little gator), Strike King Rage Craw trailer (green-pumpkin).

He fished the Lateral Perch on the same setup as the jig.

Main factor: "I think it was moving around a lot. The longer I stayed in one place, the smarter the fish got."

Performance edge:"The cranking rod helped me a lot. I could throw the bait a long ways and 99% of the fish stayed hooked up."

Guntersville Patterns 2-5 June 30, 2010. Bassfan (http://www.bassfan.com/news_article.asp?id=3661).