Phil Marks Winning Pattern, Baits & Gear
ÒObviously, itÕs by far the biggest tournament IÕve won,Ó said Marks, who lives in Dallas now. ÒFishing a 4-day event like this under this much pressure for this much money, itÕs a whole different mindset than going out and fishing a 1-day team tournament where youÕre just trying to catch a bag full of giants. I do specialize in catching big ones because thatÕs what it takes to win those 1-day tournaments. You canÕt push a bad hand and hero or zero one day because then youÕll be out of it. ÒThat takes a little bit of learning over time. This is the highlight of my tournament career. IÕm tickled to death in the way I won it, but I donÕt have any plans to make any lifestyle changes.Ó Marks has seen Rayburn go through the cyclical changes it seems to be experiencing lately. After a couple years of low water, the lake came up significantly in the spring and the fishing just hasnÕt been the same since. The big fish were so scattered in practice it was hard to count on them in any particular area, prompting many pros to head to the grass mats and pluck out limits of 2- to 3-pounders. Sensing the better fish were holding on distinct pieces of offshore structure and/or relating to the presence of shad, he focused his practice on main-lake flats that had sizable Òdrains, depressions or ditches that ran into them,Ó he said. ÒI would fish the breaks of the ditches. I wasnÕt keying on brush piles. ÒI would find a small patch of hard bottom and thatÕs what I was keying on. It took me a few hours in the morning to find them and I ended up finding about six or seven spots, two of which I had knowledge of prior to this tournament.Ó As a backup plan, he also located some shallow fish in the back of a creek up the lake that he could pick off with a shallow-running squarebill crankbait. ÒIt was just a typical fall pattern with a bunch of 2- and 3-pounders roaming around busting shad,Ó he added.
Competition:
The key part of the day for Marks during the tournament was the first 2 hours. On the first day of competition, warmer temperatures had replaced the chilly conditions that had been prevalent during practice. Changes in the weather didnÕt seem to affect his deeper fish. In fact, they seemed to bite better and longer under some clouds and with some wind. He scored 17-01 on day 1 to open the event in 3rd place, catching his bigger fish on deep-diving crankbaits, including a prototype Strike King Series 10XD, and cleaning up with a big football jig. ÒI had to do my damage really in the first hour,Ó he said. ÒIt was about a 20-minute run to get down to where I was at so I had a limited window. The drains I was targeting, IÕd crank right up the middle of them first thing in the morning just looking for them. If I saw some on the DownScan, IÕd swing the boat around and throw a 1-ounce Strike King football jig out there or an 8-inch Strike King Rage Recon worm. You had to keep moving and fish fast to catch those active fish.Ó He knew he was around some big fish from the get-go as his co-angler on the first day stuck a 9-pounder. The early bite didnÕt happen for him on day 2 and he made the move to his fish in the back of the creek, where he caught 14-02 that kept him in 3rd place entering the weekend. ÒI only had one 14-incher and ran to my backup spot with some shallow fish in 2 to 4 feet that no one else in the tournament had found,Ó he said. ÒThose fish saved me. I ran up there and managed to get up to 14 pounds and that kept me in the hunt.Ó
He started dialing in the bigger fish on day 3, weighing a 5- and 7-pounder from the same honey hole that kicked out a 5 on day 1 as he took the lead from Combs with an 18-01 sack. He had learned the area so well on his electronics that he could literally tell the difference between a school of threadfin shad and gizzard shad and, in turn, could predict what size bass were stalking which bait. ÒI could tell the difference between little Kentuckys and smaller balls of threadfin shad,Ó he said. ÒWhat I was looking for were big-looking fish that were chasing gizzard shad, which look a lot different than a school of threadfins on the DownScan. When IÕd see those what I call ÔwormsÕ on the screen and if I saw gizzard shad, I was fixing to get bit by a big one. ÒI was moving the crankbait pretty fast and I could tell by the thickness of the mark whether it was a spotted bass or a 6-pounder.Ó Day 4 brought about another drastic weather shift, but it had Marks pumped up since he was sure his offshore fish would fire with the windy and rainy conditions. Once again, the first 90 minutes of the day proved to be crucial as he caught giant after giant off the same spot that produced his big fish on days 1 and 3. His lightest fish was a 5 3/4-pounder. ÒWhen weÕd get some weather, theyÕd just bite longer and more aggressively,Ó he said. ÒI caught them just like this during all 3 days in practice and all 4 days of the tournament. If you do something for a week straight, you can get pretty good at it. The last two days I was fortunate enough to catch some of those big ones early.Ó
Winning Gear:
Crankbait gear: 7Õ3Ó medium-heavy Power Tackle Paragon Series casting rod, Quantum Tour KVD casting reel (7.3:1 ratio), 12-pound Gamma fluorocarbon line, Strike King Series 6XD crankbait (pearl/black splatter with chartreuse belly). When he threw the 10XD (same color as 6XD), he used an 8Õ Power Tackle Swimbait Special rod Ð a regular cranking rod is too limber Ð with 16-pound Gamma fluorocarbon. He also put 2/0 Mustad KVD Elite Series Short Shank Triple Grip treble hooks on the bait, which allowed him to swing his bigger fish into the boat. ÒWhen IÕd get them, it was like I had six jig hooks in them,Ó he said. ÒI swung two of the big ones (on day 4). The 8-pounder wasnÕt hooked too good, so I lipped him. You can be pretty rough with them. Some people were freaking out when they showed some of the footage at the weigh-in.Ó More on the 10XD: ÒItÕs not a magic bait. Big fish eat big bait,Ó he said. ÒThatÕs the big deal. Those bass at Rayburn eat Kentucky spotted bass and giant gizzard shad. They were spitting up Kentuckys in my livewell, 8 and 10 ounces at a time. That being said, you can go a long time without getting a bite, but when you do get a bite, itÕs going to have some size.Ó On day 2, most of his fish came on a Strike King KVD 1.0 squarebill.
Jig gear: 7Õ6Ó medium-heavy Power Tackle Paragon Series casting rod, Shimano Curado casting reel (7.1:1 ratio), 20-pound Gamma fluorocarbon line, 1-ounce Strike King Tour Grade Heavy Hook football jig (peanut butter and jelly), Strike King Rage Craw trailer (junebug or candy craw).
He used the junebug trailer in low-light conditions and switched to the candy craw once the sun broke through. He also caught a few fish on a Texas-rigged 8Ó Strike King Rage Recon Worm.
Main factor: ÒTargeting big fish and fishing water that other people werenÕt fishing. I was targeting those bigger fish, but I was also prepared to make a move if I needed to go fill out a limit up shallow. My fish were different-looking, too. A lot of guysÕ fish were long, skinny fish from up shallow. My fish were fat and round. They were just different-looking fish.Ó
Performance edge: ÒI could not have lived without the Lowrance HDS-10s and the StructureScan. IÕd crank down those drains and a lot of the fish wouldnÕt be in the same place. TheyÕd move up and down these ditches and if I didnÕt catch one on a crankbait to let me know they were there, IÕd see them on the DownScan, then spin around and throw the jig out. That was critical.Ó
Sam Rayburn FLW Tour Winning Pattern Bassfan 10/16/12 (Todd Ceisner)
