Cory Johnston's Pattern, Baits & Gear
Cory Johnston changed up his tactics each day based on the weather and other factors. He primarily concentrated on docks when the sun was out and fished wind-blown points under low-light conditions. "I just kind of went with what the fish were telling me to do," he said. "I really didn't have a set game plan - I looked at what the weather was doing every day and changed with that. I fished new water every day. "I lost a few key fish throughout the tournament that definitely would've put me in 2nd place and I might've been able to give Carl a run for his money if I'd caught them all, but that's just the way it goes."
He did much of his dock work with a spoon and it was particularly effective on day 1. "I'd let it flutter down and hop it four or five times, then pull out and flip to the next dock," he said. A Neko Rig was his biggest producer on day 2, and that offering and a ChatterBait were dominant on day 3. He caught three quality largemouth on a square-bill crankbait on day 4, along with a big smallmouth on a wobble-head.
Gear:
Spoon gear: 7'5" medium-heavy G. Loomis NRX 894 JWR rod, Shimano Metanium MGL casting reel (8:1 ratio), 20-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, 1-ounce River2Sea Worldwide Spoon (chrome).
Bladed jig gear: 7'5" medium-heavy G. Loomis NRX 893 rod, same reel reel (7.3:1 ratio) and line (15-pound), Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait Jackhammer (shad), Jackall Rhythm Wave trailer (white).
Neko Rig gear: 7'3" medium-action G. Loomis NRX 872 rod, Shimano Stradic 2500 spinning reel, 8-pound PowerPro braid (main line), 8-pound Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon (8' leader), 1/0 Gamakatsu G-Finesse hook, 5" nail-weighted Yamamoto Senko (green-pumpkin).
Cranking gear: 7'1" medium-heavy G. Loomis GLX 855 composite rod (out of production), Shimano Curado casting reel (6.2:1 ratio), 12-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon, Jackall Aska, Lucky Craft 1.5 or Strike King 1.5 (shad).
Wobble-head gear - Same rod, reel and line as ChatterBait, 1/2-ounce Dirty Jigs Pivot Point Football Jig, Strike King Rage Bug (green-pumpkin).
Bassmaster Elite Tour Lake Tenkiller 2-5 Patterns BassFan 9/25/19 (John Johnson)
