Casey Scanlon Wins FLW Lake Champlain

All smallmouth? It's happened. A mixed bag of smallmouth and largemouth? That's the norm. But winning a major tournament on Lake Champlain with all largemouth? That's a rare feat that hasn't been done in more than a dozen years. That is, until this week. Casey Scanlon - along with a host of other top-finishing pros at the FLW Tour regular-season finale - bucked history and became the first pro to win a four-day event on solely largemouth from the Ticonderoga area of Champlain since Tracy Adams did it back in 2006. Of course, there are a number of factors at work as to why the long run to "Ti" is such a high-risk, high-reward proposition, and nearly all of them came into play for Scanlon during his winning week.

Practice:

Scanlon had never been to Lake Champlain before this year, but his roommate, Christopher Brasher, had, making a top 20 there back in 2012 by fishing the Ticonderoga area. Thus, that's where the two headed opted to begin their scouting expedition. "We went down there the first and third days of practice, and we had a great practice," Scanlon said. "We both did our own thing and got dialed in on different stuff." For Scanlon, he figured out the bass were keying on rock, be it points or stretches of bank. They weren't necessarily on the rocks, but more so in the vegetation near it.

One key spot he found was a pair of rocky points close together with current coming around them and a small patch of milfoil between them that was no bigger than the deck of his boat. He caught a couple nice fish and noticed the amount of bait on that spot, making a mental note. He also found a few stretches of bank with mixtures of pencil reeds and "dollar pads" (small lily pads) that seemed to be producing bigger bites. "We both had a good feeling about [Ticonderoga] after day 1, and after day 3 we really felt it'd be won down there," Scanlon said. "We just didn't know if we could get down there."

Competition:

It takes roughly an hour to get down to Ticonderoga from Plattsburgh, N.Y., and that's with calm conditions (a rarity on a lake the size of Champlain). Amazingly, that's exactly what Scanlon and the rest of the pros got for the majority of the event. On each of the first three competition days, Scanlon easily made it down to Ticonderoga and put together quick limits on the small grass patch between the two points. If the bass came up chasing bait, he'd fire a topwater at them, but his main lures were a 3/8-ounce white-and-chartreuse vibrating jig with a white soft jerkbait trailer or a black-and-blue Lucky Strike Pow Stick. From there, he'd start chasing kickers in and amongst the pencil reeds and pads with the previous two lures or a half-ounce black-and-blue Trophy Bass Company Trophy Swim Jig of Scanlon's own design.

A big key was being able to keep adapting, as his fish seemed to be moving every day. "In practice, the fish were keying on rock," Scanlon said. "Come the tournament, most of my fish came off the inside of a milfoil edge near the rock, and each day I caught more fish from the grass. By [Sunday], I caught all my fish in the grass or on the outside edge. "Even the lures changed for me every day. The vibrating jig was key for me the first day, but I had to rely more on the Pow Stick and swim jig on days 2 and 3. Then I couldn't get bit fishing slowly [on Sunday]. It was all about a vibrating jig again."

There were two reasons Scanlon figured the fish were moving so much. One was the water was dropping every day, and the other was he felt many of the fish were spawning and then leaving, especially in and amongst the pencil reeds. Regardless, that ability to adapt loomed large on the final day right off the bat. "I showed up to my primary area and nothing was working," Scanlon said. "I could pretty much call my shots there the first three days and I never got a bite there Sunday. I just put my head down, put the trolling motor down and fished hard." Hard and until the very end, as he ended up catching a key kicker with about 15 minutes left before making what turned out to be a near two-hour run back north in some rough water. But he made it back, and with the heaviest bag in the final-day field.

Winning Gear:

Vibrating-Jig gear: 7'6" medium-heavy CarbonLite 2.0 casting rod, Casting reel (6.8:1 ratio), 17-pound fluorocarbon line, 3/8-ounce vibrating jig (white/chartreuse), soft jerkbait trailer (white).

Swim jig gear: 7'3" heavy-action CarbonLite 2.0 casting rod, Casting reel (7.2:1 ratio), 40-pound braided line, 1/2-ounce Trophy Bass Company swim jig (black/blue) craw trailer (black/blue).

Worm Gear: 7'6" heavy CarbonLite 2.0 casting rod, Casting reel (7.2:1 ratio), 20-pound fluorocarbon line, 1/4- or 3/16-ounce tungsten weight, 4/0 Hayabusa FPP Straight Worm Hook, Luck-E Strike Pow Stick (black/blue flake).

Scanlon also mixed in a Luck-E Strike Series 3 square-bill (green copper shad) and a tube. He swapped out the stock hooks on the bait in favor of No. 4 Hayabusa TBL 930 trebles.

Main factor: "Multiple things. My Mercury and Nitro - I was making some long runs and never had an issue. I'd also say the ability to make adjustments. The fish were changing on me every day. I had to stay calm, slow down and grind out bites sometimes."

FLW Tour Lake Champlain Lake Winning Pattern BassFan 7/3/19 (Todd Ceisner)

Most pros had fun this past week, but none may have had more than Eric Jackson. In four years on the FLW Tour, the freestyle kayaking legend had never fished a weekend (his best finish was 55th). So come Sunday, the affable pro had no shortage of entertaining words for the camera while on live coverage. Then again, when you have a lone spot like his that was producing as it was, it makes it that much easier to have fun. Down in Ticonderoga, Jackson figured out bass were pulling out of St. George Lake as the water dropped, and there was one exit - a creek channel with loads of cover, including one "amazing" bridge.

"That bridge actually had four areas on it," Jackson said. "It had two bridge abutment sections that produced fish, and I had an eddy line that had a hump with a little bit of grass on top that produced fish. And then I also had a couple trees against the shore right below the bridge that produced fish." Initially, Jackson plucked off the escapes by aggressively swimming a sexy shad Strike King Tour Grade Swim Jig with a white Strike King Rage Menace Grub trailer in any thick cover he could find. Yet, he started getting fewer bites on the jig as the tournament went on, as he figured the alewives that were up in the small pond had all left. Fortunately, plenty of bass were still lagging behind, and they were very willing to eat a Strike King Ocho rigged weightless Texas-style on a Trokar 3/0 worm hook. He'd actually cast it and let the current from the out-flowing water in the channel drift it into prime feeding position. "I'd cast it out, and you'd feel it sink and drift until it hit a patch of grass, and then it would just be game on," Jackson said.

Gear:

Swim-jig gear: 6'9" Cashion Kayak Series jig/worm casting rod, Lew's casting reel, 50-pound TUF Line braided line, Strike King Tour Grade Swim Jig (sexy shad), Strike King Rage Menace Grub (white) trailer.

Worm gear: 7'2" medium-heavy Cashion Elite casting rod, Lew's casting reel, 20-pound fluorocarbon line, 3/0 Trokar worm hook, Strike King Ocho (green-pumpkin)

Main factor: "Having my place all to myself. A couple locals tried to fish it over the weekend, but they weren't fishing it right, fortunately."

Champlain FLW 2-5 Patterns BassFan 7/8/19 (Sean Ostruszka)

What makes Bryan Thrift one of the best in the sport is sometimes the littlest things; things like knowing himself so well. For instance, he badly wanted to make the run down to Ticonderoga because he figured the conditions set up so well to fish for largemouth. Yet, he also knew that's not his style. "Historically, every time I make a long run I bomb," Thrift said. "I tend to panic and get stressed out and fish too fast because I don't feel I have enough time."

Thus, Thrift opted to stay up north to originally target smallmouth bouncing between Plattsburgh and Missisquoi Bay. He got quite the surprise on his starting spot come day 2. "I had a big grass flat in about 7 feet of water that I could catch smallmouth on topwater," Thrift said. "It was loaded with perch, which is why I think it was so good. But it was only good for the first 30 minutes and then it would die. "The first day I caught all smallmouth, but day 2, all I caught was largemouth there. From then on, I only caught largemouth on that spot. I have no idea why."

Regardless, Thrift put on a show on topwaters each of the four mornings (you can watch the videos on FLWfishing.com) before moving to Plan B, which was to again target smallmouth. "Basically, I just ran around throwing at anything I thought a spawning smallmouth would like in 6-10 feet of water with a swimbait," Thrift said. "Originally, I didn't think they were spawning, but eventually I realized they probably were because I couldn't go back to the same spot and get bit again." The plan worked to perfection, and had the weather gotten nasty any one day to not allow the long run to Ticonderoga, Thrift might've been hoisting his seventh Tour trophy.

Gear:

Topwater gear: 7'2" Fitzgerald Bryan Thrift Series Frog Rod casting rod, Abu Garcia Revo STX casting reel (7.3:1 ratio), 15-pound P-Line Original monofilament line, unnamed walking bait (white/chartreuse).

He also dragged a Texas-rigged 5-inch Damiki Stinger (watermelon candy) to catch a few more from the grass patch each day once the topwater bite died.

Swimbait gear: 7' medium-heavy Fitzgerald Stunner Series casting rod, Abu Garcia Revo Al-F casting reel, 8-pound P-Line Tactical fluorocarbon line, 1/4-ounce swimbait head, 4" Damiki Armor Shad (Tennessee shad and American shad).

Main factor: "Probably the weather. Having calm conditions allowed me to run around like I like. If I wanted to make a 15-20 mile run, I could."

Champlain FLW 2-5 Patterns BassFan 7/8/19 (Sean Ostruszka)

Christopher Brasher came into Champlain on the bubble to make the FLW Cup. Yet, any time he's tried to be conservative in that position in the past, he'd missed the Cup. Thus, this time he wanted to try something different. "I figured I'd let it go and try to fish for the biggest bag I could," Brasher said. "It worked out."

Down in Ticonderoga, Brasher located a creek with clear water running out of it, that was then mixing with the dirty water, creating a distinct mud line the bass were using to corral bait against. Throw in the fact that there was a ledge right near the mouth of the creek where it dropped from 2 to 7 feet, with some grass right on the lip, and Brasher had himself a spot he could camp on all four days. "Basically, those fish were moving around depending on where the wind was and wherever that mud line was," Brasher said. "I had to keep finding them each day, except the last two days they came up schooling and gave themselves away. "That final day just got stupid. I was catching so many I just couldn't leave. I probably caught 60 fish. I kept thinking I should leave to try for a bigger fish, but then I'd catch another upgrade. Plus, I was just having so much fun."

Gear:

Crankbait gear: Lew's casting rod, Lew's casting reel, 17-pound fluorocarbon line, 6th Sense Crush 50X (copper green shad).

Swim-jig gear: Same rod, reel and line; 1/2-ounce Black Angel swim jig (black/blue) with Zoom Z-Craw Jr. trailer (black-and-blue).

He also tossed a 6th Sense Dogma first thing in the morning when the fish came up schooling and a used a wacky-rig the final day.

Main factor: "Practicing and committing to fishing in Ticonderoga. There was zero chance of me fishing up north after practice. I knew it'd be won down there."

Champlain FLW 2-5 Patterns BassFan 7/8/19 (Sean Ostruszka)

It's one thing to camp in an area for four days, a whole other to camp on a spot so small you could spot-lock and never leave. Yet, that's exactly what Hensley Powell did. "The second day of practice I went down to Ticonderoga, but it wasn't all that great," Powell said. "Then I noticed some alewives follow in my ChatterBait. I figured they were spawning, so I started trying different retrieves with it." The best retrieve ended up being letting the vibrating jig sink to the bottom, quickly reeling it up a foot off the bottom (not using his rod to rip it, as he said that resulted in too many lost fish), and then letting it fall back down again, with the bass always eating it on the fall. "Once I figured that out, I had like 20 pounds in an hour," Powell said.

From there, it just became a matter of finding the best area, or in his case, tiny spot. Powell found some prime alewife-spawning activity on a tiny cut just south of Fort Ticonderoga, outside the creek that Jackson was fishing. Yet, while Jackson and most everyone was solely catching largemouth, Powell's spot allowed him to cast toward shore and catch largemouth or cast out in 9-12 feet of water and catch smallmouth that would come up schooling. Powell's only regret in the event came on day 3. "I left Ticonderoga early Saturday with two small ones in my livewell because I had two big smallmouths up north on beds I had been saving," Powell said. "Well, I ran all the way up and there was a boat sitting on the two smallmouths, so I wasn't able to cull those two little ones."

Gear:

Vibrating-jig gear: 6'6" Cashion casting rod, Lew's casting reel, 15-pound Vision fluorocarbon line, 3/8-ounce Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer (white/chartreuse), Zoom Swimmin' Fluke Jr. trailer (white ice).

Worm gear: Cashion casting rod, Lew's casting reel, 15-pound Vision fluorocarbon line, 3/0 hook, 5-inch Trixster Custom Baits stick bait (green-pumpkin).

Main factor: "Identifying the alewife spawn and figuring out the right retrieve. I saw it in practice, but I never saw it the first three days of the tournament. The final morning I saw it again, and I caught three good ones on my first three casts."

Champlain FLW 2-5 Patterns BassFan 7/8/19 (Sean Ostruszka)