John Cox Wins FLW Lake Chickamauga

It really doesn't matter the tournament; it's pretty well guaranteed John Cox is going to fish shallow. The Florida pro is arguably the best shallow-water angler in the sport, as he and his aluminum Crestliner have made a lot of money fishing skinny water, even winning an FLW Cup. So when a tournament sets up to have a good shallow bite, and it just so happens to be one of his favorite lakes - a lake where Cox had previously won a Bassmaster Open around the same time of year - it's little shock most pros picked him as the favorite to win the FLW Tour event on Chickamauga. What makes Cox so good up shallow is often his ability to adapt, which he had to do often throughout his latest victory. Here's a look at how the No. 3-ranked angler in the BassFan World Rankings constantly rolled with the punches, including making his last-minute, tournament-winning decision.

Practice:

Cox came to Chickamauga with one thing on his mind: sight-fishing. The timing and conditions seemed to be lining up, and he was not disappointed once practice got under way. "Right away I was finding so many fish right on the bank," Cox said. "I'd get into areas, it'd be so shallow the bass would be up there laying sideways because they wanted to spawn so bad." After seeing that, including a double-digit fish that, again, was lying sideways in the skinny water waiting for enough water to get into the area for her to actually spawn, Cox simply went about marking as many bedding fish he could in preparation for day 1. He doesn't know how many he marked, but they ranged from 7 miles down the lake to 10 miles up the river, and he had a big bag of fish waiting for him come day 1. "I love this lake, and with what I was seeing, I was so excited," Cox said.

Competition:

All Cox needed for his sight-fishing bite to go nuts was the lake's water levels to keep getting closer to full pool. They did that during the off day, but they weren't the only thing that rose, as the water temps came up a little too fast. "I tried to target some females I saw in practice, but it almost got too hot for [the bedding fish]," said Cox about day 1. "The ones that were trying to spawn gave up and quit. So right away, first thing I bailed on everything and went to the five biggest males I had marked and caught them." Those males were enough to give him the day-1 lead, but day 2 was more of the same. He'd marked another five 6-pounders the day prior, only for them to all disappear. So once again, Cox simply caught all the males he could off beds.

Day 3 is when things got interesting. He caught a 5-pounder off a bed to start, but when a massive storm rolled through around midday, he picked up a white swim jig to try and capitalize on a lingering shad-spawn bite in the cloudy weather. It didn't matter where he threw it - to sawgrass, laydowns, grass, trees - the fish choked it right through the storm. With more clouds and storms expected on the final morning, Cox had all intents to simply put that swim jig in his hands, stay closer to takeoff - no more than 5 miles in either direction from the ramp - and fish any stretch of backwater with less than 2-feet of water in it. He caught a couple decent fish first thing, but then he had a lull during which he caught dozens of little fish.

"I really wanted to catch them on that jig, but in the afternoon I finally decided to fish the conditions like you're supposed to," Cox said. That meant going to that 4 1/4-ounder he'd spent 4 hours throughout the previous three days trying to get bite. She bit three times on Sunday, with Cox finally corralling her the third try. Then, with little time left, Cox remembered a pair of cypress trees up the river he hadn't hit, yet where he'd caught some big fish in the past. "My first cast to the first tree with that wacky rig, my line jumped and took off, but I lost that fish," says Cox. "I thought it was over then. So I go over to the other tree and immediately catch a 4-pounder. So then I hop on pad back to the first tree, and I caught that second 4-pounder with 3 minutes left. It was unreal."

Winning Gear:

Wacky-Rig Gear: 7' medium-action Abu Garcia Fantasista Premier Spin rod, Abu Garcia Revo Premier spinning reel, 10-pound Berkley Fireline braided line (main line) 10-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon leader, 1/0 Berkley Fusion19 EWG hook, Berkley PowrBait MaxScent The General (baby bass).

Swim-Jig Gear: Same rod (7'6" heavy-action), Abu Garcia Revo Premier casting reel (7.3:1 ratio), 50-pound Berkley x5 braided line, 1/2-ounce Dirty Jigs swim jig (white), Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Meaty Chunk trailer (white pearl).

Main factor in his success: "My Crestliner is a huge thing for me. It reminds of fishing out of an old jonboat, and I just feel comfortable. It's not as fast as other boats, but in practice it allowed me to get into backwaters other guys couldn't to find a lot of the areas I'd eventually fish in the tournament."

FLW Lake Chickamauga Winning Patterns BassFan 5/10/19 (Sean Ostruszka)

Being a local favorite can be a blessing and a curse, as Gross found out this week. "I've never been so stressed in a tournament in my life," Gross said. Not only did he have the pressure to do well, but he also had so much history it was hard to whittle it all down. That said, he committed himself to fishing away from the bank, eventually focusing on 15 places he considers transition spots coming out of spawning pockets, particularly gravel points in 6 to 8 feet of water. That history did come in handy, though, because all the big schools of fish he found were also found by other pros. So instead, he could focus on the smaller places where he might only catch one or two fish, but they'd be the right size.

Another big key was his ability to adapt to the fishing pressure. "The fishing pressure actually helped me," Gross said. "There'd be so much pressure on the good spots it'd push the fish off. I knew where they'd relocate 50 or 75 yards away." Ultimately, Gross never felt he was on the fish to win or even make the top 10, as he says he only got one giant bite all week and it broke him off on day 2. So finishing 2nd, he was quite proud to be able to handle the pressure and adapt as he did.

Gear:

Swimbait gear: 7'3" Fitzgerald casting rod, Daiwa Tatula SV casting reel, unnamed 17-pound fluorocarbon line, 5- or 6-inch Scottsboro Tackle swimbait (shad colors) or Zoom Swimmer (shad colors)

He threw the swimbaits on either a 1-ounce Scottsboro Tackle Recon Swimbait head or a 1/2-ounce Owner Flashy Swimmer.

He also did quite a bit of damage on day 3 with a Lucky Craft SKT MR crankbait (chartreuse shad)

Main factor in his success - "Having the history I have here. Just knowing those 'ugly' places where I can get one or two good bites instead of having to fish in a crowd on the better places."

FLW Tour Lake Chickamauga 2-5 Patterns BassFan 5/14/19 (Sean Ostruszka)

It was all about the kickers that did or didn't make it to the boat for Nelson. When he caught them on days 1 and 3, he brought in the fourth- and second-largest bags of the event, respectively. Yet, sandwiched between those banner days were days when he lost those big bites (day 2) or the big fish simply wouldn't open their mouths (day 4). Ultimately, Nelson managed to put himself in contention by doing a little bit of everything. "I had a really good practice focusing on transitioning fish," Nelson said. "But the first morning, I started on the shad spawn and then I started seeing all these big bedding fish, which was the least of what I'd focused on in practice."

Hence, Nelson adapted and focused mainly on spawning fish the rest of day 1 and most of day 2. On day 3, he started out on an offshore spot for the majority of his morning, trying to make it go. It never really did, so once again he went shallow and caught three good fish late (one off a bed, one cruising and one cranking). Realizing the majority of his bigger fish were coming closer to takeoff, he hung tight and did a little offshore fishing, but the heartbreaker was when he went bed-fishing and found a pair of 10-pounders and a 6-pounder that wouldn't eat. "The sun never came out to really lock them on and make them aggressive," Nelson said. "The 6-pounder and one of the 10-pounders, they got so close they could probably taste my bait. They just never opened their mouths. Just the way it goes sometimes."

Gear:

Sight-fishing gear: 7' medium-action G. Loomis spinning rod, Shimano Stradic Cl4+ spinning reel, 10-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, 3/0 Owner hook, Texas-rigged Yamamoto Senko (black/blue or green-pumpkin).

He also used the same setup but with a wacky-rigged Senko on a 1/0 Gamakatsu hook to pitch to various targets he could see while up shallow.

Offshore gear: 7'9" Powell Endurance 795 casting rod, Shimano casting reel, 15-pound Sunline FC Sniper fluorocarbon, 5-inch Soddy Custom Baits swimbait (pearl) or 5/8-ounce Jewell football jig (watermelon) with Strike King Rage Tail Rage Craw trailer (green-pumpkin).

He also mixed in a 3/4-ounce XCalibur rattlebait (silver-and-black).

Main factor in his success - "Just being versatile and adapting as I went."

FLW Tour Lake Chickamauga 2-5 Patterns BassFan 5/14/19 (Sean Ostruszka)

It was his "little area that almost could," and had it not been for a lost 10-pounder, Greenblatt's tiny grass flat would've been the winning area. In practice, the Florida pro wanted to find something that reminded him of fishing back in his home state. Sure enough, he found a grass flat up the river in about 1 1/2 feet of water that was no larger than 150-by-150 yards. He tried to find other places like it in practice, but he never did. Thus, he made the decision to camp out in there all four days. In there, he used just two lures all week: a wacky-rigged Yamamoto Senko and a 5-inch Zoom Speed Worm. To his surprise, the plan nearly was the winning ticket, as he led after day 2 and nearly was leading after day 3. However, on the final day he "boogered" a fish he figured was close to 10 pounds - "the biggest one I had hooked all week."

Gear:

Wacky-rig gear: 7' medium-action Lew's TP1 spinning rod, Lew's Custom Speed Spin 3000 reel, 12-pound Vicious Elite fluorocarbon line, 1/0 VMC Weedless Neko hook, Yamamoto Senko (watermelon red).

Speed Worm gear: Same rod, reel and line; unnamed 1/8-ounce weight, unnamed size 1 hook, 5-inch Zoom Speed Worm (watermelon red) Texas rigged.

He dyed the tails of both the Senko and Speed Worm chartreuse

Main factor in his success: "Fishing to my strengths. I'm not John Cox - I'm not a sight-fisherman. I'm not an offshore guy. Power-Poles were also big because they allowed me to quietly fish an area before moving and camping again."

FLW Tour Lake Chickamauga 2-5 Patterns BassFan 5/14/19 (Sean Ostruszka)

There is no time of the year Dudley enjoys fishing more than early May, regardless of the fishery. "The bass are shallow and you have the bream beds and the shad spawn," Dudley said. "I can throw my wacky-rig. I'm happy." Sure enough, Dudley did a lot of damage the first three days up shallow with a wacky-rig, hitting various shallow targets while going down the bank. However, he also did quite a bit of flipping, particularly to trees that were a bit too snaggy for his wacky-rig, which is actually how he got the majority of his bigger bites.

All four days, Dudley started on a shad-spawn pattern, entertaining everyone on live coverage when he caught a surprise 8-pounder on a white swim jig, but the real entertainment came on day 4.

Figuring his shallow bite couldn't produce a big enough bag to compete and catch up to the offshore guys, he also moved away from the bank, finding a spot where he was literally calling his shots with a square-bill crankbait. Unfortunately, he just never got a big bite. "Chickamauga reminds me of Lake Okeechobee," Dudley said. "You catch a lot of 3-pounders, and then you need a giant kicker. I had that the first few days. Just never got that bite on Sunday."

Gear:

Wacky-rig gear: 7'2" medium-heavy Profishiency spinning rod, Abu Garcia Revo Premier spinning reel, 15-pound Gamma Torque braided line (main line), 12-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon leader, No. 1 straight-shank hook, unnamed soft-plastic stickbait (green-pumpkin).

Flipping gear: 7'6" heavy-action Profishiency casting rod, Abu Garcia Revo Premier casting reel (7.3:1 ratio), 65-pound Gamma Torque braid, 1/4-ounce weight, 5/0 hook, Zoom Brush Hog (green-pumpkin).

Crankbait gear: 7'2" medium-heavy Profishiency casting rod, Abu Garcia Revo Premier casting reel (7.3:1), 12-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon line, OSP Blitz crankbait (ghost minnow).

Main factor in his success: "Being versatile. I felt I really moved with the fish. It may have been won up shallow, but I still think I moved how I needed to move."

FLW Tour Lake Chickamauga 2-5 Patterns BassFan 5/14/19 (Sean Ostruszka)