Ron Nelson's Pattern, Baits & Gear
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)
