Cory Johnston's Pattern, Baits & Gear
Cory Johnston's pre-tournament research led him to believe that the winning fish would come from the Cooper River. That notion proved incorrect (Blaylock fished the Waccamaw), but committing to the long run propelled him to the best finish of his four-year tour-level career. "I spent all my practice time in the Cooper," he said. "I didn't even look anywhere else." He had quite a few spawning fish marked, and those carried him through the first two days. He didn't have much time to look for others during the event as they could only be spotted at low tide.
"Most of the time I was just casting out to where I knew there were bedding areas. When the sun was out on the second day I could see the holes in the hydrilla, but the rest of the time I was just blind-casting." He pulled the majority of his weight from a spawning flat that featured scattered hydrilla. The small places that featured a hard bottom held most of the fish. A wacky-rigged soft stickbait was his main offering, and a swimjig also produced.
Gear:
Stickbait gear: 7'3" G. Loomis NRX 872 spinning rod, Shimano Exsence spinning reel, 8-pound PowerPro braid (main line), 8-pound Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon (leader), size 1 Gamakatsu B10S Stinger hook, wacky-rigged Strike King Ocho (green-pumpkin).
Swimjig gear: 7'5" medium-heavy G. Loomis NRX 893 rod, Shimano Metanium MGL casting reel (7:1 ratio), 15-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, 3/8-ounce Punisher swimjig (green-pumpkin), Strike King Rage Craw trailer (green-pumpkin).
BASS Elite Tour Winyah Bay Patterns 2-5 BassFan 4/22/19 (John Johnson)
