Kyle Welcher Wins Bassmaster Elite Pasquotank River

Lester alternated between a shaky head and drop shot. The presentation focused on a bottom hard spot near a bridge with the shaky head, while he switched to the drop shot around shallow cover located in the back of a secondary creek. He made the drop shot with a 6.5-inch LiveTarget Finesse Worm, rigged on a 3/0 Mustad Grip-Pin Edge Hook, with a 3/16 Mustad Tungsten TitanX Tungsten Drop Shot Weight. For the shaky head, he used a 6.5-inch LIveTarget Straight Tail Worm, rigged on a 1/8-ounce Spanker Jigs Magnum Spanky Head.

McKinney fished heavy cover with a jig and shaky worm setup, using the baits to coax bass from shallow wood used by spawning cycle largemouth. A top choice was a 5/16-ounce 6th Sense prototype jig, with a 6th Sense Bongo 3.7 for a trailer. Alternatively, he used a Neko-rigged 6th Sense Divine Shakey Worm with 1/32-ounce weight in the head, and No. 2 stinger hook in middle of the worm.

Fothergill kept it simple with a drop shot. He made it with a Strike King KVD Perfect Plastics Finesse Worm 6.5, rigged on a 1/0 Roboworm Rebarb Hook with a 1/8-ounce drop-shot weight.

Combs kept it simple with a flipping rig. Keith's top lure was a Strike King Rage Bug, rigged on a 3/0 Owner 4X Jungle Flipping Hook, with a 5/16-ounce Strike King Tour Grade Tungsten Bullet Weight.

Hamner used a jerkbait for reaction strikes and a flipping package for coaxing bass from heavier cover. A Megabass jerkbait was the choice for covering water. For heavy cover he used a NetBait BaitFuel HexTek Rascal 3.5, rigged on a 4/0 Gamakatsu G-Power Heavy Cover Worm Flip and Punch Hook, with a 1/4-ounce weight.

Williams stayed on a roll with a familiar setup for fishing heavy cover. That was a 3/8-ounce Greenfish Tackle Little Rubber Jig with a Yamamoto Flappin' Hog for a trailer.

Feider used a drop shot and bladed jig as his primary baits. A top choice was a Z-Man SMH WormZ rigged on a No. 1 VMC NK Finesse Hook, with a 1/8-ounce WOO! Tungsten Drop Shot Weight. For heavy cover he used a 1/2-ounce Z-Man ChatterBait Elite EVO, with Z-Man ChatterShad for a trailer.

LeHew's primary lure was a buzzbait. That choice was a 1/8-ounce Berkley prototype buzzbait, rigged with a Berkley PowerBait Buzz'n Speed Toad.

Patrick used a Neko wacky rig for finesse applications and a jig for heavy cover. He made the Neko rig with a 5-inch X Zone True Center Stick, rigged on a 1/0 Gamakatsu B10S Hook, or a No. 1 Neko Hook. For heavy cover he used a 1/2-ounce Greenfish Tackle Little Rubber Jig, with an X Zone Adrenaline Craw Jr.