Cole Floyd Wins MLF BPT Stage Five - Beaver Lake

Coming into the event with more Beaver Lake experience than anyone in the field, Wesley Strader used it to his advantage and came up just short of the win. He was on the big bass bite better than anyone, boating the biggest bass on each of the final three days with a trio of fish over 5 pounds caught far up the White River. Strader picked a 3/8-ounce, chartreuse and white Z-Man Jack Hammer ChatterBait with a Zoom Z-Craw Jr. on the back and a chartreuse and white, 3/8-ounce Wesley Strader EPIC Spinnerbait to help him secure a 2nd place finish.

Banks Shaw made a furious rally on the final afternoon to rise to third thanks to an excellent forward-facing sonar bite targeting main lake points with a 3/16-ounce jighead with a sexy shad-colored Rapala CrushCity Freeloader. That was part of his plan each day, but he also mixed in fish with a drop-shot. When he wasn't using his forward-facing sonar, he fished a drop-shot with a CrushCity Janitor worm in baby bass with a 3/16-ounce VMC Tungsten weight.

Zack Birge took over the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year lead with another stellar finish. He's on a remarkable run, fishing varied lakes across multiple tours with different formats and largely doing it all his way with a ChatterBait and swim jig. His vibrating jig was a 3/8-ounce Z-Man Jack Hammer in white with a 4.5-inch CrushCity Mooch Minnow on the back, and his swim jig was a white, 5/16-ounce Dirty Jigs No-Jack with a white Strike King Rage Craw for the trailer. Early in the event, he also caught some fish closer to the ramp on a 7/16-ounce Jewel Baits Pee-Wee football jig with a Strike King Rage Scounbug as the trailer, both in green pumpkin shades.

Running an almost identical pattern to what he used to secure a Top 10 at REDCREST on nearby Table Rock Lake, Spencer Shuffield went with a minnow during his forward-facing sonar time and a Ned rig the rest of the day. With 'Scope, he caught them all with a 6-inch Z-Man Scented Jerk ShadZ in electric shad on a 1/4-ounce head fishing over deep points and isolated cover. The rest of the time, he was pitching a Ned rig around on pea gravel and chunk rock banks with a Z-Man TRD CrawZ in Canada Craw.

Anthony Gagliardi came into this event with plenty of experience on Beaver Lake from his FLW Tour days and secured a solid finish by targeting bedding fish and fry guarders. He used that approach with and without forward-facing sonar. He went with a drop-shot using a Roboworm straight tail when sight-fishing with his electronics and cast a wacky rig with a variety of soft plastics to fish he could see with his eyes.

Drew Gill secured yet another Top 10 finish, and he mainly focused on standing timber. He excelled during the forward-facing period, as he usually does, but caught them in the same areas without it. The 'scope period is where he did his heavy lifting using a Neko rig with a Big Bite Baits Nekorama in green pumpkin for the fish living in 10 to 15 feet of water and a wacky rig with a 5-inch Yamamoto Senko in mowed grass for the fish between 4 and 10-feet deep. For the no ÔScope time, Gill used a 6-inch Roboworm FAT in AaronÕs Morning Dawn on a drop-shot.

Fresh off a REDCREST win in the Ozarks, Jacob Wheeler added yet another Top 10 finish on Beaver Lake. He mixed it up during the week, fishing far up the White River in stained water when not using forward-facing sonar. Then, late in the day, he ran to the middle section of the lake and targeted spawning smallmouth in the cleaner water. For his river fish, he mixed in a Rapala Claptail 110 topwater and a chartreuse and white vibrating jig with a Rapala CrushCity Mooch Minnow on the back. For his smallmouth bite, he went with a green pumpkin CrushCity Janitor on a Neko rig.

One of the best sight fishermen on tour, Ron Nelson used that approach with and without forward-facing sonar on Beaver Lake. While the lake has all three major bass species, smallmouth were his main focus. In the first period with forward-facing sonar, he targed them with a peanut butter and jelly Ned rig, he also caught some on an assortment of baits and different jighead sizes.

Marshall Hughes notched his first career Bass Pro Tour Top 10 after winning the Qualifying Round to advance straight to the final day. He accomplished that largely by fishing the same area with a handful of different baits. He found a small creek channel that swung into the bank and then had a hard spot, where he caught the majority of his fish. He threw a bladed jig, a squarebill and then switch to dragging a creature bait. His vibrating jig was a 3/8-ounce model with a white skirt and gold blade, and he added a 3.5-inch Yamamoto Zako Slim in pearl on the back. His squarebill of choice was a Bill Lewis ATV 1.5 in chartreuse shiner.