Alton Jones' Pattern, Baits & Gear

The spot that produced Alton Jones' best finish of the season was an area he'd found during the June 2012 Elite Series visit to the Mississippi. He never got a bite on it back then, but he kept it in the back of his mind for this event because of how the area set up. "It was just textbook for if we ever came back at a different time of the year," he said. It was the third spot he checked on the first day of practice and it wound up producing all of his weight last week, a rarity on the Mississippi. "All of the fish came off one cast essentially," he said. The spot was in Pool 9 and required Jones to run about 10 miles further to the south than anyone else in the field. "I always have more confidence when I'm not fishing around a crowd," he said. "I knew fishing would be as productive as Pool 8. It worked out. I also don't particularly like to lock because it's another potential pitfall, but when I found what I found on day 1 of practice, I was committed and spent my whole practice there." The sweet spot was a hard, high spot in amongst some grass. The top of the rock pile was in 2 feet of water and it dropped off to 7 or 8 feet on the edges. He alternated between a jig and two Texas-rigged soft plastics throughout the event. "The water came up over the grass and bent the grass over," he said. "It was the only hard structure for the fish to get behind." He'd position his boat down current from the key area and cast up past it and let the current wash his bait to the fish. "It's a textbook river technique," he added. "It was really fun since there was a mix of smallmouth and largemouth there."

Jig gear: 6'9" medium-heavy Kistler Z-Bone casting rod, unnamed casting reel, 30-pound unnamed braided line, 20-pound unnamed fluorocarbon line (five-foot leader), 1/2-oz. Booyah jig (various colors), YUM Christie Craw trailer (matching colors). His color assortment for the jig and craw combo included green-pumpkin, black/blue, black/brown and chartreuse.

Soft stickbait gear: Same rod, same reel, same line, 3/16-oz. unnamed tungsten worm weight, 4/0 Gambler KO hook, 6" YUM Dinger (green-pumpkin purple flake).

Craw gear: Same rod, same reel, same line, same weight (1/4 oz.), same hook (3/0), YUM Christie Critter (same color). Both the Dinger and Christie Critter were Texas-rigged.

Main factor: "Finding that spot early on day 1 of practice and committing myself and my time to Pool 9."

Performance edge: "My Skeeter FX and Yamaha SHO 250 - they're really valuable tools when you're making those long runs. I was running 60 miles before I made a cast and I could make that run care free."

Mississippi River 2-5 Patterns BassFan 9/14/16 (Todd Ceisner)

5 Colors

Booyah Boo Jigs

$4.49

19 Colors

Yum Christie Craw 3.5"

$3.99 - $10.99

Video

64 Colors

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