2016 BASS Winning Pattern Baits & Gear

Alton Jones Jr. gave himself a day to get over it. Following a 3rd-place finish at the Lake Champlain Northern Open that left him one point - ONE! - away from clinching an invitation to join his father as a Bassmaster Elite Series angler in 2017, the 24-year-old Jones knew he needed to move past the disappointment quickly. He faced a 27-hour drive from Plattsburgh, N.Y., to Shreveport, La., site of the Red River Central Open last week. Jones used that time to vent, wallow and get all of the frustration out of his system. Friends and family texted him, saying it was okay to be disappointed, but to use it as motivation for the next one. When he launched his boat at the Red River, Champlain was a distant memory. He struggled in practice, but eventually settled on a flipping and cranking program and got a helpful tip from roommate Sam George on day 2 that helped spur him to the ultimate bounce-back performance.

Faced with a set of unique and challenging conditions, Jones averaged just under 12 pounds per day to post his first B.A.S.S. victory and (provisionally) clinch a berth in next year's Bassmaster Classic where he'll join father Alton Jones Sr. in the field at Lake Conroe, not a bad consolation prize considering the depth of his disappointment a week prior. "It's definitely been a roller coaster of highs and lows," Jones said. "I went into Champlain knowing I needed a top-12 to get into the Elite Series. It turned out I needed a top-2. The right guys caught 'em. Going into the final day, I knew I was around the winning fish. I just couldn't execute. I had the bites to have 22 pounds. To watch that Elite Series hit you in the face like a jerkbait was hard. "It was a rough time emotionally to come so close to a lifelong goal, then to fall short by one point," he said. "I'd caught the fish to do it, but I had two dead fish on day 1 at the [first Northern Open] James River. That cost me eight ounces and one ounce would've done it. "During that 27-hour drive, I had my sad time. People said it was okay to be sad, but that it needed to fuel me and that I needed to treat it like a speed bump and accelerate off the back side of it." He'd finished 15th in the first Central Open at the Arkansas River so his mindset going to the Red was all about points. He wanted to stay near the top of the standings so he had another shot to make the Elite Series through the Centrals. "Winning was not on my mind," he said. There might not be two more dissimilar fisheries in America than Champlain and the Red River, yet Jones was able to finish 3rd at one, then win at the other in consecutive weeks, a credit to the aspiring pro's versatility. Just four of the 12 finalists registered a limit all three days. Jones was not one of them, but the tournament-best 5-15 kicker he caught on day 2 helped him take over the tournament lead that he never relinquished.

After his marathon journey from the Adirondacks, Jones was hoping to find the Red River in prime fishing shape. He'd figured with the flooding that's taken place there in recent months, the stage would be set for a good tournament. Instead, he found the main river to be cleaner than the backwaters - an oddity - and the quantity of fish well below his expectations. "Typically, when there's flooding the fish get fat, mean and angry," he said. "The flooding has taken a huge toll. I was optimistic coming in. The river hasn't been touched for two years and I was hoping the lack of pressure would be good for us. I'm not sure if a bunch of fish swam into some of the oxbow lakes and didn't come back when the water came down, but I feel like the population of fish there is hurting right now. Something's just not right. The fish were very skinny." Practice was largely a struggle for him until the final day when he went through the backwater area adjacent to the Red River South Marina, site of the tournament takeoff. It's also the same area that produced key fish for Skeet Reese when he won the 200x Classic there and for Randall Tharp when he won the 2013 Forrest Wood Cup. He also had some bites on the main river not far from takeoff as well. The backwaters, to his surprise, were not productive at all. "I spent lot of practice in there, but they're very dirty," he said. "The main river is clean, but the backwaters are red, sandy and silty. I don't know why that is. It's nasty looking back in some of those backwaters. Something happened with that flood. The Red River is definitely struggling right now."

Competition:

Jones spent the first three hours on day 1 in the backwater pond near the ramp and came out with zero fish. "I went out to the main river after that to where I'd had two nice bites in practice," he said. "I caught a few key fish, but it was clear to me that I wasn't going to catch a limit doing one thing or off of one stretch." He moved to some new water and caught three by concentrating on current breaks. "Even though there wasn't much current, it put enough fish in position to be caught," he said. "I tried to hit as many high-percentage places as I could in a day." His 10-11 stringer was the ultimate junk-fishing bag, he said, but it was good enough for sixth place. He caught two keepers on a balsa square-bill crankbait, two more flipping a creature bait and his fifth dragging a creature bait on a wobble-head jig. He tried to recycle water on day 2, but it was evident early on that that strategy wasn't going to work. He was, however, able to get on a stretch of water near discharge pipe that was crowded with boats every time he went by it on Thursday. That's where he caught the 5-15 flipping a Missile Baits D-Bomb. "That was a blessing of a fish," he said. "I must've seen 100 boats fish that spot and I couldn't fish it on day 1. I ran by it on day 2 and there was an absolute giant sitting there." It was the anchor to his four-fish bag and accounted for more than half of his 11-05, which moved him into the lead. He also got a big assist on the water from close friend and rooommate George, who clued Jones in on a finesse pattern that George might hold up through Saturday if Jones made it to the final day.

"He ran by right after I caught that big one and asked if I had a dropshot rod," Jones said. "I said, 'No, it's the Red River. I don't even have a spinning rod in the boat.' He threw me his dropshot rod and a bag of worms and I wound up catching my fourth keeper that way." Jones was impressed with George's generosity in the heat of competition. "It was really incredible that he'd do that for me," he said. "He knew he was out of it. The fact that he would root for me like that and give me his rod and reel and say, 'Go win this thing,' speaks to his character and our friendship. I'd so the same thing for him any day." On the final day, Jones returned to the area George had suggested. His co-angler had caught a couple fish there at the end of day 2 so he figured it might hold a group of fish. It was an outside current bend and it continued to produce as Jones thinks he was catching retreads that had been released. "A majority of the fish had cull holes in their mouths," he said. "It was one place I could go back through and catch fish consistently." His final-day bag included two caught on a dropshot, one on the square-bill and two flipping the D-Bomb. His 13-14 stringer was his best of the week and helped him beat Louisiana angler Todd Murray by more than 3 1/2 pounds.

Winning Pattern:

While there wasn't much current to speak of, Jones found most of the fish he caught were holding in places where the water was moving at least somewhat. "When we have hard current, fish like to get in eddys, but there wasn't much current," he said. "So I targeted places that the current hit the hardest. It was almost like fishing for spotted bass. If I was on an outside bend or even the smallest point where the current would accelerate around the corner, there'd be a fish more often than not. Also, isolated pieces of wood were big. I'd fish a whole stretch of bank and see a piece of wood 100 yards ahead and I'd know there's almost always be a fish there." He caught a number of fish out of 6 to 8 feet of water, which is considered deep for the Red River.

Winning Gear:

Square-bill gear: 7' medium-action Kistler Carbon Steel crankbait rod, Abu Garcia Revo SX casting reel, 17-pound Silver Thread fluorocarbon line, custom balsa square-bill crankbait (chartreuse/black). Jones upsized the rear treble on the plug to a #2 Mustad. He had a red hook on the front, but every fish he caught cranking was on the back hook. "You could tell these were pressured fish because they were all skin hooked," he said.

Flipping gear: 7'1" heavy-action Kistler Argon casting rod, same reel, 65-pound PowerPro braided line, 25-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon line (leader), 1/4-oz. unnamed tungsten worm weight, 3/0 Gambler KO flipping hook, Missile Baits D-Bomb (California love). Jones favored the California love version of the D-Bomb because of the amount of red flake it has. "It's a unique color because it has so much red in it," he added. He also noted several anglers were using heavier weights on their soft plastics, but he opted to go lighter. "A lot of fish were suspended on the back sides of stumps and I felt like the lighter weight allowed the bait to stay in the current longer and allowed it to look more natural."

Main factor: "Definitely working hard and keeping a level head. I was down after missing the opportunity at Champlain. My fiance wrote me a letter that said God's timing is always perfect. The only reason I won that event was it was God's timing."

Performance edge: "My Skeeter and Yamaha were huge. I put a ton of miles in during practice. We put these things through the test. The Red River is as nasty as any of them and they held up."

Red River Winning Pattern BassFan 10/04/16 (Todd Ceisner)

Bryan Schmitt is no stranger to winning tournaments, but until last week he'd not captured a victory away from the familiar tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay, Potomac River or James River. He figured what better place to do it than Lake Champlain, his favorite fishery of all. Schmitt, a Maryland native who finished 24th in FLW Tour points this year and posted his best finish of the season (7th) at Champlain back in June, opted to stay north during the final Bassmaster Northern Open. He eventually wound up committing to a jig pattern around scattered rock and grass and caught a hefty combination of largemouth and smallmouth to post his first B.A.S.S. win. He caught 20-plus pounds each of the first two days, then held on during a rainy final day with an 18-14 stringer that gave him 59-13 at the end. It's Schmitt's sixth career win at bass fishing's triple-A level. "It was a different feeling," he said. "It was a new experience. I didn't win anything in 2015 and this was really good because it was my first big win out of tidal water. That's a key for me. I love that lake. I've had a couple close calls there. It's probably my favorite lake in the world." He said having fished the lake earlier this summer was crucial to his success, but he also pointed to the FLW Tour Open at Champlain in mid-September 2011 - he finished 8th - as the other key element to how he prepared for last week's event. He said the water had dropped an additional 2 to 3 feet since June and that took some typical areas out of play. "Some locals said they haven't seen it that low in 15 years," he said. "It really prepared me to look for new water situations. The Tour Open from 2011 was about the same time of year and it really helped me understand how the fish set up this time of year."

Schmitt's mindset coming to Champlain for a second time in three months was to figure out multiple areas that held some of the big smallmouth the lake is known for and also have a few spots that held kicker-quality largemouth. He also wanted to focus on a specific stretch of the lake, so he had to start eliminating water in practice. "This time of year, you have to take (Ticonderoga) out of play," he said. "On the northern end, I'm not saying they're hard to come by, but they're not everywhere... it seems like the smallmouth peak at 18 to 20 pounds and that's good anywhere. The 4-plus pound smallmouth are not as common as the 4 1/2- to 5-pound largemouth." He split his four days of practice between getting tuned into what the smallmouth were doing and looking exclusively for largemouth-laden water. "I found two small areas that didn't have limits, but maybe one or two kickers each," he said. He did spend part of one day at Ti, but the wind had stained the water and he wasn't able to generate much of anything. "I was so excited to go down there once I saw how low the water was," he said. "I figured they'd be stacked up somewhere. I didn't get on them so I very securely put that out of my mind. I know they live there, but I totally forgot about it after that." That gave him license to focus on what he'd found up north. The calm, cool mornings followed by a warm-up in the afternoon allowed him to hone in on where the smallmouth were ganged up. He narrowed his focus to mixed rock and grass in 10 to 14 feet of water. Some areas that met that criteria held just smallmouth while other spots held a mix of both species. "It seemed like every day was the same," he said. "In practice, on the calm and real warm, sunny days the smallies were just incredible."

Competition:

Schmitt figured that if he could catch a decent limit of smallmouth and tack on a kicker largemouth, he'd be able to hit the 20-pound mark each day. "As good as it was fishing, I thought it'd take 60-plus to win," he said. "It was fishing very good." He started day 1 by targeting largemouth in hopes to score a kicker right off the bat. Instead, he caught three 3-pound smallmouth on a jig. "Anywhere else, that's an awesome start, but not there," he said. He was discouraged and opted to move on to his other largemouth area. His first bite there was a 5-12 largemouth that was followed by a 4-pounder to give him close to 19 pounds. "That's a giant there," he said of the 5-12. "That changed the day." He spent the rest of the day throwing a dropshot and Carolina rig for smallmouth and eventually culled up to 20-09. "I breezed through the day," he said. "I fished a little funny on day 1. I wanted to check everything to see what was best and I wound up weighing in two smaller 3-pound smallmouth. I was happy, though. I was in the mix." The seed had been planted in the back of his mind, though, for day 2. He recalled how the three smallmouth he caught on his first spot all hammered his jig. "That's what won the tournament for me," he said. "I was just casting it. There was nothing finesse. I was like, 'Woah.' They ate it hard. It was a mean hit." On day 2, he stuck with the same program, only this time his starting spot produced two kicker-quality fish - a 4 1/4-pound largemouth and a 4 1/2-pound smallie. He checked the spot that had kicked out the 5-12 and caught a 3-pound largemouth there. "I knew that spot had gone away," he said.

He moved to another area that seemed to only be holding smallmouth. "I figured I had three decent fish - I have to make this work," he said. "I started casting the jig around and the first fish was a 4 1/4. It was such a mean hit that I started to think I was onto something. I threw it the rest of the day and lit them up." He wound up weighing in four smallmouth and one largemouth, and his 20-06 stringer put him in the lead entering the final day. The weather took a turn on day 3 as rains and cooler temperatures signaled a change in seasons. Schmitt wasn't sure what to expect on the water. "I was a little nervous because the weather had done a 180," he said. "Fall had shown up and I knew from previous experience the smallmouth, especially on the shoals, can change. They needed that bright sun to help them see the bait." He went back to where he'd been starting and the wind was blowing in on it, but he was able to get a 15-pound limit in the boat fairly quickly. At that point, he'd been all in with the jig and crayfish trailer as that's what most of the fish he'd caught in practice spit up. "They seemed to be biting better," he said. "I thought there might be enough there to do it." He made a move to the area that produced the majority of his day-2 bites, but it wasn't nearly as productive this time around. "I went back to my starting spot and thoroughly fished it and got to 18-14," he said. His bag consisted of three smallies and two largemouth and it was enough to hold off Stephen Mui, who caught a final-day best 20-08 to move up to 2nd.

Winning Pattern:

Casting a jig for smallmouth was largely a foreign concept to Schmitt prior to last week. In practice, he mixed finesse techniques (dropshot) with a swimbait and Carolina rig, but once he discovered how vicious the hits were on the half-ounce jigs he was throwing, he committed to it. "It was a new experience for me and that's why I think I won," he said. "In practice, I caught a lot of smallmouth on standard stuff and a lot of them were spitting up crayfish. Their stomachs were just bloated with them. I tried to imitate the colors on a dropshot and Carolina rig. It helped, but I never thought of a jig. "To me, it felt like they hadn't seen that and it was imitating what they were eating so well. If I'd get a bite and miss, I didn't reel back in. I let it fall back and they'd get it again. It seemed like better quality fish were eating the jig." Not having to rely on finesse tactics also made his job of landing fish easier. "Not using a net with that jig, I was able to boat-flip them and that helped with the stress level," he added. "I only lost one that way all week." Noting the fish were spooky, Schmitt had to make long casts with his jig. Most fish would bite on the initial fall, but if not he'd hop it aggressively back to the boat. "If it got hung up and I popped it free... boom, they'd crush it," he said.

Winning Gear:

Jig gear: 7'6" medium-heavy or 7'3" heavy-action Ardent Edge casting rod, Ardent Apex Grand casting reel (7.3:1 ratio), 15-pound P-Line fluorocarbon line, 1/2-oz. Riot Baits Minima jig (green-pumpkin), Riot Baits Fuzzy Beaver trailer (green-pumpkin), 1/2-oz. Riot Baits Instigator jig (green-pumpkin), 4" Riot Baits R Craw trailer (green-pumpkin). Schmitt trimmed the Fuzzy Beaver down from its 4.2-inch original size to create more of a chunk trailer profile.

Main factor: "Finding a couple kicker largemouth each day."

Performance edge: "My boat and motor combo. That's some big water and having the confidence to run in that stuff with my Ranger/Mercury for sure was a key."

Lake Champlain Winning Pattern BassFan 9/27/16 (Todd Ceisner)

No matter what type of results Charlie Hartley achieves in this sport, he can always be counted upon to deliver some self-deprecating comments. "I'm not a good fisherman and I'm not very smart," the Ohio veteran said in the wake of his long-awaited first B.A.S.S. victory at last week's James River Bassmaster Northern Open in Richmond, Va. "But I try harder than anybody else, and when you try your hardest, amazing things can happen. "I'm never the coolest guy in the room, but today it's pretty cool to be Charlie Hartley." One of nine anglers relegated out of the Elite Series for 2016 on performance-based criteria, Hartley had been struggling badly at the triple-A level this year. In five previous Opens across all three divisions, his average finish was 118th and he'd logged nothing higher than an 81st. "I could've written the whole year off and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't down and disappointed and my ego wasn't hurt. Now (re-qualifying for the Elites is) possible again, and that's just incredible." The 52-year-old's goal of returning to B.A.S.S.' top circuit in 2017 is indeed within reach - he'll need another very high placement in next month's Northern finale at Lake Champlain in order to achieve a Top-5 finish in the season-ending points standings. He's in 25th place after two events. His initial B.A.S.S. victory came in his 218th appearance with the organization dating back to 1993. He flipped a worm to various types of hard cover and compiled a 41-13 total over 3 days, outpacing runner-up Chad Pike by nearly 2 1/2 pounds. "Literally everybody but President Obama has called to congratulate me, and that's just so gratifying," he said. "I'm really humbled that Kevin VanDam listened to me for as long as he did while I just rambled - it had to be killing him. I can talk ears off, so people take a big risk by calling me." The win earned him his second career berth in the Bassmaster Classic (provided he competes at Champlain). His older brother just happens to own a house on the shore of Texas' Lake Conroe, which will be the site of next year's edition of the sport's premier event, and he'll be make himself right at home there for most of the fall and much of the winter until the venue goes off-limits in January.

"I'll be the most prepared guy there," he said. "The Red River (Central Open at the end of September) puts me over there, so I think I'll just start then and stay for the next 3 months." Hartley put in a full week of practice at the James, which is a venue he's competed on a handful of times. "It was 100 degrees every day and I went from sunup to sundown," he said. "It was absolutely the most grueling practice I've ever had. One night I didn't get back to my truck until 10 o'clock and the thermometer still said 99 degrees. "It was miserable. I'd drink eight bottles of water and not pee. I'm fortunate to be a little skinny guy because someone who was bigger or out of shape or older wouldn't have been able to do it." The puzzle came together on his second practice day, when he caught a 7 3/4-pound bruiser and boated five that would've combined to weigh in excess of 20 pounds. "It was the best day I'd ever had on the James. Two of my big bites came in a marina and I never fished that marina anymore (for the remainder of practice). "That told me the fish were on hard cover and they were eating a plastic worm. I cut the point of my hook off just above the barb and flipped hard cover for the next 5 days, just piling up waypoints. He uses a color-coding system to sort his waypoints: the ones with the most potential in red, secondary places in green and questionable locales in yellow. He had a total of 60 - all in the uppermost 5 miles of the Chickahominy River - by the time practice concluded, including five red ones.

Competition:

All five of Hartley's red places produced quality fish on day 1. He had the vast majority of his weight after an hour of fishing, and that all came from the marina where he'd had the two big bites in practice. His stringer left him in 2nd place, a little more than a pound off the pace set by leader and defending champion Chris Dillow. He lost two places in the standings the following day with his lightest bag of the derby, but remained within 2 pounds of the top. He said there was a good reason for the second-day dropoff. "I found out that day that (eventual 23rd-place finisher) Mike Iaconelli and I were sharing water," he said. "I had the better boat number on day 1, but he had it the second day. About the fourth time we ran into each other on day 2, we just started laughing." All five of Hartley's keeper bites that day came from the red waypoints. He said both he and Iaconelli knew by the end of the day that those places "were toast." He ran a bunch of his green and yellow places on the final day. They were a mixture of dock pilings, cypress trees, concrete, barges - anything that broke the current flow of the Chickahominy. "It was a very frustrating day. I either broke off, missed or had my hook straightened on my first five or six bites and I just kept thinking that I was blowing all this fresh water. But I kept my cool, and after about an hour and a half I finally caught one that was 12 1/8 inches." The big turning point in his day arrived shortly thereafter.

"I was running to one of my docks and right before it there was a big cypress tree sticking out by itself, and I said to myself that if I passed that up I'd be an idiot. I put my Power-Poles down and before the wake even stopped I threw at the knee of that day and caught my best one of the day - it was 3 3/4 to 4 pounds." With about 2 1/2 hours remaining before he had to head for check-in, he opted to gas up at the marina before getting back to work. He eventually caught seven additional keepers, making three or four culls along the way. At one point he noticed one of his better fish floating in the livewell, but still alive. He determined that he'd be better off with it dead (which would result in a quarter-pound penalty) than he would be if he returned it to the water at that juncture. After a couple more culls, the struggling fish was the smallest in the box, and he eventually caught another that could displace it. He was certain he wouldn't be able to toss it back, though, as B.A.S.S. rules prohibit the culling of dead fish. "I knew when I went back in there that fish was going to be stiff as a board," he said. "But when I stuck my thumb in it's mouth it wiggled like a little girl and I got rid of it. I just said, 'Lord, thank you for letting that fish live 10 minutes longer." When his time ran out, he still didn't think he had enough to win, though. "I knew I hadn't given it away - I wasn't going to drop to 12th place like I usually do on the last day. But there'd been an 18-pound bag the first day and a 20-pound bag the second day, and I didn't think there was any way I was going to win it after catching 13 1/2." As it turned out, that was plenty.

Winning Pattern:

Regardless of the type of cover he was pitching to, Hartley employed the same tactic. "One thing I've learned about tidal fisheries is that the best way to catch fish off hard cover is to go past the piling or whatever, then bring it back with the current. When it comes around the piling and shoots back in your direction, that's when most of the bites happen." It's critical that the sinker be pegged. "You've got to have both the weight and the bait going around the cover at the same time. If they're separated, the presentation won't be right." He wanted to use the lightest weight he could get away with, and that proved to be 3/16-ounce. "I wanted it to come around horizontally and not nose-first. I was using a very thick-bodied worm and if the plastic itself has some mass, that makes it easy enough to flip."

Winning Gear:

Flipping gear: 7'6" heavy-action Fenwick HMG flipping stick (an older model that's long out of production), Abu Garcia Revo MGX casting reel (7.1:1 ratio), 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line, 3/16-ounce bullet-shaped tungsten weight (pegged), 4/0 Owner Heavy Wide Gap hook, unnamed 7" ribbon-tail worm (junebug).

Main factor: "Not going back to the same places where I'd caught them over and over. My gut told me that I'd better try something different, and a lot of times that hasn't worked out."

Performance edge: "The Power-Poles were so critical for flipping the piers and every other piece of structure. I could put them down and pick those docks apart. I could fish in either direction with regard to the current without churning up the bottom. Sometimes it'd take me five or six tries to get the worm up under the docks where I needed it to be, but I never had to worry about the position of the boat."

James River Open Winning Pattern BassFan 8/24/16 (John Johnson)

Proficiency in a variety of techniques and skillful management of the fish in a productive locale normally serve a professional angler well. And sometimes they're entirely unnecessary, as was the case at last week's Atchafalaya Basin Bassmaster Central Open. Elite Series competitor Cliff Crochet employed a single technique to mine one area of a fishery he knows extremely well en route to winning the final Open of 2016. His bags got bigger each day, culminating in an 18-04 haul in the final round as he moved up from 7th place to claim the victory and a spot in next year's Classic. That one big stringer transformed his offseason outlook from relative gloom in the wake of his 77th-place finish in the Elite Series Angler of the Year standings to one of great anticipation, as he'll be among the field at Lake Conroe next March for the sport's premier event. "Normally, when you're not going to the Classic, all the down time in the offseason pretty much sucks," he said. "Everybody's getting dressed to go to the party, and you can't go. "Now I've got something to look forward to. It's a totally different mindset." He leap-frogged 26 anglers over the final 2 days after opening the derby with a relatively light sack. His 46-06 total for 3 days outdistanced runner-up and fellow Louisiana Elite pro Greg Hackney by a little more than 4 pounds.

At age 33, Crochet already has several lifetimes worth of fishing and hunting memories from the Atchafalaya. "To say I have a lot of experience there would be an understatement," he said. "My dad had a camp there and I've been on the water since I was probably a year old. Just about everywhere I go, I can look over and say 'My brother killed a deer right here,' or 'We killed a bunch of ducks right over there. And fishing-wise, I've got a million stories and a bunch of knowledge." He put in a considerable amount of preparation time for the Open, taking a look at just about every place he knew that should be holding fish in late October. He settled on three areas that had grass mats he could punch with a big weight, but ended up catching all 15 of his weigh-in fish from the same locale.

Competition:

Crochet's starting area surrendered just one run-of-the-mill keeper early on day 1, so he pulled out and checked the other two he'd identified as tournament-worthy. Neither of them gave him anything, so he returned to his initial place. "At 12:30 on day 1 I only had the one fish," he said. "I ran those other areas and nothing happened, but it really worked out good because I only had the one left and it was my best shot. "I went back in and slowed way down and got a couple bites, and that settled me down big-time." That afternoon, his co-angler caught three that combined to weigh 9 pounds, and one of those fish was a 4-pounder. "Sometimes that can mess with your mind, but he was a good dude and he was working hard and he was very respectful on the water. He caught them punching and it showed me I was in the right area and I just needed a little luck to get those bites." His sub-12-pound opening stringer put him in 27th place and he was more than 7 1/2 pounds off the leading pace set by Fred Roumbanis. He still had hopes of making the Top 12, but figured his chances of winning were slim. "Probably 99 percent of me thought that game was over, but I knew if I caught a good bag (on day 2) and had some good luck, I could get back in the game. I think that mindset helped me calm down." He returned to the same place on the second day and fished even slower. The result was a bag that was more than 4 1/2 pounds heavier than the one he'd caught the previous day and he vaulted 20 places in the standings. "I didn't really kill them - it was just slow and steady," he said. "I probably caught 10 keepers and the four other ones (he weighed) were good chunks."

Despite his big upward move, he actually lost 2 more ounces to Roumbanis, who boxed 16-06 on day 2. "I figured Freddy would close it out (on the final day), but I knew if he struggled, I still had a chance if I caught a big bag. It was possible, but not probable." Roumbanis did indeed struggle, returning to the launch with just two fish for 3-08. Meanwhile, Crochet compiled a stringer that was the second-best of the event, topped only by Roumbanis' day-1 bag. "On day 3 I fished slower than I ever had in my life," he said. "I was punching and I made a bunch of flips, but I moved the boat real slow. I used my Power-Poles a bunch and picked everything apart." His first fish was a small keeper, but then he popped one that weighed at least 3 1/2. He added another of similar size a little more than an hour later. He got rid of the two little ones, replaced by fish that weighed at least 2 1/2 pounds apiece, and eventually worked his way up to about 15 pounds. He then went about 90 minutes with no action until he made a long pitch deep into a mat. "I got a bite and set the hook, and then I just went totally unconscious. The next thing I knew I had a big fish right next to the boat. I had good momentum on it and I boat flipped him in." The fish was a 5 3/4-pounder. "When I caught that one, it hit me that (winning) was possible. Even if Freddy had a decent day, I still had a chance."

Winning Pattern:

Most of the mats Crochet punched had only 2 feet of water or so underneath them. He caught fish within 6 inches of the outside edge, but others were as far as 25 feet back. "I didn't get a single bite on the fall," he said. "I'd let it go to the bottom and pick it up, and that's when they'd be on it." He normally uses a violent rotational hookset in those situations, but discovered that wasn't the best tactic in such shallow water. Instead, he'd pick up the slack with the rod in a strong position and then lift upward. The mats were primarily comprised of hydrilla with some water lilies mixed in. "I caught several out of what I call soft spots, where it's still matted but you can see through the mat a little bit. The fish never patterned on any certain type of thing within the mat and that's what led to me fishing extremely slow."

Winning Gear:

Punching gear: 7'5" heavy-action Falcon Super Duty Rod, unnamed casting reel 7:1 ratio), 65-pound Seaguar Flippin or 80-pound Seaguar Kanzen braided line, 1 1/2-ounce tungsten flipping weight, 6/0 Strike King Hack Attack Heavy Cover Flipping Hook, Luck-E-Strike Ringmaster (black/blue flake).

Main factor: "Finally making a good decision. After I ran those first three places I could've just gone to fishing history, but I made the decision to go back and grind it out in one area. Having that work out feels really good."

Performance edge: "I was fishing some shallow water, so the hole shot on my Yamaha SHO made a difference. The Power-Poles were also really important - probably may favorite use for them is I can catch one and flip it in the boat, and then drop the poles and do whatever I need to do. I didn't give up any water and I didn't disturb the mats."

Atchafalaya Winning Pattern BassFan 11/01/16 (John Johnson)

As much as Ryan Lavigne enjoys fishing off the front deck, he's proven lately to be extremely proficient competing out of the back of the boat, too. After winning the non-boater division at the B.A.S.S. Nation Central Divisional at Lake Guntersville to earn himself a spot at the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship at Lake Conroe this past weekend, he went on to lap the field in impressive and improbable fashion at the venue that will host the 2017 Bassmaster Classic roughly four months from now. He competed as a non-boater for the first two days at Conroe and by the end of day 2, he'd built a 6 1/2-pound lead over the entire field - boaters and non-boaters - and ran away with the non-boater title by nearly 13 pounds. After the final day was pushed back a day due to high winds, Lavigne punctuated his performance with a 24-00 stringer Sunday - he competed as a boater against the top 10 boaters from days 1 and 2 - and ran away with the B.A.S.S. Nation victory with a three-day total of 58-03.

Idaho's Darrell Ocamica was a distant 2nd with 41-12, a deficit of nearly 16 1/2 pounds. "I don't know if my feet have landed on the ground yet," Lavigne said Monday while making the five-hour drive from Conroe to his home in Gonzales, La., where he competes as a member of the Ascension Area Anglers fishing club. It's been quite a year for anglers from Gonzales. Fellow Gonzales residents Gerald Spohrer and Robbie Latuso qualified for the 2017 Elite Series through the Bassmaster Opens. Former Forrest Wood Cup winner and Elite Series Angler of the Year Greg Hackney also hails from Gonzales, which was ravaged by flooding earlier this year. "Maybe the flood we had brought us some good fortune," Lavigne said. Lavigne's victory came in the first B.A.S.S. Nation Championship contested with a new format that sent the top three finishers, regardless of their home region, to the 2017 Bassmaster Classic. Previously, the top finisher in six separate regions at the Championship locked up Classic berths. Lavigne, along with Ocamica and former FLW Tour winner Timothy Klinger, are headed back to Conroe for the Classic in March. "It's unreal. I don't even know how to describe it," said Lavigne, 35, who's married and has a 3-year-old daughter. "What happened this week is mind-boggling. I've been fishing the Nation since I was old enough to do it and the Classic has always been a dream of mine. I took the hardest road possible to it this year and to do it that way is unreal. The feeling... I can't even comment on it."

Lavigne figures he spent just shy of two weeks at Conroe prior to it going off limits last month. It was during that time he identified a couple patterns that he figured would hold up come tournament time. "I had some pretty good practice days and I knew if I could get to my boat (day 3), I had the chance to do it," he said. "It all depended on how big of a deficit I had to make up, though. I never thought I'd be leading going into the last day, especially by 7 pounds. "Even before the off-limits, I was able to catch them fairly shallow flipping docks in 2 to 6 feet of water," he said. "I did find some offshore stuff, but nothing really deep. Before off-limits, I caught them deeper than I did last week, but I felt like the deeper stuff was starting to turn off this week." The field was allowed three days on the water last week and one additional day before the tournament began last Thursday. Lavigne practiced with a boater from the Louisiana team on the official practice day and was able to get a better feel for what he'd found before. "We worked together," he said. "There were several areas we both hit and we combined info and went with it." One challenge to practicing to be a non-boater was he forced himself to keep an open mind because he knew he could be at the mercy of where the boater wanted to fish. "I practiced for any situation I could be in," he said. "If I found something I wouldn't expand on it. The next day I tried to find something else."

Competition:

Lavigne said prior to the Central Divisional at Guntersville, his last tournament as a non-boater "was years and years ago." "It was a huge adjustment," he said. On day 1, he was paired with Jason Vaughn, who is from Delaware. The two worked together well, Lavigne said, hitting spots both had found in practice. They focused almost exclusively on docks. While Vaughn used a jig, Lavigne went with more of a finesse flipping presentation, rigging a Missile Baits Tomahawk on a 1/4-ounce standup jig head. "I made as many flips as I could," he said. "It's tough to catch a 16-inch fish there. I don't know why, but we saw so many 15-plus inchers. To get one to cross that 16 line, it's amazing how difficult it can be. We were both hitting docks pretty hard. I just did something different behind him." His four-fish stringer weighed 11-14 and had him in 2nd place among non-boaters after day 1. "I figured with the way practice had been and the first day seeing how they were biting, I figured I'd be pretty close (to leading)," he added.

For day 2, Lavigne drew Japanese boater Naoaki Ishikawa, who had zeroed on day 1. Before launching, the two talked through an interpreter and Ishikawa had no issue with going to some of Lavigne's waypoints. "I put waypoints in the GPS at the beginning and end of some stretches and I put a couple offshore spots in there close to those stretches just in case," Lavigne said. "I wasn't planning to hit them because we didn't hit them on day 1." They started on some docks, but Lavigne said it was a slow go. He had a 3-pounder and a 5-pounder in the boat by 11 a.m. when they idled out of the creek they'd been in. "We were leaving this creek and I knew I had a hump with some scattered stumps around it outside the mouth," Lavigne said. "I just wanted to check it." It's a place that he looked at last Monday and caught a 16-incher on his only cast. "I figured it had the right stuff on it," he said. "It turned out to be the deal." He finished his limit there with a crankbait before dashing to another section of protected docks close to the ramp in advance of a cold front that was moving in. "The weather got really, really bad," he said. "I never imagined Conroe could get that rough." He upgraded once on the second stretch of docks and wound up with 22-05 to capture the non-boater title. He commended Ishikawa for being willing to go to his spots. Ishikawa did not catch a keeper on day 2.

"I offered my spots and he had no problem going to them," Lavigne said. "We stayed on my stuff all day. It was a little awkward, but every fish I caught he was smiling and high-fiving me all day. He was frustrated, but extremely happy for me." Winning the non-boater side came as a bit of shock to Lavigne. "I don't think it sank in what was going on and I think that worked to my advantage," he said. "When they postponed day 3, I did a lot of pacing because I was anxious to get out there. With the wind we had, I knew I had to go to different stuff." When the tournament resumed Sunday morning, he was in control of his own boat and more than 6 pounds ahead of the field. He immediately went to the offshore spot that had produced for him on Friday. "They were still there," he said. "I had close to 18 pounds by 8 a.m. As I was grabbing a 6 1/2-pounder, which was my second fish, by the side of the boat, that's when boat number 5 came running by to go into the creek. It happened pretty quick." He eventually left after the bite slowed down and upgraded a couple times elsewhere. He returned to the hump around the same time he fished it Friday and caught three more upgrades to get to 24 pounds. "In the middle of the day, it got real slick and they wouldn't react (to the crank)," he said. "I grabbed a Delta Lures 1/2-ounce football jig with a Missile Baits Twin Turbo on it and dragged it. It was the first day I threw a football jig. I hadn't really thrown it because they weren't eating it, but they ate it Sunday."

Winning Pattern:

Lavigne said the dock pattern evolved during the tournament compared to how he caught them during practice. "In practice, they were more on the outside, but as the tournament progressed, I caught them from the bulk head to the end of dock," he said. "That took more time because you had to key on everything."

Winning Gear:

Cranking gear: 7'3" and 7'7" medium-heavy Phenix Maxim casting rods, Shimano Citica casting reel (7.1:1 ratio), 14-pound unnamed fluorocarbon line, Strike King 5XD crank bait (various colors). "I had a slew of colors tied on and it didn't seem to matter to them," he said. "As long as you got it in front of them, they'd eat it."

Flipping & Jig gear: 7'2" medium-heavy Phenix M1 casting rod (flipping), 7'8" heavy-action Phenix M1 casting rod (football jig), Shimano Curado casting reel, 20-pound unnamed fluorocarbon line, 1/4-oz. unnamed standup jig, Missile Baits Tomahawk (lovebug), 1/2-oz. Delta Lures football jig, Missile Baits Twin Turbo (green-pumpkin) trailer.

Main factor: "Time, effort and the good Lord guiding me through this one. It was all Him. I don't quote many people or like to talk about it much, but it was an absolute Randy Howell moment from the (2014) Classic at Guntersville. This spot and idling over it and going back to it. It was way more than I imagined."

Performance edge: "My Phenix rods. They're sweet and you do can so many things with those rods. Cranking with those Maxims is so great and that M1 when you need to drive a hook home. it's a bad dude."

Lake Conroe Winning Pattern BassFan 11/22/16 (Todd Ceisner)

Before Skylar Hamilton trailered his Tracker Grizzly 1860 aluminum boat on Saturday and pointed his truck toward the Bass Pro Shops in Broken Arrow, Okla., he figured he'd get a feel for what the other competitors had caught during the final day of the Arkansas River Central Open. When someone asked Jason Christie, a former Open winner at nearby Fort Gibson Lake, what he'd caught, he wryly answered, "Somewhere between 10 and 20 pounds." "I thought, ÔCrap,'" Hamilton recalled. "I knew someone had a big bag. I knew I didn't have enough to win." While Christie's prediction was spot on Ð he caught 14-15 Ð it wasn't quite enough to overtake Hamilton, whose 12-06 effort was just enough to hold onto the lead and clinch the victory with a 3-day total of 45-06, 1 ounce better than former Classic qualifier Teb Jones. Christie finished 3 ounces back in 3rd. "It's still kind of surreal," Hamilton said Sunday while traveling back home to Dandridge, Tenn. "It hasn't sunk in that much. I don't feel much right now. I feel accomplished. I feel like I've worked really hard to do this. I did the best I could and ended up winning. I'm sure it'll sink in soon." At 21, he becomes one of the youngest anglers to win an Open and assuming he competes in the final two Central Opens, the guy who used to need a parent's signature on a waiver form in order to compete in B.A.S.S. events will be in the field at the Bassmaster Classic next March at Lake Conroe. "By far, it's the best thing that's ever happened to me," he added. "The only thing that compares was winning the second chance thing (at BASSFest) at Nickajack. That was a one-day deal, but it was basically a loser tournament. To be able to lead 2 days of an Open and win, it feels like I accomplished much more."

The area that proved key to his victory was an old oxbow lake off the Arkansas River. It was extremely shallow and loaded with stumps and one point, Hamilton wondered if he was wasting his time there on day 1 of the tournament. "I thought it was too shallow to have fish, and then I caught a 4-pounder," he said. "That's when I realized they were super shallow." As he learned more about the area, he discovered there was, indeed, plenty of life around. Red-winged blackbirds were nesting in the reeds, a scenario reminiscent of Aaron Martens' win last year at the Lake Havasu Elite Series. There also was a mayfly hatch in progress, a shad spawn going on and bluegills were starting to spawn, all elements that convinced him to stick around. He focused the majority of his time on being tight to the reeds in a foot of water or less and flipping a Berkley Havoc Skeet's Pit Boss the whole time. "I'd work it through the reeds and if a few reeds were blown over, I'd lift it up and over those and that's where the bigger ones would be when I'd pull it over top of the reed," he said. When told the pattern was similar to how Martens won, he agreed. "It was almost identical," he said. "It was kind of scary. There were other things going on, but those bigger fish were definitely around those birds."

Hamilton's decision to haul his 18-foot tunnel hull aluminum boat to the first Central Open was based largely on his expectation that the Arkansas River would be high and dirtier than normal, due to the amount of rain that had fallen in Oklahoma recently. "I knew it would be muddy and I brought it partially because I thought it would be cleared out by when I got there," he said. " I figured two to three days would be good, but it never got back to normal. It was still high. It got down some, but it was still high enough for guys to go up to the Fort Gibson Dam. "I figured there was no point in me going there in the aluminum boat if everybody could get there. If it didn't get normal, I knew there'd be a lot of floaters and stumps so I was not as stressed out about my boat as other guys were." He started practice the Sunday before the tournament and was on the water until Wednesday afternoon. "It stunk bad," he said. "It was one of the worst practices I've ever had. I caught a few fish, but for instance I went up a big creek with some shoals and when the water was high I could get over them and I was catching native spotted bass up there. I went back later, but couldn't get to the spot so I wrote that off." By the time practice ended, he wasn't settled on much of anything and was considering going through the Webber Falls Lock and running up the Illinois River.

Competition:

Not being married to any particular spot or pattern he'd developed in practice, Hamilton turned left out of Three Forks Harbor last Thursday morning and basically continued to practice. He made a 20-mile run south toward Webber Falls and pulled into an oxbow lake that caught his eye on his GPS. A big silt bar and logjams at the entrance deterred a lot of angler from attempting to get into it, but he was able to maneuver his aluminum boat no problem, marking each stump on his GPS so he knew the best route in and out if he came back. He pulled into it around 8 a.m., but didn't get a bite until 10. Still, he liked what he saw. "I saw everything I needed in that spot," he said. "It was hard to get bass boats in there and there was a big-time mayfly hatch going on. They had coated the reeds and trees. I told myself there had to be bass in there, even without bite in 2 hours on day 1. "I didn't even know it was there until I got down there. There were stumps going into it and reeds along the edges. The deepest water was 2 to 3 feet. I fished about half of the outer bend of the oxbow before I figured out they were on the inner bend on the reeds." He managed to catch 13-12, which put him in a tie for 15th place. He'd finished 14th at the Fort Gibson Central Open last year so he had a comfort level established despite his lackluster practice. "I don't know what it is about Oklahoma, but it's similar to what we have in Tennessee," he said. "Just the way the rivers fish, it feels like home. If I'm doing what I do back home, everybody's doing it, but here only a couple people were doing it. "Last year, I was 4 ounces out of the Top 12 so I was really disappointed because I thought I could pull that off. I just never had the chance to do it. It seems like when I get here everything clicks and you just fall back on what you know."

He returned to the stumpy oxbow on Friday and had a dynamic morning, catching 19 pounds before 9:30. "I would have probably caught more if I would have stayed in my area, but I just figured I needed to save it," he said. He culled up for ounces elsewhere and finished the day with 19-04, the second biggest stringer of the event and took over the lead with 33-00. He was 1-04 ahead of Jones. "I thought I'd be close to making the 12 cut," he said. "I thought I had 17 or so, but I just wanted to make the top 12. When I was leaving, there was another guy going in and that had me worried, but I was just wanting to make the cut. I left the area for the final day." After two days of fishing pressure, the quality bites weren't as frequent on day 3 in his backwater lake. "With that other guy in there, we'd beat it up," he said. "I had a limit in there for about 9 pounds on Saturday and the best was a 4-pounder." He departed his key area around 10:30 and headed back toward blast off, where he upgraded several times off a current eddy behind a tree. "It was just a sandbar that stuck out off the bank and created some slack water with trees and grass in it," he said. "It was about a 30-yard stretch and I caught them every pass. I caught about 15 fish there and two of them really helped me. That spot by the ramp was what won it for me."

Winning Pattern:

Hamilton's bigger bites seemed to come when he pitched his bait a couple feet back into the reeds, close to where the blackbirds were holed up. "When I flipped in there, they wouldn't eat when it got in there," he noted. "They'd get it as I'd pull it out to the surface, then they'd annihilate it. That's how most of my fish on Friday bit." He said the other side of the lake Ð there was a strip of land separating the two sides of the lake was a little deeper and more woody cover in it. The boat was as big a part to Hamilton's pattern as his bait selection. He had it rigged with a 70-horse Yamaha four-stroke outboard, which weighs just 257 pounds. He said the boat is rated for a 90-horse motor, but the bigger motor weighed considerably more. "I wouldn't have won without it," he said. He also had his trolling motor mounted as high as possible to help him navigate. "I was kicking up mud and still catching fish," he added. "It was more about being able to move around in that spot that getting into it. I didn't hit many stumps until final day. I think I ran over five. If I'd been in a bass boat, I'd have been stuck." Hamilton also thought his decision making was a major factor in his win, specifically deciding to stay in the area on day 1. "That's what wins tournaments," he said. "I've had ones where I've made bad decisions and it hasn't gone well so you learn stuff the hard way."

Winning Gear:

Flipping gear: 7'6" extra-heavy Berkley E-Motion casting rod, Abu Garcia REVO Rocket casting reel (9.0:1 ratio), 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon line, 1/4-oz. unnamed tungsten worm weight, 4/0 Gamakatsu flipping hook, 4" Berkley Havoc Skeet's Pit Boss (Okeechobee craw). Hamilton tried other baits, but couldn't get bit on anything other than a flipping presentation. He had two identical setups prepared and stuck with the Pit Boss all tournament.

Hamilton said the high-speed reel was a key to landing fish he was hooking in less than a foot of water. "If you hook one in the reeds in less than a foot of water, they're not going backward," he said. "They're coming out at you so catching up with them was important." The quarter-ounce weight was as heavy as he was willing to go because bigger weights would've sunk into the silt that surrounded the reeds.

Main factor: "Definitely the aluminum boat. It's what led me to that spot and let me fish it more effectively. I suppose I could've fished it with a bass boat, but I probably wouldn't have found it because I'd have been leary about going in there. It was pretty treacherous with the all stumps. The aluminum boat allowed me to get away from the fishing pressure, too."

Performance edge: "My MinnKota trolling motor. I have a 112 Fortrex and while some might think that's overkill for that boat, when you're fishing that stuff where sometimes I had to go in after them, it was a big deal. I don't know how many stumps I hit with it. Any other trolling probably would've been torn up."

Arkansas River Winning Pattern BassFan 6/7/16 (Todd Ceisner)

There are comeback stories and then there's the story of how Wesley Strader prevailed at the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes Bassmaster Southern Open last weekend. It was an improbable win not because of what Strader had to overcome on the water during the tournament. It was an emotional, dramatic, and in some ways, surreal triumph, aside from the 2-ounce margin of victory, due to the fact that his home in east Tennessee had suddenly turned into a crime scene earlier in the week. A woman who regularly housesits for the Straders while they're away at tournaments was shot and seriously injured while sitting on a sofa in the Strader's living room late last Tuesday night. According to local news reports, Gary Lynn Waldo, who was known to the victim and is a distant cousin of Strader's, was later arrested and charged with attempted first-degree murder. He is being held in Rhea County (Tenn.) Jail and is due in court on Feb. 16. The victim, Ruth Neal, was transported to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, where she is still being treated for her injuries. Strader said he's been told Neal is expected to survive. According to what Strader had been told by authorities, Waldo allegedly approached Strader's home around 11 p.m. last Tuesday and fired a .308 rifle through a window, striking Neal, who was sitting inside. Strader said he didn't know what Waldo's motive would be to harm Neal.

"I know him," Strader said. "I've hunted with him. I've fished with him." Strader's wife, Stephanie, immediately left Florida and returned home to Spring City, Tenn. Wesley, meanwhile, had to compose himself enough to compete in the tournament. "I was a walking zombie for 2 or 3 days," Strader said. "I don't know how I caught a bass, to be honest." His practice was miserable, but he relied on a few areas that he'd found during the Lake Toho FLW Tour last March to gain some confidence. Cool, rainy and windy conditions were the norm through the week, making it a challenge for competitors to identify where fish were actively spawning. Strader mixed a variety of baits and presentations and focused on sight-fishing as well as casting reaction baits. He caught 21-09 on day 1, took over the lead on day 2 with a 15-11 stringer and held off Cody Detweiler with a 13-01 sack on Saturday to finish with 50-05, good for a narrow, 2-ounce victory. It's his first significant B.A.S.S. or FLW win since 2002 and comes just a few months after his peers voted him the most underrated pro angler in the BassFan Pro Angler Survey. "It was crazy close," he said. "Usually I end up on the short end most of the time. I've been 2nd so many times and it's like, ÔMan, am I ever going to win again?' I've lost by 1 ounce before and with all the crazy stuff that happened, I didn't want to come in 2nd again." He's also the first angler to qualify for the 2017 Bassmaster Classic (assuming he competes in the two remaining Southern Opens). He's competed in one Classic (2003 - Louisiana Delta) before and is anxious to get back. "Any time you can get a Classic berth with a win, it's pretty special so this ranks up high there because I haven't won in a while at that level," he said. "It kind of breathes a little fire and life back into me. Not that I was losing it, but it just proved I can win again."

Strader didn't try to sugar coat his practice session. In addition to the incident at his house, the fishing was far from what he was hoping for. He'd finished 3rd at Lake Toho last year so he had some ideas as to where to go and what to look for. Still, the better quality fish just weren't showing up. "On day 1, I had six bites maybe," he said. "It was horrible. On day 2, I had more bites, but they were just keepers." The second day is when he started to put some pieces of the puzzle together. He had several blow ups on a Zoom Horny Toad fishing it in real shallow water. Strader thinks the strikes came from males that were hanging around spawning areas in ultra-shallow water. "I caught them in the same area last year and when I went to another place I'd caught them during the Tour, I caught them there, too," he said. "That's what got me keyed in." Still, he went into the tournament having not caught anything heavier than 2 3/4 pounds and none of the fish he caught were from Lake Toho. Everything was out of Lake Kissimmee. "By the end of the day Wednesday, I'd only had two bites, but they were within 25 feet of each other," he said. I told the co-angler I was practicing with that I'd caught them in there before. That tells me they're spawning in the pads. I caught them both on a ChatterBait and figured that's where I'd start the tournament."

Competition:

Strader figured he could catch a limit for about 12 pounds out of the area where he finished practice on Wednesday. With clouds overhead and rain coming down steadily on day 1, it was 11:15 a.m. before he'd had even a hint of a bite. His high hopes had been dashed - for the time being. "At that point, I told my co-angler, ÔOn Tuesday, I saw two on a bed. They're not big, but I'm not zeroing,'" Strader said. "We pulled into the area and I stopped about 200 yards shy of the waypoint I had. As we eased toward it, I started seeing big ones everywhere." He targeted "shiny spots" that he could see with a Texas-rigged Zoom Super Fluke rigged behind a pegged 1/16-ounce weight. The bait spirals into and around beds when rigged that way and it allowed him to fill up his livewell pretty quickly. He caught several quality fish, including a 7-09 kicker that anchored his 21-09 bag that trailed only fellow FLW Tour competitor and reigning Forrest Wood Cup champion Brad Knight for the day-1 lead. "It was one of those deals that I know doesn't sound right, but the clouds and rain actually helped me see the fish better because of the clarity of the water," he said. "There were these little, fine particles in it and when the sun came out, it looked milky. With the copper rose lenses I had in my Typhoon sunglasses, in that tannic water, I could see so much better." He may have challenged Knight for the day-1 lead had his eyes not deceived him at one point, though. "There was one point where I was fishing for a bedding fish," he said, "and sometimes my eyes play tricks on me. I swore I saw a 5-pounder with what appeared to be a smaller buck. I pitched in there and caught a 3 1/2-pounder and I though that must've been the big one. I put it in the livewell and eased the boat up a little. Then my co-angler pitches in the same area and catches a 5."

The wind picked up Friday, but the sun finally made an appearance, and that made it easier to locate the beds. Still, the clarity prevented Strader from positively identifying where the fish were positioned. He employed the fluke technique yet again and caught a limit for 10 pounds. "I'd go along and pitch out and let it sink down into the shiny spots," he said. "I caught eight or nine fish doing that." Halfway through the day, he still hadn't seen a big fish so he opted to move to another area that produced for him last year. Instead of fishing the hydrilla in tight to the bank, he opted to start on the outside edge. "I think the cool spell overnight caused them to pull out or there were no new fish coming in," he noted. "When I started out in front of the hydrilla, my co-angler turned around and threw out in the middle and caught a 4-pounder. When I saw that, I figured there's no way a fish like is all by himself out there, so I put my Power-Poles down and picked up a ChatterBait and caught a 5-pounder and a 3-pounder and came back later and caught another 4. I told my co-angler, ÔI know where I'm starting tomorrow.'" His 15-11 stringer gave him a 2 1/2-pound lead heading into the final day when the field was reduced to 12 anglers. When Strader pulled back into the spot he ended day 2 on, he stopped about 100 yards short of the waypoint and caught a 3 1/2-pounder right away on a the vibrating jig. He hunkered down and made several more casts without a bite. He noticed the water temperature had dropped to the high 50s and it had slicked off. While the conditions didn't necessarily call for a topwater presentation, he played a hunch based on previous experience and started casting a twin-prop balsa topwater bait. "I caught a 4-pounder on my first cast and basically caught everything I weighed right there," he added. "Those Florida fish are goofy. They'll eat a prop bait before they'll eat a walking bait. I don't know why, but they do." After a first-hour flurry, the bite dropped off significantly for most of the day. Later in the day, though, the water had warmed up to 65 degrees and he was able to catch a 2 1/2-pounder on the horny toad that gave him a 1 1/4-pound upgrade. "That fish basically won the tournament for me," he said.

Winning Gear:

Toad gear: 7'9" mag medium-heavy Powell Max 3D casting rod, Team Lew's Pro Magnesium Speed Spool Series casting reel (6.8:1 gear ratio), 50-pound Gamma Torque braided line, 5/0 Lazer TroKar EWG worm hook, Zoom Horny Toad (watermelon red).

Vibrating jig gear: 7'5" medium-heavy Powell Max 3D crankbait rod, same reel, 16-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon line, homemade vibrating jig (green-pumpkin skirt), Zoom Swimming Fluke Junior (Houdini) trailer.

Fluke gear: 7'3" heavy-action Powell Max 3D casting rod, same reel, same line at vibrating jig, 1/16-oz. Reins Tungsten worm weight (pegged), 4/0 Lazer TroKar worm hook, Zoom Super Fluke (watermelon and watermelon red). Strader said the Fluke presentation is something he's used in Florida for many years. "I learned that trick from some Florida guys a long time ago," he said.

Topwater gear: 7'2" medium-heavy Powell Max 3D casting rod, same reel, 20-pound Gamma Polyflex copolymer line, Old School Balsa Baits Twin Spin (gold foil black back).

Main factor: "Just trusting my gut and not being afraid to wing it. That seems to be when I do my best. After my practice, it was a perfect example. I was on absolutely nothing so I just started fishing again."

Performance edge: "I've been really impressed with that Evinrude G2 motor. It's pretty remarkable the gas and oil efficiency it's shown. And my Ranger 521C was crucial. Those fish I caught were so shallow people wouldn't believe me. That boat allowed me to get up shallow and not spook them. Not only did my equipment perform, but having the support of other sponsors like Hellas Construction and Don Ledford Chevrolet has been a blessing. These last 2 years, it's like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders in that I don't have to worry about going broke if I don't make a check. They're good people."

Kissimmee Chain Winning Pattern BassFan 2/2/16 (Todd Ceisner)

Wil Hardy II came to Oneida Lake for the first Bassmaster Northern Open with a general idea of how he was going to attack the lake. In his previous trips to the Central New York fishery, he'd yet to tap into the largemouth that have been central to past multi-day tournament wins (Ish Monroe, Tommy Biffle and Dean Rojas, for example). Fishing for largemouth at Oneida takes commitment and Hardy, a native Southerner, had other plans last week. "I still don't know how to catch largemouth up there," he said. "I have no clue how they do it up there. The last two times there, I didn't even think about it. I go there fishing for smallies. If you find largemouth, you're winning day 1, but I think it's hard to win a multi-day deal with them, and with the gobies in there now, it's going to be harder." With his focus solely on chasing the brown fish, Hardy maximized one area for 3 straight days and came away the surprise winner with a 53-13 total. If he competes in the final two Northern Opens (he plans to), he'll qualify for the 2017 Bassmaster Classic at Lake Conroe. The former FLW Tour pro - he competed 2 full seasons and parts of 2 others - is still soaking up the fact that he topped a field of 200 boats in a region he's fished sparingly over the years.

"The phone hasn't stopped ringing since... shoot, I don't even remember what time the weigh-in finished," said Hardy, who along with Jon Hair co-owns Georgia-based Greenfish Tackle. "What's crazy is besides a club tournament, this is the first thing I've won." Hardy's love affair with Northern fisheries can be traced to the 2008 Eastern FLW Series when the circuit visited Lake Champlain, where he competed as a co-angler. He has fished Champlain and Oneida on a handful of occasions since then, but the multi-species options that Northern lakes present has always intrigued him. "The first year I went to Champlain I fell in love with up north," he said. "My dad and I have talked about it for hours. Things just seem to come more naturally. Down here, I'll struggle, but up there I can catch something." When he comes up north, his outlook tends to change for the better. "Maybe that's it," he said. "I have a positive frame of mind. It's more like vacation than a tournament." By employing two different presentations of a Zoom Speed Craw - a Carolina rig and an Arky-style jighead - Hardy was able to keep the fish interested as he combed a flat in 11 feet of water that had a mix of hard bottom and scattered grass. "I know it's everybody's cliche, 'when it's your time, it's your time,' but you don't understand what that means until it's your time," he said. "To win a tournament of that size on one spot, it doesn't usually happen, especially sharing it with a couple of people. Everything went perfect."

Last August, Hardy finished 26th at the Oneida Northern Open using the same two presentations he used a week ago. "I figured with the month difference and with the fish coming off the spawn a few weeks ago, if I caught them that way a month later (last year), it figured to be better earlier," he said. He started practice with three rods on his deck - a dropshot, a Carolina-rigged Speed Craw and a Speed Craw rigged on a Greenfish Tackle Creeper head - he returned to the same areas that had produced for him in the past. "I caught them in the same place and everywhere I went," he said. "I started practice the Wednesday of the week before the tournament and by Friday I was ready to fish." A local tournament Saturday and the collective impact of 200 boats preparing for the Open changed the atmosphere as the tournament drew closer. "I would catch one or two everywhere I went, but you could tell it was getting tougher," he said. "In a week, I had 30 spots where I could catch one or two." But the place he ultimately sat on for 3 tournament days gave up four keepers in 15 minutes and he figured he could start there and get a limit, then hunt around for upgrades.

Competition:

Hardy had his 17-04 in the boat by 9 a.m. on day 1, allowing him to run around to many of the other areas where he found fish during practice. None of them produced - at all. "I didn't get a bite anywhere else I went," he said. "I never caught anything over 4. Everything was 3 1/2 to 3 3/4." He wasn't the only one to have found what turned out to be the winning spot. Mike Iaconelli, who finished 6th, also fished there all 3 days, but Hardy said they co-existed in a respectful manner. "There were other guys in the area, but they weren't fishing what we were fishing," Hardy said, "(Ike) never said anything or got closer than two casts. He was very courteous and gave me plenty of space." Hardy had a lower boat number on day 2 and Iaconelli won the race to the area. Hardy said he gave Ike the same respect that was given to him on day 1 and he committed to staying there for the duration. "I figured I might as well sit here all day and hammer it," Hardy said. "If I miss the cut, so be it." He worked the area hard all morning, but the bite seemed to fade off around 9 a.m. He culled just once after that, but still had 18-05 despite two dead fish. That was enough to put him in the lead entering the final day. "I have no clue why the bite would die after 9," he said. "Maybe they were there all night and gorged themselves. After that they'd pull off that bar and they'd suspend because we'd drift around and pick off one here or there, just fan casting. When they were up, they'd just cruise around on the flat." Hardy said he caught fewer fish on the final day, but they were all good quality, 3 1/2-pounders, again dragging a Carolina rig or a jighead across the flat. "The area was loaded," he said. "It was probably one of the biggest schools I've ever seen." His 18-04 stringer was good enough to salt away a 3-pound, 4-ounce win over Jacob Wheeler.

Winning Pattern:

Hardy said the key elements to the spot he fished were the shell bed surrounded by softball-sized rocks and scattered clumps of grass. "You'd throw out and feel the shells and you could tell every time you pulled it into a good area," he said. "You'd feel the gobies or the perch. They'd be all over it and two pulls after that a 3-pounder would load up on it." He had his boat positioned over 12 or 13 feet of water and was throwing up to 11. "It wasn't a huge change," he noted. "The reason I fished that one spot and found it was it was a big, flat stretch and in the middle of it, the Navionics chip showed a little point that came out. I just started fishing it. In 10 minutes, I caught four fish. I didn't have to throw to a spot. The whole point was holding them." His retrieve was pretty quick, but he made sure to maintain contact with bottom. He kept his rod tip parallel to the water or pointed down, mostly to keep any line slack out of the wind. He opted for a Carolina rig as opposed to a finesse presentation because he was able to be more efficient. "That comes from throwing it on Champlain," he added. "It's really easy and fast and I can cover a lot of water with it. A dropshot is great, but I feel like I can make four or five more casts to a place and cover more water with this compared to a dropshot."

Winning Gear:

Carolina rig gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Powell Max 3D casting rod, Shimano Chronarch Ci4+ casting reel (6.4:1 ratio), 15-pound Hi Seas fluorocarbon line, 1/2-oz. unnamed tungsten weight, unnamed swivel, 3/0 Gamakatsu EWG worm hook, Zoom Speed Craw (green-pumpkin). Hardy used an 18-inch length of 12-pound fluorocarbon from the swivel to his hook.

Creeper head gear: Same rod, same reel, same line, 3/4-oz. Greenfish Tackle Creeper head, same bait. The Creeper head is an Arky-style jig head with a corkscrew bait keeper in the head. Hardy stuck with the 3/4-oz. version more because of the breezy conditions. He caught more than half of his weigh fish on the Carolina rig, but he'd mix in the Creeper head when that bite started to fade.

Main factor: "That Carolina-rigged Speed Craw was the deal. My co-anglers would start with a dropshot, then after me catching them for 20 minutes, they'd be in the bottom of the boat retying."

Performance edge: "That Hi-Seas fluorocarbon was great. I was fishing around those shell beds and that stuff held up. I boat-flipped everything."

Oneida Lake Winning Pattern BassFan 7/6/16 (Todd Ceisner)