Joseph Webster's Pattern, Baits & Gear
His dock fish were suspended and he had to get his bait far back underneath the structures - often skipping it. "It was usually the last dock in the pocket where the water was 5 or 6 feet deep. They'd be sitting under the floats in the dirty water." He targeted largemouths with the spinnerbait, but caught only two - one in practice and one in the tournament. He weighed 20 spotted bass during the event.
Winning Gear:
Cranking gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Hammer Fishing Cranking Stick, Daiwa Tatula casting reel (6.3:1 ratio), 12-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, Bill Norman Deep Little N (chartreuse/black back).
Shaky-head gear: 7' medium-heavy Hammer Fishing spinning rod, Shimano Sustain spinning reel, 8-pound Seaguar InvizX flurocarbon, 3/8-ounce Buckeye Lures Spot Remover jighead, Zoom Trick Worm (green-pumpkin).
Flipping gear: 7'3" Hammer Fishing flipping stick, Daiwa Tatula casting reel (7.1:1 ratio), 17-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon, 7/16-ounce 4x4 jig (green-pumpkin), Zoom Super Chunk Jr. trailer (green-pumpkin).
Spinnerbait gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Hammer Fishing rod, Daiwa Tatula casting reel (6.3:1 ratio), 20-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon, unnamed 1/2-ounce spinnerbait (yellow/white with No. 5 and No. 4 gold and silver willow-leaf blades).
Main factor: "Staying close to the ramp gave me more fishing time."
Performance edge: "Probably that Hammer cranking rod. I had to kind of baby the bait across the rocks and when the fish would get the bait, the rod would double up. I didn't lose a fish on it all week."
FLW Tour Lake Lanier 2-5 Patterns BassFan 3/14/18 (John Johnson)
