Bryant Smith Wins FLW Series Clear Lake
Practice:
Smith, who finished 2nd on the Western Series points list in 2016 and 7th this year, put in 4 1/2 days of practice for the event. "I have a lot of experience there, so I did have some preconceived notions about what I wanted to start with," he said. "It was quickly apparent, though, that those things weren't going to work. "I started out with my standard stuff - a ChatterBait, a square-bill, some deep crankbaits and flipping, but I couldn't get on anything consistent. I'd catch one here and one there, but nothing that made me say, 'Oh, I can run a pattern doing this.' A lot of times I've gotten my butt kicked there by guys throwing a Senko and a dropshot when it was tough it is now and I'd about had enough of it." He picked up a Neko-rigged Senko and went to work on the many docks at both ends of the lake. "I got a couple bites pretty quick, but at first I didn't realize how thoroughly I had to fish them. I'd get one bite on an outside piling, and then the next one in 2 feet of water, and then another one somewhere in the middle. The fish were still scattered and I knew I had to really (the docks) apart. "I did not expect to catch 20 pounds, especially not 2 days in a row. I figured 15 to 16 pounds a day would be good enough for the top 10 and probably 18 a day would win it. "I thought if I caught a big one every day, I could maybe get to 18 or 19."
Competition:
Smith caught two fish that topped 5 pounds on day 1 and another that was just a quarter-pound shy of that mark. "Those three good bites set the tone of the tournament for me," he said. "I got two of them pretty early and the last one at 11 o'clock. I spent the rest of the day trying to upgrade my smaller ones and I was able to do that, but not by much." His initial stretch of docks in the Redbud portion of the lake wasn't nearly as productive on the morning of day 2 - he managed a limit off of them, but it totaled no more than 12 pounds. He went to another stretch and made one cull, and then caught his biggest fish of the event, a 6 1/2-pounder, at his third stop. "I fished the rest of those docks, but I didn't get very many bites. I ran back up north, where I'd been spending the afternoon, to a stretch of docks that had some 2 3/4- and 3-pounders, and I ended up catching a 5 1/2." Day 3 was cooler and windier and offered up the toughest bite of the tournament. Smith ended up having to fish faster than he would've preferred because the wind made it difficult to properly position his boat. "I caught a lot of little fish, but I wasn't getting the 2 1/2s and 3s to fill my limit and I never got a big bite. At about noon I left the south end, and on every other day I'd had at least two good bites by then. I thought I'd blown it and left the door open for somebody to catch a big bag and beat me. "I figured it'd be tough for everybody, but it was still Clear Lake and it has a lot of big fish, and those other guys who were in the top 10 know how to catch a big bag." Nonetheless, the final tally wasn't even close. "Winning this tournament meant the world to me. I've been fishing (the Western Series) for 5 or 6 years now and it's one of the most prestigious we have out west. A lot of my family and friends came out for the weigh-in and the amount of support I had left me kind of speechless. It was overwhelming."
Winning Gear:
Neko-rig gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Dobyns 734C rod, unnamed casting reel (7:1 ratio), unnamed 15-pound fluorocarbon line, 3/0 Decoy Cover Finesse HD hook, 5" Yamamoto Senko (green-pumpkin/watermelon laminate) with 3/32-ounce nail weight inserted into head.
The Bottom Line:
Main factor in his success - "I think it was just knowing that I needed to hit as many docks as possible and be efficient at it. Based on how the fish were spread out, I needed to drop the bait on as many of their heads as I could. I call it fishing slow, (but) fast."
Performance edge - "The Dobyns Champion 734C is my go-to, all-around rod - I can do anything with it. In this case I needed to make very accurate casts with a 5-inch Senko on a baitcaster, but also have enough power to control the fish around those docks."
FLW Series Clear Lake Winning Pattern BassFan 10/4/17 (John Johnson)
