Byron Velvick's Pattern, Baits & Gear

Byron Velvick, who's suffered all sorts of nerve-related physical pain since making back-to-back Bassmaster Classics in 2009-10 and winning at Caliornia's Clear Lake during that latter campaign, found the conditions at Guntersville perfectly suited for him. He's a sight-fishing ace and a master at throwing large swimbaits, and both techniques were in play last week. He alternated solid bags with spectacular hauls and moved up six places on the final day with a stringer that was bested only by winner Skeet Reese. He looked quite a bit on days 1 and 2, but threw big rubber exclusively over the weekend when the higher water killed his viewing action. He used a 7-inch Basstrix model (which Reese also employed at Velvick's suggestion) and also a prototype Livingston Lures swimbait that was slightly larger. He threw them as far as he could the majority of the time across big spawning flats in North Sauty Creek, often looking around for beds as he was reeling. "Everybody has big swimbaits now, but there's probably only five or six guys (on the circuit) who really throw them right," he said. "Here they needed to be the size of the big gizzard shad, and you wanted the real ones to actually try to mate with your bait. They beat on each other like carp do and this was a minor version of that. "If you could feel it getting thumped or ticked, almost like a worm bite, you knew there was a lot of bait in the area and you were on the right track."

Swimbait gear: 7'11" heavy-action Duckett Fishing Byron Velvick Signature Series rod, Duckett Fishing casting reel (6.3:1 or 5.4:1 gear ratio), 25-pound Vicious fluorocarbon line, 8/0 or 10/0 Owner Beast heavy-cover hook, or 11/0 Basstrix Paddletail Swimbait Hook, 7" Basstrix Paddletail (ayu) or 8" prototype Livingston Lures (dark hitch) swimbait. He said that unlike many baits of that size, the new Livingston always runs upright. "The other ones, about 50 percent of them come out right and the other 50 percent are wrong because of the inconsistencies (in the manufacturing process). They do what I call 'halibuting' (turning over on their side) and there's no way to tune them."

Sight-fishing gear: 7'1" medium-heavy Duckett Fishing Byron Velvick Signature Series rod, same reel (7:1 ratio), 15-pound Vicious fluorocarbon, 1/2-ounce round dropshot weight (on 5" leader), 4/0 Owner TwistLock hook, 4" Tightlines UV-Hog (watermelon red). He used the whiskered version of the UV-Hog. "When it hit the water those whiskers would flare out and the fish were losing their minds over it."

Main factor: "Coming here knowing I was going to sight-fish and throw swimbaits, and that's it. I was literally not caring if Ish (Monroe) told me he was catching them on a frog or if (John) Murray said they were biting a Chatterbait. I wouldn't even go look or one."

Performance edge: "My Vicious sunglasses. I honestly believe I was seeing more fish deeper than most guys were."

Guntersville Pattern 2-5 BassFan 4/13/15 (John Johnson)

18 Colors

Basstrix Paddle Tail Swimbait

Owner Weighted Beast Hook w/ Twistlock

$7.49 - $11.49

5.0

1 Review

Video

4 Colors

Tightlines UV Hog 6" 4pk

$6.99

Video

Owner Twistlock Light Hook

$4.49 - $4.99

Video

Vicious Fluorocarbon Line

$13.49 - $78.49

5.0

1 Review

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