Drew Benton's Pattern, Baits & Gear

Those who know how Drew Benton likes to catch fish know the St. Johns River in March sets up to be in his wheelhouse. He was the lone angler to catch 20 pounds or more on three of the four days and he did it largely by stalking spawning fish all around Lake George. "In practice, I found everything I could, but it's never enough," he said. "I burned everything I could trying to make the cut. That's the only way to fish a sight-fishing tournament. You can never find enough. You might have 100 marked, but maybe only get a shot at 15 of them." The key to locating beds was finding the right kind of vegetation. "Almost always they were in the eelgrass," he added. "They were not in the open sandbar area. There some in the dollar pad area. They needed some kind of vegetation and then it was a matter of finding those sweet spots." He opened the event by targeting the western side of George down to the southwest corner. His downfall was day 2 when he recycled water from day 1. His weight fell off by more than half. He bounced back on Saturday with 20-11 out of the northeast corner of George to clinch a top-12 berth. "On day 3, I went to totally new area where I'd a few big ones cruising around in practice," he said. "They were locked on beds Saturday and that's how I caught them." He had a chance at a 10-plus pounder on day 3 that would've gotten rid of a 3-pounder, but the fish came off. On the final day, he returned to an area where the river empties into Lake George where he'd seen some 3-pounders the day before. "When I got there, I started seeing some big ones," he said. He sight-fished mostly with a TightLines UV Whisker craw, which is a soft-plastic craw bait with skirt material incorporated into the bait. He also mixed in a Bagley Tail Spin that he threw while scanning for new spawning areas. "I caught a few that I weighed in on that," he added. "When they ate it they choked it. They exploded on it. I'm not sure if they were guarding fry, but they wanted it."

Sight-fishing gear: 7'7" heavy-action Phenix MBX casting rod, Lew's Team Pro Magnesium Speed Spool ACB casting reel, 20-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, 3/8-oz. Elite Tungsten worm weight, 5/0 Owner worm hook, TightLines UV Whisker Hy-brid craw (COLOR).

Prop bait gear: 7'2" medium-heavy Phenix M1 casting rod, same reel, 50-pound Seaguar Kanzen braided line, 20-pound Seaguar Senshi monofilament line, Bagley BangOLure Spin Tail (olive shad).

Main factor: "I'm just so comfortable catching them off beds. It's the way I love to catch them. I have a lot of experience sight-fishing being from Florida. Since I've started fishing, I've always been able to see them and catch them that way."

Performance edge: "My Costas were key and so were my Power-Poles for sure. We depend on the best of everything from line to rods and hooks. It all played a role. It also didn't hurt to have the fastest boat."

St. Johns River 2-5 Patterns BassFan 3/24/16 (Todd Ceisner)

4 Options

Elite Tungsten Worm Weights

$4.29 - $8.99

Owner Offset Shank Wide Gap Worm Hooks

$3.99 - $23.99

3 Colors

Bagley Balsa BangOLure Topwater Spintail Jerkbait

Video

Seaguar InvizX Fluorocarbon Line

$23.99 - $236.99

3.6

15 Reviews

Video

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