FLW 2017 Winning Patterns

Andre Dickneite had no expectations about winning last week's Lake of the Ozarks Central FLW Series. He didn't anticipate coming anywhere close to qualifying for the final day. "I was at one of the lowest points of my fishing career and I'd been debating whether I should even continue," said the 49-year-old from Freeburg, Mo. who runs the hotel division for a window manufacturing firm. "I wasn't having success and I couldn't seem to figure things out. "For this tournament, I only packed enough clothes for 2 days. I figured I'd just go and enjoy myself, doing what I like, even though I wasn't on the fish." He lives just a little over an hour from the lake and has fished it extensively for the past three decades. He's had a lot of success, including Central Pro Am and BFL victories, but not much recently. He hadn't even been getting out on the water very often.

"I've been married to my wife for 23 years and she told me this year was the least amount of fishing I've done in the entire time we've been married," he said. He caught a break from Mother Nature last week, as weather conditions were sunny and breezy throughout the event. "The weather was perfect for what I wanted to do, which was flip a jig. Two days prior it was cold and overcast and a lot of guys got sucked in by the topwater bite. "I needed the sun to put the fish around the docks and the wind always helps in getting them to bite." His 48-04 total for 3 days left him 2 1/2 pounds clear of runner-up Roger Fitzpatrick. He rose up from 4th place on the final day to claim the $40,000 top prize, which was the biggest payday of his career.

One Dock was Key:

A single dock that Dickneite had never fished previously was critical to his success. He found it on the third of his four practice days leading into the derby. "I'd been practicing for 8 or 9 hours a day and catching three or four keepers, and that wasn't good because the lake is full of bass," he said. "I found that dock on Monday and caught a 6-pounder off it, and then I moved over to the next one and caught a 4 1/2. "I got a few more bites after that and I knew I'd finally found my area. It was just loaded with shad." When competition got under way, he focused on two pockets off the upper portion of the main lake, fishing shallow flats that were adjacent to deep water. The dock where he'd caught the 6-pounder surrendered two key fish on each tournament day and he lost one that he estimated at 4 1/2 pounds. "When (current is generated), the water pushes the bait in and the bass come up and ambush them around those docks. The crappie guys had put brush around some of them that I caught keepers off of.

"This particular area nobody else had really found and I basically had it to myself all 3 days. I was amazed by that." He boxed 16-13 on day 1 and 16-07 on day 2 to make the top-10. He caught his lightest bag of the tournament (15-00) on day 3 and had no inkling that it would be enough to push him to the top of the final standings. "I thought with 15 that I wouldn't slip from 4th and I might move up to 2nd or 3rd. Not until there were maybe only to bags left (to be weighed) did I think I had a chance. Going from rock-bottom to the king of the hill, I can't tell you how happy I am. It's just a fantastic feeling." His strategy of staying in the upper part of the lake paid off. "If it's a single-day tournament, most of the time you won't win up there Ð the mid-lake or down by the dam has got bigger fish. For a (multi-day event) I like to run up to where I have enough areas to fish that I can figure out a pattern that'll catch 15 to 16 pounds a day. "Sometimes guys can't get the largemouth to bite and they end up having to fish for Kentuckys (spotted bass) just to fill a limit, and if you've got one Kentucky in your bag you're probably not going to win. From the time I started until it was time to put the rods away, I kept flipping that jig. I wasn't going to get distracted fishing for Kentuckys. I had the experience to know that I just had to keep going. If I didn't get a bite for 2 hours, I had to just stay with it and move on to the next stop."

Winning Gear:

Flipping gear: 7' heavy-action Falcon rod, Shimano Chronarch E casting reel (7.1:1 ratio), 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon or 20-pound Berkley Trilene Big Game monofilament line, 1/2-ounce V&M jig (black/blue), Strike King Rage Craw trailer (black/blue).

He said he often flips with monofilament due to its stretch capabilities on a hard hookset, but prefers the strength of fluorocarbon when fishing around dock cables.

He caught three fish on the final day on a Texas-rigged Zoom Magnum Trick Worm (red bug) with a 4/0 Owner hook, 1/4-ounce tungsten weight (green-pumpkin) and a bobber stopper. "I just thought I should throw them something a little different," he said. "I got a keeper on the first cast with a worm and I came around the side of the dock and caught another one flipping it between the floats."

The Bottom Line:

Main factor: "No doubt, the knowledge I had of the lake was the No. 1 benefit, and No. 2 was just fishing the day."

Performance edge: "I'd say it was my (Minn Kota Fortrex 112) trolling motor. A lot of times I was raising it because I didn't want it making noise on the bottom and I was always conscious of speed - I wanted to be as quiet as I could around the docks so I wouldn't spook the fish."

FLW Central Series Lake of the Ozarks Winning Pattern BassFan 10/17/17 (John Johnson)

Bill Weidler's game plan for the Lake Chickamauga Southeastern FLW Series came together three weeks ago when he competed in the Bassmaster Southern Open there. When he returned to Chickamauga a week later as a boater/guide for his son's team at the Bassmaster High School Southern Open, he noticed the fish were still in their post-spawn recovery phase with plenty of bass still shallow. Armed with that knowledge and a renewed commitment to tournament fishing, Weidler came back to Chickamauga for a third straight week, this time leaving with the winner's trophy. While the FLW Series event was shortened to two days because of severe weather, Weidler rode a swimjig pattern to the biggest victory of his fishing career.

"It's been a long time coming," the Bessemer, Ala., resident said. "I've been fishing a lot over the years, but I've decided to take a more serious approach and it's been working out good." He knew he was up against a stacked field, including some of the best local anglers from around Chickamauga. Beating them, albeit in a two-day event, means a lot to Weidler. After catching 22-15 last Friday, he tacked on 22-03 Saturday to finish with 45-02. Weidler edged current FLW Tour angler and former high school classmate Barry Wilson by 1-07. "Absolutely it's the best win of my career," he said. "It was an unbelievable field with a bunch of FLW pros. I've had a couple top 12s in the Southern Opens, but without a doubt this was the best. "After fishing the Open, I went back with two high school anglers and watched how things were progressing. The kids caught 20-plus pounds. I knew the (post-spawn) bite would be getting stronger. I knew I was up against some hammers, too, like Michael Neal, Buddy Gross and Rogne Brown. I was a little concerned I couldn't pull it off, but I put my head down and grinded it out for 2 days. I said, 'I came to do one thing and I'm gonna stick to it.'" Here are some additional details about how Weidler conquered Chickamauga.

Serious Business:

Weidler competed in the Bassmaster Southern Opens in 2013, 2015 and 2016 and was among the Open anglers to participate in the first BASSFest at Lake Chickamauga in 2014. His best finish prior to this year was a 12th at the Logan Martin Southern Opn in 2013. This year, he's invested more time into becoming a better an all-around angler and it's led to him being more competitive on the tournament trails. "I'm taking a more serious approach," he said. "I've been fishing since I was 16 and I'm now 47. I've fished some B.A.S.S. Opens, but this year I decided to focus more and take it more serious. I've eliminated distractions and put in more time on the water. I'm paying more attention to my equipment and I'm fishing events cleaner." Another factor that's helped is he's adjusted his expectations of himself. "Fishing the Opens, I always put pressure to win on myself because of the (automatic) Classic (berth)," he said. "This year, I'm not worrying about the Classic. I know that will come if I make the Elites. I'm shooting for top-20s. Talk about the pressure coming off my shoulders. "I told myself, 'If I'm around the fish to get a top-20, potentially I could win one. I was 26th at the Harris Chain and 6th at Chickamauga, but lost a few big ones. It's just my mindset is totally different and it helps me make better decisions on the water."

Same Approach:

After the high school event, Weidler hadn't intended on coming back to southeast Tennessee for a third time for the FLW Series. He didn't register until the Tuesday before the tournament started and didn't arrive until Wednesday. With Thursday's competition day cancelled he didn't get on the water until Friday. He said the lake had changed, but in some ways, it was very similar to how it fished during the Open. "I fished same pattern from the Open," he said. "The only difference was there were spawners (in the Open). When they get done spawning, they protect fry and don't eat. They need to recover so they sit under mats and then start feeding." The timing of last week's event seemed to coincide with that feeding frenzy.

He was boat 8 in the first flight on Friday, but he figured the early part of the day would be slow with the cold front moving through. "I had found that the bigger fish start biting around 10 a.m.," he said. "I never lost focus or got rattled. I went to my first hole and started fishing and caught some small ones. I didn't get concerned. I kept moving." Once the clock hit 10 and the sun got higher, he noticed a distinct uptick in activity. He had 20 pounds in the boat by 10:30 a.m. "They'd position under those mats and once they got there it was easier for me to get them to bite," he said, adding the water was rising during the tournament, which pulled more bass up shallow. He had three primary areas, but held back on visiting his best area. Once he got there, he boated two 6-pounders within 75 yards of each other. Both were grass related. "With the type of grass I was looking for, it made a hard edge that they could use as a roadway to deeper water," he said. "It also provided something for them to rest in in those spawning bays." His 22-15 put him in 6th place following day 1, about 4 pounds behind the leader.

Being in the later flight on day 2 played into Weidler's hands as it gave him more time to seize upon the fish that started to bite under the overcast and windy conditions. It was a slow morning as he only about 11 pounds at 1:30 p.m. "I knew that on Friday when it was overcast and blowing those fish were feeding heavier," he said. "Late in the day on day 2, the clouds rolled in with some wind and it made the conditions almost perfect for what I was doing." He rotated through the same areas and targeted water no deeper than 18 inches around long stretches of reeds or cattails. He hauled in 22-03 to edge Wilson for the win. "I was struggling, but I felt confident it would turn around," he said. "Knowing I had to check in at 4:45, I had time with my history of swimming a jig on some of these lakes. It can happen quick if you just stay focused." Focus and patience were other key elements to his success. "When I find an area with fish in it now, I'm extremely patient," he added. "I don't leave after 30 minutes. I kept running my sweet spots. Where I caught the fish was in an area where I'd caught them before, but they were staged on the opposite bank better than they had been. It was one of those deals where I had 3 hours before I had to check in. I ran the stretch I liked and didn't know what to do. There were a lot of locals around so I went across to the other bank and said, 'I'll fish it out,' and I'm glad I did. I caught all of my weight in a 200-yard stretch."

Winning Pattern:

Weidler said boat positioning and casting angles were crucial to luring fish out of the grass at Chickamauga. "I had boat positioned to cast parallel to bank," he said. "I was about 4 feet off the grass line and I threw the bait to parallel the grass. They'd come out of the grass and get it."

Winning Gear:

Swimjig gear: 7'1" medium-heavy G. Loomis IMX casting rod, Shimano Chronarch Ci4+ casting reel (7.0:1 ratio), 65-pound PowerPro braided line, 1/2-oz. Dirty Jigs No-Jack swimjig (black & blue), H&H Lures Swamp Frog trailer (black/white legs).

Main factor: "The post-spawn timing. I knew those fish after the spawn weren't going right to the deep water. They were going to still be shallow. In three more weeks, I'd be leery of being able to do what I did."

Performance edge: "A couple things about my jig made the difference. With the black and blue in those conditions, it was lower light and those colors create a better silhouette in the water. I also dyed the legs of the trailer blue and they almost looked electric blue in the water. Sometimes that triggers them to bite when another color won't."

Lake Chickamauga Winning Profile BassFan 5/9/17 (Todd Ceisner)

It appeared as if the FLW Series Championship at Kentucky Lake might be effectively over after just one day. Bryan Thrift, recently crowned the FLW Tour Angler of the Year (AOY) for the second time in his career, boxed 27 1/2 pounds on day 1 to establish a 7-pound advantage. Two-thirds of the derby still remained, but it seemed unlikely that anybody would catch one of the top-ranked anglers on the planet in a triple-A tournament. "(Thrift) said he had a bad practice, and then he came in with 27-plus," said Bradford Beavers, who, like Thrift, hails from South Carolina. "When he gets on something like that, you just assume that he's going to come close to duplicating it every day, and he didn't have to come anywhere near it to beat us. "My co-angler on day 2 told me, 'Well, you're not fishing for first place anymore.' I said, 'Yeah, I agree.'''

Lo and behold, Thrift weighed only two fish for 3 1/2 pounds the rest of the way under the tough-bite conditions, and Beaver sacked a solid 15 pounds each day to win by the type of margin observers had earlier predicted for Thrift. His 45-12 total eclipsed runner-up Todd Hollowell, another Tour pro, by 12 pounds. Beavers, a 31-year-old who most recently worked as a project manager for a coatings company and is a former fisheries biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, took 2017 off of work to prepare for the Forrest Wood Cup after qualifying via last year's Series. Had things not gone so well at Kentucky Lake, he might not have fished competitively at all in 2018. "I'd just been keeping my head above water and if I hadn't done well in this one, I'm not 100-percent sure I would've fished tournaments next year. It's gotten so expensive and it's not financially smart to just keep throwing money at it, but now (after collecting the $50,000 top prize) I'm set up for next year. "I still don't have the money in the bank to fish the Tour - I don't have that cushion I'd need if I had a bad season. If I could get some financial help from somebody, I'd do it, but for now I'm planning to fish the Southeastern (Series) again and I might do the Southwestern also."

Practice:

Beavers' visit to Kentucky Lake for the Championship was his first ever. He did a lot of research of past fall events there and after looking at the weather forecast for the first three days of the four-day practice period, he opted to focus his efforts within 10 miles of the launch at Paris Landing even though his map study told him the southern portion might be his best bet. "It was supposed to be windy, 10 to 20 mph, and I wasn't sure how rough that lake could get - I'd heard it could be pretty bad," he said. "After three terrible days, I decided to go south to the places I thought looked best on the map. I found a couple, and one of them ended up being loaded." What had appealed to him about the area near New Johnsonville was shallow water in places that formerly contained a lot of grass. "It's where the best habitat used to be and I figured that a lot of the fish would still be around." He caught three keepers that day and got a look at a lot more as they zoomed away upon the approach of his boat. He also saw a lot of gizzard shad jumping around. "It wasn't a great day, but it was epic compared to the ones I'd had before. I at least thought there was some potential."

Competition:

There was less than a pound of variance in the three bags that Beavers weighed on the competition days. A silent Zara Spook topwater plug accounted for all of his weight over the first two days, and he used the combination of a rattling Spook and a Zoom Fluke to catch the only limit in the field on the final day. His confidence level was only fair when the tournament got under way - he thought he might be able to box a limit if everything went right. He caught two keepers at early stops before arriving at the locale that would produce the bulk of his winning fish. "It's a shallow bar, almost like a sand flat, with scattered stumps on it," he said. "On the back side, a creek channel ran along it. I think a lot of fish migrated up the channel and slid out onto the flat when they wanted to feed. "The fish were only in 2 feet of water. Nobody else ever came right to where I was fishing - a lot of people fished the front side, but I caught almost all of them from the back."

He popped four keepers within 5 minutes of his arrival on day 1, each of them weighing a little over 3 pounds. He ran new water after that, looking for similar places, but it was a fruitless search. His key area was his second stop on day 2 and he showed up with an empty livewell. He picked up three solid fish right away, then let it rest for awhile before returning to catch three more and make one cull. He made the cut to the top 10 in 4th place. The final day started with a 2-hour fog delay. When he got to his primary spot at mid-morning, he got two quick eruptions on the Spook, but he estimated that both of the fish missed the bait by 6 inches. He picked up the Fluke and caught a keeper, but missed three others over the next 10 to 15 minutes. He added a treble hook to the tail end of the Fluke and that resulted in three fish that made it to the net, but one was too short to go to the well.

"The fish were there, but they were smart and they weren't hitting the baits real good," he said. "I ended up leaving and running to some other places - I thought if I could give it a 2-hour break, I could come back and get a couple more." His initial starting spot produced nothing, but he got a run-of-the-mill keeper and a 2 1/2-pounder from another place that had given him a fish on day 1. He chose to finish out the day there. With just a few minutes remaining, he caught a 4 1/2-pounder on the rattling Spook. He'd seen a fish there earlier, chasing a shad, and tried to entice it with the silent plug. It bit after three twitches on his first cast with the noisy version and gave him a 2 1/2-pound upgrade. He'd made four previous top 10s in Series events, but had never finished better than 7th. "On the third day my fish were always gone or they weren't eating," he said. "I was surprised that it all came together this time because it's hard to make them last for three days."

Winning Gear:

Topwater gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Dobyns Champion 734 rod, Shimano Curado casting reel (7.4:1 ratio), 40-pound Power Pro braided line, 15-pound unnamed monofilament leader (5'), Heddon Zara Spook (bone or flitter shad).

"I don't think the color of the bait mattered much," he said. "They'd hit any color if you could get it on top of them."

Fluke gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Dobyns Fury 734 rod, same reel, 16-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, 6/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook, Zoom Fluke (pearl white).

The Bottom Line:

Main factor: "Finally deciding to go down south and look around and not worry about the wind. I was fortunate that fishing was tough in practice because I didn't have to worry about running a lot of places. When you've only got a couple, it allows you to focus on them more. I put my Power-Poles down and made sure I covered every foot of water. I made a ton of casts before I moved because I didn't have anywhere better to go."

Performance edge: The Power-Poles, for sure. I had to be extremely quiet and with the water that shallow, I'd have blown out everything before I even got to it if I was using the trolling motor."

FLW Series Championship Winning Pattern BassFan 11/7/17 (John Johnson)

Bryant Smith didn't expect to catch any 20-pound bags at last week's Clear Lake Western FLW Series. Catching two made him virtually uncatchable in the standings. The renowned California hawg factory is not living up to its reputation at the moment. There was a massive fish die-off over the summer that some are blaming on a vegetation-spraying program, and 20-pound stringers, which are routine when the lake is in peak form (or even close to it), have been hard to come by recently. Smith, a Castro Valley, Calif. resident with an extensive history on the lake, normally prefers to attack it with reaction baits. During practice, however, he discovered that the fish were mostly unwilling to chase any offering, but he could catch some good ones off dock pilings by dropping a Senko onto their heads. He exceeded 20 pounds on each of the first 2 days to build a lead of more than 6 pounds as the field was cut to the top 10 anglers for the final day. He managed just 12 1/2 pounds on day 3, but nobody caught more than 13-13 and he finished nearly 8 1/2 pounds in front of runner-up Clayton Eslick to claim a prize package valued at more than $76,000.

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)

Last week served as only the second time Buddy Gross had competed at Lake Seminole. In 2015, he cashed a check in the Southeastern FLW Series event there - an event won by local Clint Brown. This time around, Gross parlayed what he'd found during an extended practice session into a victory, fending off Bryan Thrift, who won at Seminole last year, and Brown with a 23-07 stringer on the final day. Gross' 3-day total of 64-11 eclipsed Thrift by more than 6 pounds as Thrift collected his third runner-up finish in the last month. "I figured he was going to catch 'em and he did, so I was glad I caught 'em," Gross said. "I was on good stuff. There were a couple days in practice where I had 25 pounds, so I was going to be disappointed if I didn't catch them this time."

Gross, who's now in his second year as an FLW Tour pro, says he's getting more comfortable with the preparations needed for multi-day tournaments. He demonstrated that by winning the Pickwick Lake FLW Tour last May and again last week. "I learned that you needed three or four spots with fish," he said. "I kept looking for 20 pounds everywhere we went, but then I figured out you didn't need that to get a check. It started at Beaver Lake last year. I just tried to look for more fish in more places. If you're boat (number) 200 and someone's on your place and you have nothing to fall back on, you're not going to last. "After I won, knew I could compete. I'm just comfortable right now. For once, everything is settled in my life and it seems every time a door opens, God's been good to me." When the door to Seminole swung open for practice, conditions were mild and calm and he went to work with a flipping rod in his hand. He found several stretches in Spring Creek where he could punch the outer edges of grass along the channel and also coax bites with a swimbait in the same locales. "There was so much grass left," he said. "It was nice and crisp and green. It was good grass for this time of year. I was surprised it was that nice."

His game plan entering the tournament was to run his swimbait program in the mornings, then flip in the afternoons, but as the week wore on the winds picked up and his flipping options started to dwindle as the water dirtied up. "I could get bit when it was calm and windy with the swimbait," he said. "Where I was fishing was mostly open water. Nothing was secluded or protected, so I was out there getting beat up." So he stuck with the moving bait plan. "When I found them in practice, it was with a smaller (scrounger) head with a Zoom Fluke on it," he said. "That did the most damage. I started with a lighter head, but as the wind picked up, I went up in head size and wound up with a 1-ounce head by the end of the tournament."

Gross had a dazzling start to day 1 of the tournament, despite not connecting with two good fish right away. The next 30 minutes, however, made up for it. "It was action-packed, but then it was like someone hit the light switch and turned them off," Gross said in describing the flurry that laid the foundation for a 24-03 stringer that put him in 2nd after day 1. "I had a half-dozen people see me catch them and I was afraid to leave it. Then they quit biting. "I really beared down on them on day 1 because I thought I had two other places to go," he added. "I eventually left, but it wasn't until later in the day." The key elements to his best area in Spring Creek were the grass, standing timber and creek channel all intersecting in a small area. "I was catching them suspending in the timber," he said. "The front edge was almost 16 feet (deep) near the creek channel and it fell off into 25. There were indentations with standing timber and I'd throw up into those pockets and bring it out."

Gross had a dazzling start to day 1 of the tournament, despite not connecting with two good fish right away. The next 30 minutes, however, made up for it. "It was action-packed, but then it was like someone hit the light switch and turned them off," Gross said in describing the flurry that laid the foundation for a 24-03 stringer that put him in 2nd after day 1. "I had a half-dozen people see me catch them and I was afraid to leave it. Then they quit biting. "I really beared down on them on day 1 because I thought I had two other places to go," he added. "I eventually left, but it wasn't until later in the day." The key elements to his best area in Spring Creek were the grass, standing timber and creek channel all intersecting in a small area. "I was catching them suspending in the timber," he said. "The front edge was almost 16 feet (deep) near the creek channel and it fell off into 25. There were indentations with standing timber and I'd throw up into those pockets and bring it out."

"For the last two hours, I probably didn't make four casts," he said. "I felt like I was good with what I had and a 4-pound lead." What's more is he lost an 8-pound caliber fish early on Saturday, then went 4 hours without another bite. "I was thinking, 'Oh my God, what have I done,'" he said. "That was twice during the tournament I'd lost one over 7 (pounds)."

Winning Gear:

Scrounger head gear: 7'3" extra-heavy Hammer Rods All American Elite Rod Series casting rod, Daiwa Tatula CT Type R casting reel (6.3:1 ratio), 17-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon, various sizes Jenko Fishing Tennessee River Tackle Tremor Head, Zoom Fluke and Super Fluke (any shad pattern).

Swimbait gear: 7'11" double extra-heavy Hammer Rods All American Elite Rod Series casting rod, same reel, same line, 8/0 Owner Beast Flashy Swimmer with CPS (3/8 oz.) hook, 5" Zoom Swimmer (Tennessee Shad).

Gross said this was the first time he'd tried the super-sized Owner Beast Flashy Swimmer hook, which is a big swimbait hook that is trailed by a small blade tethered to the keel weight. "It caught two of the biggest fish I weighed in," he said. "If one ever busted (the surface), I could throw that out and catch it every time."

Main factor: "The quality of the fish I found. I had a stretch I flipped and I'd flipped earlier in (practice) and later. It was crazy, then the water came up 5 or 6 inches and the wind blew. I'd give anything if I could've flipped because I could've had a double-whammy with the swimbait deal and then go flipping in the afternoon. My best three from each spot would've been some serious weight."

Performance edge: "My Lowrance electronics so I could see the fish in the grass and timber. I could literally be on my trolling motor and see them on side imaging and turn around and catch 'em."

LAKE SEMINOLE WINNING PATTERN BassFan 3/08/17 (Todd Ceisner )

For years, Hunter Schlander has followed the fishing careers of Ish Monroe, Robert Lee and Stephen Tosh, among others who've risen to prominence on the West Coast. When they spoke, he listened, hoping to pick up a tip he could implement in his own fishing repertoire. The 27-year-old been an occasional competitor in the Western Division of the FLW Series since 2008, when he logged a top-10 finish at the California Delta. He posted another top-10 in 2015 at Lake Havasu, then another last year at Clear Lake. Earlier this year, he struggled to a 104th-place finish at Havasu and was on the verge of pulling out of the event at the Delta last week after the powerhead in his outboard let go at the Wild West Bass Trail team tournament at the Delta on May 6. "I didn't think I could fish the FLW event," Schlander said.

After a loaner boat became available through a marina in his hometown of Modesto, Calif., he was able to compete against Monroe, Lee and Tosh at the Delta. Not only that, he beat them all, erasing a 5 1/2-pound deficit on the final day, to capture his first FLW Series victory. "I'm young, so I looked up to these guys growing up," Schlander said. "To go up and fish against them is a task of its own. To beat them, it's humbling. It hasn't sunk in yet." After totaling 35-04 over the first 2 days, Schlander bagged a final-day best 21-13 to finish with 57-01, topping Lee by nearly 7 pounds after Lee came in with just 9-03 on Saturday. Lee's day-3 struggles were indicative of the challenging fishing found up and down the Delta system last week. "It was really tough fishing," Schlander said. "The problem was only a handful of areas were fishing well. As good as these guy are, especially the local guys, we were all fishing the same stuff. "There was a lot of traffic in those areas and the areas that were fishing good weren't even fishing that good. It was a pretty big grind. Three- and four-pounders were hard to come by and you had to get lucky to catch a 7 or 8. I opted to stay in the same areas and grind it out, hoping to get three or four of the right bites each day. It's not fishing like it usually does in May." Below are some additional details about how Schlander dealt with the Delta.

Ignored the Chatter:

Leading into the tournament, there was plenty of talk about bed-fishing being a viable option for anglers targeting bigger fish, but Schlander purposely avoided the dock talk and tried to develop other options that might be more durable. "Guys were talking about big bed fish, but if you looked at the weather coming in, it was supposed to cool down and the wind was due to blow," he said. "I looked at weather a couple days before, so I scrapped that. I tried to find reaction fish and maybe spawners I couldn't see." His practice session was hampered by him not having a boat. For a couple days prior to obtaining the loaner, he practiced with Vincent Bernal, his partner in Wild West Bass Trail events. "That made it tough because we were essentially fishing the same stuff," he said On Tuesday, he was able to get back on the water himself and was able to expand on what he'd already found. "A lot of guys were saying there was 30 pounds of bed fish around, but I was focused on reaction fish and I went into some areas where you could see on low tide some bed fish," he said. "I figured maybe later in the day I could blind fish for them with a senko."

Ride the Tides:

Schlander knew going into the tournament that a lot of his success would hinge on his timing in relation to the tides. "The more you learn the Delta, the tides have everything to do with how you're going to catch the bigger fish," he said. "Those fish are so in tune with what that tide's doing that if in you're in the wrong spot, you won't catch 'em. It takes time to learn that." He relied on a 1-2 punch of cranking riprap banks in canals in the morning on the high outgoing tide before running north to target tule berms with a wacky-rigged Senko later in the day. A line of hydrilla growing just off the riprap needed to be present for his cranking program to work. That created a visible path of clean water between the bank and grass. During the key time frame until about 10:30 a.m. each day, he'd bang the crankbait off the rocks and trigger bites that way. He had multiple areas where this scenario was present, but he had to be efficient with his time. On day 1, he had a 12-pound limit within 15 minutes, then moved to a second stretch of riprap, which was already getting hit by a dozen or more boats. "I jumped into the middle of it all," he said. "I found a gap between a couple boats and within 10 minutes, I had a 5- and a 4-pounder." He bolted for his third spot and caught a couple 3 1/2-pounders to cull up to about 17 pounds. After the tide pulled out, he went north and flipped a senko around where he figured fish were still spawning and caught a couple more upgrades to top out at 19-03 for the day. "I wanted to catch 20 because I figured if I could catch 20 a day, I could make the cut," he said, adding he racked up 30 bites. "That was the goal and I'd go from there." Coming back to weigh-in on day 2, he was admittedly down because he figured he'd blown his chance to make the top-10 cut. Instead, his 16-01 moved him up five places to 2nd. "I couldn't believe I was in 2nd," he said. "The weights really dropped off. I was in the middle of the pack (flight wise) and figured I'd drop, but it held up." He said the only difference from Thursday was the afternoon bite wasn't nearly as strong up north. "The wind really blew hard and made it hard to fish the Senko weightless," he said. "I caught maybe 15 fish all day."

Magic Morning:

Facing a 5-pound deficit to Lee entering the final day, Schlander figured he was fishing to protect his place in 2nd. "It was a lot to overcome," he said. "If I could get 22 or 23 pounds, I figured I might be able to beat him, so I went out with a mindset to get 20 pounds." Within 5 minutes, he cranked a 5 1/2-pounder, basically erasing the gap between himself and Lee. After encountering another finalist at his next spot, he moved on to a third area and caught one approaching 8 pounds and another 5-pounder to give himself roughly 18-plus pounds with three fish, all before 9 a.m. "I said, 'This is my shot to do it,'" Schlander added. "I figured I still had 90 minutes left on the cranking fish. I caught a couple of 2-pounders and still had the chance to cull up later on the Senko fish." Except, an upgrade never occurred, and Schlander's nerves paid the price. "When my water ran out down south, I ran up North," he said. "I didn't cull any, but my co-angler caught a 5 1/2. I didn't catch any more upgrades. In the back of my mind, I kept feeling like I needed one more fish. When my co-angler caught that fish, I thought, 'That was the one I needed to get over the hump.'" As it turned out, he hit his goal of catching 20 pounds and the 21-13 was more than enough to give him the win. No one else in the top 10 caught more than 16-11 on the final day. "It was definitely a game of fishing water that hadn't been picked apart yet," Schlander said. "I had one area nobody was touching and I had two other areas that were getting a lot of pressure. I had to hit them as soon as the tide started heading out. If guys went through them on high tide, I wouldn't worry about it because when I saw the tide starting to pull out, I felt comfortable going behind someone and catch fish."

Winning Gear:

Cranking gear: 7'1" medium-heavy Daiwa Tatula crankbait casting rod, Daiwa Zillion SV TW casting reel (6.3:1 ratio), 17-pound Seaguar AbrazX fluorocarbon line, Lucky Craft Silent Fat BDS 4 crankbait (mad craw/delta craw).

While he typically opts for 15-pound test when cranking the Delta, Schlander went with 17-pound last week because "I felt like it was keep the bait just high enough to tick the top of the grass and not get hung up," he said. "That way, I wasn't losing half of my cast because it was fouled up by grass." The crankbait was an older model and he only had one of them. It got hung several times, but he was able to retrieve it each time, going in shoulder deep on occasion to free it up. Schander said if he were to list his 10 favorite baits on the Delta, a crankbait would be at the bottom of the list. "I'm not usually a cranker, but what made it weird is I found the bite, but didn't have a ton of confidence in it," he said. "When I got that boat, I had to try it and I caught four over 6 pounds on the last two days of practice and said, 'This is what I need to do.'" He switched the stock hooks to #2 round bend trebles from Trapper Tackle. The hooks are slated to be introduced at ICAST in July.

Flipping gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Daiwa Zillion casting rod, same reel, same line, 2/0 Gamakatsu wacky hook, o-ring, 6" Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits Senko (watermelon red).

Schlander employed a slow presentation with the Senko, letting it sit for up to 30 seconds before twitching it or retrieving it.

The Bottom Line:

Main factor: "Knowing the tides and the type of grass I was fishing. You had to find the right type of grass, which was clean hydrilla, and rotate those areas. Fishing fresh water on the right tide was key. Also having confidence in what I was doing, knowing I'd only get a few good bites a day."

Performance edge: "The Trapper Tackle treble hooks. In practice, I lost a few fish on standard hooks and I was telling a friend (Vince Hurtado), who had some of the Trapper trebles. He gave me a few to try and they really paid off for me. A few other guys were doing the same thing as me, including a few in the top 10, and every one told me they'd lost a few key fish. I didn't lose any."

Notable: Schlander's loaner boat came from CNC Marina in Modesto. Jim Moulton owns the marina and is competing on the FLW Tour this year. "I'm so thankful they did that for me," Schlander said. "Borrowing a boat is a lot to ask for someone."

California Delta Winning Profile BassFan 5/16/17 (Todd Ceisner)

When Matt Becker sent in his deposits for the three FLW Series Northern Division tournaments, he figured it'd be a great chance to see how he stacked up against stiffer competition on some well-known fisheries. "I figured, 'What the heck,' I have the time and money to do the Costas," he said. "I wanted to see where I stand. It's always been a dream of mine to fish professionally. I've just never had the money to do it." He never imagined winning one. But that's exactly what the 25-year-old from Finleyville, Pa., did last week at the 1000 Islands, an equally daunting and picturesque and sometimes intimidating area, especially when the eastern end of Lake Ontario enters the equation. Becker grew up fishing Lake Erie with his father so the big water of Ontario was nothing he hadn't seen before, but his only tournament experience at the 1000 Islands prior to last week was a BFL Northeast Division out of Clayton, N.Y., last September. Still, he was able to knock off some of the top smallmouth anglers from the northeast and Ontario with a 66-04 total over three days that included a whopping 25-02 final-day stringer that erased 3-pound, 15-ounce deficit and carried him from 6th place to the win. He also overcame four dead fish throughout the tournament that cost him 1 pound to win by nine ounces. "It's just finally sinking in," Becker said Sunday as he relaxed on the porch of his home in the suburbs south of Pittsburgh. "I thought I was dreaming all the way home. I was completely surprised, especially after practice. I did not have that great of practice. I caught a few fish here and there, but nothing consistent. I caught a lot of 2s and 3s, but very few 4s. It turns out the tournament days were similar, but I had to work for those four or five 4-plus pounders each day. On Saturday, they were all 5-pounders. You can't script that." Here's a rundown of how Becker put the 1000 Islands puzzle together.

The tournament came on the heels of the St. Lawrence River Elite Series that saw the river churn out a massive number of 20-pound bags and a 90-plus pound winning total from Kevin VanDam. Becker thinks that may have played a role in limiting the number of boats that ran out to Lake Ontario during the FLW Series event. "That might've helped the lake bite because people thought the river was on," he said. "It might've kept some people away from the lake." He wasn't one of them, though. He spent 4 1/2 of his five practice days on the lake and all three days of competition. "I have fished Erie my whole life," he said. "My dad had me out there at a young age and once I had my own boat, I really fell in love with using my electronics to find them. Over the last few years, I started to win tournaments at Erie on smallmouth. I was comfortable on Ontario because it's similar to Erie. That's the reason I fished the lake." It also helps that there's an ample supply of 3- to 5-pound smallmouth there, too. In practice, he devoted time to learning the area by Kingston, Ontario, and Henderson Harbor on the New York side. He also spent a couple days around the islands at the head of the river. He favored finesse tactics throughout practice and the tournament. "I fished mostly with one rod with a (Yamamoto) Shad Shape Worm," he said. "I was fully committed to the dropshot." As is typical on the Great Lakes, he spent more time idling and reading his electronics than on the bow with a rod in hand during practice. "I came in with an open mind not knowing what was happening with the spawn," he said. "I found them in the 20- to 30-foot range. In the morning, they were shallower and it got sunny, they went deeper. I spent most of my time in that range and staring at my Navionics for hours and hours. The key was picking a couple areas and finding the sweet spots where fish were holding." The key to that was reading the wind and current. The wind on the eve of competition and on day 1 of the tournament were out of the same direction so he "looked for an area based on that where they'd group up with current crashing into it," he said.

Competition:

With the lake rolling with 4- to 6-foot waves on day 1 of the tournament, it took Becker nearly two hours to reach his first spot. Within 10 minutes, though, he had a 4-pounder in the boat to set the tone and calm his nerves. "I could catch a lot of 2- to 3-pounders and the 4s were mixed in," he said. "There was no rhyme or reason to it. I was only getting five or seven bites a day that were in that high 3- to 4- to 5-pound range." The fish were positioned predictably because of the wind, which forced him to do controlled drifts rather than camp on a waypoint. "They were on the front side of a point and that's what I planned for in practice," he said "I idled over it Wednesday and saw fish there. I made a couple drops and caught a 3-pounder. I didn't hammer on them, but I expanded on it as tournament went on." He wound up with 21-04, which put him in 7th place after day 1. He was in the last flight on day 2, but with calmer winds, he reached his primary area in the lake at roughly the same time as Thursday. Plus, being in the later flight, he had an extra two hours of fishing time. He caught a limit in the first 20 minutes and eventually culled four of them. He had his 19-14 by 10:30 a.m. "It was on fire," he said. "It was the same spot as Thursday and I was worried they'd move. I went there to see if they were straggling before the current switched around. As the day went on they were leaving or the fishing pressure got to them." He moved off the area to check a different spot, not knowing Ontario pro Chris Johnston was crushing 26 pounds off another area he had pegged. "I figured I had enough to make Saturday so I went practicing and checked some areas I'd seen in practice to look for big fish," he said. "I left one area alone, but it turns out Chris caught a big bag there." His two-day total of 41-2 was enough to clinch a spot among the 10 finalists Ð he was 6th, just under 4 pounds behind leader Joe Fonzi. "This was my second (Costa) event ever," he said. "When I signed up, the goal was to cash checks in two out of the three. I cashed at (Lake) Champlain and made the cut here so I was thrilled to be there. I was hoping to catch another 20 and maybe move up into the top 5 and get a decent check. I figured winning was out of the question. I had a 3-15 deficit and I figured that was hard to make up, especially with how consistent they were biting."

Winning Pattern:

Becker said Saturday was "just one of those magical days" where every decision he made was the right one and every fish that bit wound up in the boat. "I caught everything that bit and everything was big," he added. "That doesn't happen often with 6-pound line." With the field reduced to 10 boats, he was able to reach his primary area by 6:30 a.m., nearly 90 minutes earlier than the first two days. By 7 a.m., he'd caught a smallmouth close to 6 pounds. "That really settled me down and set the tone for the day," he said. He continued to soak a Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm on a dropshot in 20 to 30 feet of water. He went through nearly 20 packs of baits and almost as many homemade dropshot weights over the course of the tournament. "I struggled after catching the big one," he said. "I finished my limit, but they were all small ones. I moved to a different area and instantly caught a 5 1/2 and a 4 1/4. Once I caught those two, I figured I was close to 20. I was happy to have a decent bag." With two 3 1/2-pounders as his smallest fish, he still had four hours to upgrade. "I went back to where I started and moved a quarter mile down the shoal to another sweet spot where I hadn't fished yet," he said. "I caught two more 5 1/2s and culled up four more pounds. I started doing the math thinking I might've made up the difference. "Driving back to the ramp I got goosebumps thinking about the day I just had. You always hear about how when it's your time it's your time and you can't do anything wrong and it all falls into place."

Winning Gear:

Dropshot gear: 7' medium-light Dobyns Rods Champion Extreme 702 SF spinning rod, Shimano Stradic Ci4+ spinning reel, 30-pound Seaguar Smackdown braided line, 6-pound Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon line (leader), #2 Gamakatsu splitshot/dropshot hook, Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits Shad Shape Worm (green-pumpkin candy with pearl belly).

Main factor: "Someone upstairs looking over me. I have no idea. I just had one of those days. It's not like I did anything different any of the days."

Performance edge: "One hundred percent my Lowrance electronics. That's how I found them and how I caught them dropping straight down on them. Without that I'd have been nowhere. Grae Buck and I travel together and I also owe a thanks to him for helping me out. He showed me a spot where I caught one of the 5 1/2s on the 3rd day."

FLW Costa Series 1000 Islands Winning Profile BassFan 7/2/17 (Todd Ceisner)

Earlier this year, Mike Hicks had a decision to make. Due to work obligations, he wouldn't be able to compete in both the James River Bassmaster Northern Open and the Potomac River Northern FLW Series. He had to pick one or the other. The 42-year-old heating and air conditioning contractor from Goochland, Va. opted for the FLW Series event, and it turned out to be the right call. After lots of near-misses in FLW events at the Potomac, he claimed his initial victory with a three-day total of 48-10. "I chose that event for a couple of reasons," said Hicks, who was the runner-up at the James River Open in 2013. "For one, I really like the FLW people - I've known Ron Lappin (the FLW Series tournament director) for a long time - and I was really looking forward to seeing them. "I also really like the Potomac and I had a feeling that in August it was going to be tough. It's a time for guys with a lot of experience on the river to shine and I had to pull from a lot of trick bags to do it."

Although he's competed at the sport's top echelon (he fished the Bassmaster Tour for several years in the early 2000s prior to the inception of the Elite Series), winning a triple-A derby was extremely significant for him. "When I left, I was feeling defeated for awhile. I went back to local stuff and had a lot of success with that and I made the (BFL) All-American, but I wanted to win at least one at the minor-league level. It feels good to finally get it done." If the opportunity arose, would he take another crack at tour-level competition? "It definitely crosses my mind - I'm thinking about doing the whole (Southeastern FLW Series) next year. The desire is still there, but I'd have to get the money behind me to do it because the financial part is the biggest hurdle. If I could be comfortable enough to where I could just go out and fish, I think that would make the difference. "I think my biggest problem before was I was too young and I didn't have enough experience. I'll know what to expect if I ever do get back out there."

Hicks formerly wore his refusal to fish the community holes in Potomac tournaments as a badge of honor - he was simply unwilling to become part of the madhouses that the grass beds became. "It gets nuts," he said. "You'll cut one way and then somebody will cut in front of you and it's nothing intentional, it's just the way it sets up. I always tried to separate myself from that and I had a ton of good finishes, but I couldn't win. What it comes down to is the quality bites are just there. "I know one area that when the tide got right I could catch them fast - I knew exactly when the fish would position and when they would bite. Also, a good friend who's a local on the river turned me on to a place that was right where (Casey Smith) won the tournament last year, and I caught some key fish there. He was using a different bait and tactic, but it was right in the same spot." He caught a pair of 3-pounders on each of the first two days from that locale and a 4 and a 3 on the final day. "That spot won the tournament for me."

Those two quality fish on day 3 were enticed by a swimjig - an offering that he noticed other competitors employing successfully. He caught the other 13 weigh-in fish on topwater plugs, either a Lobina Rio Rico or a Team Daiwa TD Pencil. "Topwater is something I do a lot - I blend casting them with pitching and flipping. I pitch and flip a big Rico a lot, but this time I was casting it more in open water." He spent the early portion of each day in Aquia Creek and ran to various other locations as the days wore on. On day 2, when he was unable to complete a limit from his primary and secondary locations, he made a 25-mile run north to the vicinity of Pohick Bay and caught two quality specimens in the 45 minutes allotted to him.

Winning Pattern:

Hicks threw the Rico on a medium-heavy, extra-fast rod that was a bit stouter than he normally uses for that application. "I was fishing close to matted pieces of grass and I'd throw it and pop it two or three times and then let it sit," he said. "The fish would hit it and then try to go into the clumps and I didn't want a rod that was too flimsy to keep them out. I never lost a fish." He said the TD Pencil is more of a finesse-type bait that was better for clearer water.

Winning Gear:

Heavy topwater gear: 7'1" medium-heavy G. Loomis GLX 853C rod, Shimano Metanium MGL casting reel (7.6:1 ratio), 15-pound Berkley Big Game monofilament line, Lobina Rio Rico (black).

Finesse topwater gear: 7' medium-action Shimano Expride rod, same reel (7.1:1 ratio) and line, Team Daiwa TD Pencil (natural perch).

Swimjig gear: 7'1" G. Loomis GLX 854C rod, same reel (7.1:1), 15-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, 3/8-ounce Lil' Hustler swimjig (real gill), Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper trailer (dirty Sanchez).

Main factor: "Being willing to fish those community holes."

Performance edge: "I had a lot of distance between my spots and I ran that Mercury Optimax as hard as it could go."

FLW Potomac Winning Pattern BassFan 8/31/17 (Todd Ceisner)

The Grand Lake that Nick Prvonozac saw last week was nothing like the one he remembered from two years ago when he finished 15th in a Central FLW Series tournament there in mid-April. Prvonozac, in fact, will never forget the most recent iteration of the sprawling Oklahoma reservoir. While it wasn't the all-out spawning bonanza he recalled from 2015, it still played to his strengths despite challenging and changing conditions. The Ohio angler, who was an FLW Tour pro from 2014-16 before opting to spend more time with his growing family, caught a stout 19-12 on day 1, then backed it up with 16-10 on the final day to win the second Southwestern FLW Series stop of the season. The event had to be shortened by a day due to violent storms last Friday. "It's an awesome feeling to finally have everything go your way and come out with a win," said Prvonozac, who pocketed $42,200 plus a new boat for winning. It's the 17th boat he's won during his career. "When I first got there, it was hard to say what was going on," he added. "As the week went on, I got a better idea. Two years ago, there were beds everywhere. You could blind cast and hit a bed. This year was totally different. You could go into a spot and see a couple and then go into another cove and not see any." It wasn't easy, either, considering all the shifting variables he had to contend with between rain and wind and rising and falling water along with changing water clarity. "With all those fronts and up and down water, the fish weren't eating well," he said. "They were moving up and down and you had to know how to force feed them. That's something I'm good at."

Singular Focus:

For Prvonozac, the open-ended practice session that's afforded to FLW Series competitors was a key contributor to his success at Grand. Despite competing there two years ago, he still considers himself a Grand Lake newbie and having a couple extra days to identify areas where pre-spawners were headed and where spawners were locked down was crucial. "Back home, I do well, but I know the lakes," he said. "Fishing tournaments around the country, I don't know them as well. That extra time is important. I usually leave the house on Thursday (for an FLW Series event) and that gives me Saturday through Wednesday on the water. On the Tour, three days is not enough for me when I've never been to a lake. You just can't learn a lake in three days. These lakes are too big. It's like trying to find a quarter on a football field in an hour." At Grand, he concentrated on the lower section of the lake and practiced with one mindset - finding as many fish shallow, whether visible or not, as he could. Unlike 2015 when so many beds were visible, he relied on his instincts to lead him to certain areas. "You'd get in an area where you feel they should be and you think, 'If they're doing this, there has to be one here,'" he said. "I just knew by looking. That was the whole key." On Tuesday and Wednesday during practice, the weather was mild and sunny and that pull prompted a number of fish to move up near or onto beds. "I designated my whole practice to doing that and it worked out. I didn't try to catch fish doing anything else. That helped me because I spent the whole time trying to find key fish. I was able to find several, but not a ton. I had enough to be like, 'Everything has to go right for me to do well.' It wasn't like 2 years ago when I had so many 4s marked I didn't know where to go. This year, it was tough to find any quality."

Kept Going Back The way the first day of the tournament started for Prvonozac, it would've been easy for him to fold his hand and try something different. Instead, he persisted and stuck to his game plan and it eventually paid off. As boat number 137, he didn't have an ideal draw for getting to the bedding fish he wanted to check first. Sure enough, the first spot he went to already had a boat on it with it shallow-water anchors deployed. He tried to get in close, but the other competitor was committed to the spot. Instead, Prvonozac fished around and caught a small keeper off a nearby dock. He visited an adjacent cove and fished there for 30 to 40 minutes before returning to the first spot only to find the other boat still locked down. He then moved on to a third spot, which included long idle zone to get toward the back of the creek. As he was idling, another competitor came out of a nearby cut and got in front of him and wound up idling right to the spot Prvonozac wanted to fish. "It was like the worst start ever," he said. He fished in the area for a little while and caught a 14 1/4-incher with a tube off a bed to give himself two small keepers so far. He then returned to his first area, but the other boat was still there. He went back to the adjacent cove and caught two non-keepers. His frustration was building. "It was like the whole morning was a waste of time," he said. Then the rain started to fall off and on, which compounded matters since Prvonozac wanted to do as much sight-fishing as possible. As he put on his rainsuit, he glanced over to the cove he'd been wanting to fish and noticed the boat that had been there was gone. He raced in there and couldn't get a bite. He figured both fish he'd marked in practiced had either swam off or had been caught.

He stuck around and caught another small keeper before going back to check once again on the spot he started on. "Both of them were still there and I caught them both - each was a 4-pounder," he said. The first one fell for a Texas-rigged tube while the second ate a jerkbait. After that, he ran back to the creek with the long idle zone and found the other boat had also vacated the area. Prvonozac then caught the fish he'd hoped was still there. "The fish didn't want to eat," he said. "If those other guys couldn't catch them, they didn't want to eat. I went behind those guys and caught 'em. That's how it works. Some days, you catch 50 and others you catch eight. They just bite better certain days. "I could've easily been like, 'This sucks,' and not went back," he added. "I kept my cool and prayed a lot. Something told me to go back that second time. My day could've been way different. Those fish could've been gone." He upgraded a couple more times up the lake and eventually got his weight up to 19-12. He also did some additional scouting to find new areas he could visit later in the tournament.

Keep the Faith:

After a line of violent storms canceled day 2 of competition, the entire field was back on the water Saturday and Prvonozac wasn't sure what to expect. He had an earlier boat number and he was able to get to his preferred spots before others did. A tube produced his first three keepers out of a creek toward the dam where he had saved a stretch from practice. Those fish came off secondary points. "If I could get a couple 2 1/2s and a couple 3s, that'd be a good start," he said. The water had risen nearly a foot and it made visibility tough. He made adjustments like backing off a bit and flipping his tube and jig where he figured the fish would've pulled back to or where they might still be. "They were still in the same areas," he said. After boxing two 3-pounders, he finished his limit in a nearby cove and upgraded twice later in the day to get up to 16-10 - once with a jig that pulled a keeper out of bush and the final upgrade came off a jerkbait near some flooded bushes.

Winning Pattern:

Prvonozac said all of his keepers came out of 4 feet of water or less. "All those areas had deep water close by," he said. "Most times, I'd be sitting 12 to 15 feet of water."

Winning Gear:

Tube (visible) gear: 7'2" medium-action Enigma Fishing Phenom spinning rod, Quantum Smoke Speed Freak spinning reel, 10-pound Tuf-Line Domin8 braided line, 10-pound Silver Thread fluorocarbon line (leader), 4/0 unnamed EWG worm hook, 3/16- and 1/4-oz. unnamed tungsten worm weight, 4.25" YUM Vibra King tube (green-pumpkin).

Jig gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Enigma Fishing Phenom casting rod, Quantum Smoke casting reel (7:1 ratio), 17-pound Silver Thread fluorocarbon line, 1/2-oz. Booyah Bankroll jig (green-pumpkin), YUM chunk trailer (green-pumpkin). He also weighed in one fish each day caught on a Smithwick Floating Rattlin' Rogue (bream), which he worked like a floating worm.

Main factor in his success: "It came down to my pattern and my strength fishing around the spawn. My two strengths are spawn fishing and flipping. Those are my two wheelhouses."

Performance edge: "The new Sunrise Silver lenses from Costa are great. When it got overcast and dark or when those clouds would open up, those lenses are great for those conditions with variable light. Also, my Power-Poles were key. I couldn't do what I did without those. I have switches at my console so I can deploy them individually. I was able to stagger their depth so when I went under dock cables, it made it more efficient."

Grand Lake Winning Profile BassFan 4/15/17 (Todd Ceisner)

Quincy Houchin isn't one to shy away from risk in tournaments. "I'm known for swinging for the fence," he said. "I'm usually a hero or zero. I'm there to win." That's the tack Houchin took into last week's Lake Dardanelle Central FLW Series, where he went up against a 200-boat field at a venue known for fishing fairly small. He found his way into a hard-to-access backwater pond and mined it for the better part of three days to come away with the biggest win of his fishing career. The Mablevale, Ark., native's weights fell off each day, but his 45-04 total wound up 11 ounces better than runner-up Tom Silber. Because of the field size and figuring the bulk of the fish would be isolated in certain areas, Houchin knew he had to roll the dice to be successful. "On Sunday morning when I went there to start practice, my goal was to find a place that would be hard to get into," he said. "I knew I had to spend practice doing something nobody else did."

Houchin considers Lake Ouachita and DeGray Lake his home water, but has fished Dardanelle pretty regularly over the years. "It's a lake you can do almost whatever your strength is to catch fish," he said. "It fits my style, but I get beat there all the time. I'd never won there until now." To have success, he knew he'd have to get away from the crowds that were sure to besiege the Arkansas and Illinois rivers and places like Illinois Bayou. He found his solitude in a backwater pond on the north side of the lake that he knew existed from previous trips, but figured access could be an issue. "I knew it was there," he said. "I'd fished it all my life. The last two years, we've had major floods so it was no issue getting in there." Last week, with the water near normal levels, it was a bit of a challenge, but he was able to power his way over a sandbar and access an area that he said "had everything you could ask for." "The opening is only 50 yards wide at the most in ankle-deep water," he said. "In practice, I had to jump it, but the water came up and nobody else tried it. During the tournament, it wasn't hard to get in there. The water came up the night before. Everybody wrote it off. I knew they would. Once I saw the water come up, I knew they wouldn't come back because they didn't know what was in there to begin with."

What Houchin found was plenty of laydowns and other wood targets in 2 to 4 feet and also in 6 to 9 feet. He believes the area was home to a population of resident fish, most of which had already spawned. "It's a big, square backwater," he said. "It's perfect. It had sand, wood and rock." In practice, he immediately tapped into a flipping bite with a couple 3-pounders and a 4-pounder. From there, he didn't lean into anything else, but he fished around in order to see what else was there and to learn the terrain a little bit more. He tried to develop a topwater pattern, but couldn't get anything going with it. It was somewhat exposed to the constantly-changing weather patterns. Still, it held up while Houchin remained committed, which was a departure from the norm. "The water came up, the current picked up and that muddied it up," he said. "I had to slow down more when the conditions changed. The fish were still there. "I'm known to run and gun. I'm known to cover the river in a day, but I knew I had to stick with the spot. On day 3, I almost veered off, but I went back there because that's what I knew I had to do."

Winning Pattern:

Houchin figured someone would pop a 20-pound stringer on day 1 from somewhere on the lake, but his 19-11 effort was the best of the bunch. He said the clarity in his area deteriorated as the tournament progressed with the water continuing to come up gradually. All but three of the fish he weighed in came out of the backwater pond. "When you're flipping wood like that, when the water rises, they don't come up with it that fast," he said. "They stay down and are harder to catch." His strategy was to target shallower wood in the mornings, then pick over the deep targets as the sun got up. He added 14-01 on day 2 to stay in the lead. On day 3, he had the urge to abandon the spot that had carried him to the lead, but he stuck with it. "I knew what I'd have to do," he said. "I knew the east wind would hurt me, but I didn't expect it to blow 25 mph. As it was, I could only fish a quarter of it. My head was playing games with me and I was wanting to change course. I almost did, but I went back there."

He mixed in a silent square-bill crankbait a bit more on the final day and it produced a keeper for him, but he also lost a good one around noon. "I thought, 'There go my chances (to win),'" he said. With four fish in his livewell and time running out on his day, he decided to leave his best spot. An hour after losing that 5-pounder, he caught a 3 1/2-pounder on the crankbait to finish his limit. "Then I was like, 'I still have 90 minutes left,'" he said. "I'd already left my spot and I was scrambling, trying to land on something." As it turned out, the 11-07 he had was just enough to shore up the victory. "It's definitely my biggest win," he said. "I've won a few BFLs and Angler of the Year in the BFL, and a lot of stuff around home, but this was the biggest."

Winning Gear:

Flipping Gear: 7'3" heavy-action Denali Lithium flipping rod, Team Lew's Lite casting reel (6.8:1 ratio), 25-pound Seaguar AbrazX fluorocarbon line, 1/2-oz. Real Deal Tungsten flipping weight, 4/0 Laser TroKar flipping hook, Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver (green-pumpkin/red flake).

Cranking Gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Denali Rosewood crankbait rod, same reel, 15-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, Lucky Craft 2.5 silent square-bill crankbait (TO chart)

Main Factor: "Probably sticking to what I'd originally planned to do. That's very hard to do. I know the pros do it, but it's hard for me to do."

Lake Dardanelle Winning Profile BassFan 4/4/17 (Todd Ceisner)

Don't let Ron Nelson's Michigan address fool you. He's pretty adept at catching bass all over the map. Earlier this year, he carded a top-10 finish at the Lake Okeechobee Southeastern FLW Series. He also won a Series event at Smith Mountain Lake in 2013 and has top-10s in Series competition at the Potomac River and Lake Guntersville. So it stands to reason why he'd feel right at home at Lake Champlain for the Northern FLW Series opener last week. It's an eclectic fishery with burgeoning populations of largemouth and smallmouth. After thinking he'd be able to capitalize on a post-spawn pattern, he quickly adapted and amassed the majority of his weight sight-fishing around the north half of the massive lake that straddles the New York-Vermont border. He allowed the conditions to dictate where he fished and over three days, he piled up 54-09, including 18-09 on the final day, when he overcame a 10-ounce deficit to win by 1 pound, 4 ounces. "You always fish to win, but I enjoy every fishing trip," said Nelson, who runs his own painting business in Berrien Springs, Mich. "It's always a blessing to win, but it hasn't sunk in yet. You fish hard and try to stay focused and you don't think about the money and boat. You're just thinking about the next fish you're going to catch because they affect your next decision and so on." There was nothing fancy or secret about how he caught the winning stringers, Nelson said. He relied on his sight-fishing skills and made quick decisions and stuck with them during the tournament. Here's a recap of how he topped the field of 195 boats, which set the record for a Northern Division event.

Competition:

Nelson hails from southern Michigan, where the bass are typically transitioning to their post-spawn routine by the middle of June. At Champlain, though, there were still pre-spawners getting ready to move into spawning areas. That forced him to strategize a little more in terms of where he spent most of his time. He went into the tournament with about a dozen or so fish found on beds, but nothing of substantial size. He quickly realized there were more fish spawning that he expected, so he shifted his focus to that. "I caught some fish in 13 to 15 feet, but they were not concentrated," he said. "I love sight-fishing so I was comfortable doing it. I just made it a fun tournament. Champlain is really clear, but any kind of ripple makes it hard to see. If it's calm, though, it's hard to hide." Rather than sacrifice fishing time by running to and from Ticonderoga at the southern end of the lake, where largemouth typically dominate, he opted to focus on the part of the lake from Plattsburgh up north. That put him in areas where he could pick and choose between areas he could sight-fish for smallmouth and largemouth. "I was expecting some spawning fish, but I didn't expect the post-spawn bite to be as tough as it was," Nelson said. "There were still fish coming up to spawn. It all depended on what part of the lake you were in." He weighed in mixed bags each day. "Most guys in the top 10 were catching largely smallmouth," he said. "I knew I couldn't get a 5- to 6-pound smallmouth, but I could definitely catch a 5- or 6-pound largemouth if I got lucky." Nelson got 2 1/2 days of practice in, but it wasn't all productive. High winds one day made it challenging to find areas with bedding fish. "The biggest challenge was knowing I didn't have enough fish found and having to find new opportunities and save those fish to fall back on," he said. "I made every day a practice day. "I fished different than I thought I would," he added. "I was happy with my adjustments. Typically, you catch wolfpack fish here, but there was a good wave of fish waiting to come up." Little Skill, Some Luck Nelson said he couldn't attribute his win to a specific honey hole or a secret bait or trick. It was a case of sight-fishing 101, where he targeted water that he could effectively work over. He paid close attention to the wind direction and sun angles and moved to different areas when the conditions dictated. "In practice, the main basin was too cold and they weren't on beds," he said. "It took forever to catch one. After the waves died down, the smallies were one-cast fish. There was no secret bait. It was just finding the right fish at the right time. I didn't find a fish that wasn't catchable." He also had a little luck on his side. On day 1, his first fish was a 3 1/2-pounder, but it took him three tries to get it in the boat. The first time he hooked it, it came off on the way to the boat. The second time, he tried to boat flip it and it bounced off the side of his Ranger and came off. Undeterred, he caught it a third time and finally got it in the boat. "I spent about an hour on that fish," he said. "The rest of the fish there left because it got muddy. I took it as a good sign (that fish) was in the livewell. The bad sign was I didn't catch 22 or 23 pounds there because it got muddy. There was no skill to catch them. If they were there, I was going to whack 'em." He was blessed by more good fortune on day 2. "I caught a big one on day 2 in some structure and after I got it in the boat, I could see my line was frayed for 3 feet," he said. "In a different tournament that fish doesn't get in the boat. This was my third event (at Champlain) and before I've lost a fish I've needed every time I've been there." He said any bay with grass or reeds in the back of it was a textbook area for largemouth and the rocky stretches leading out of the bay was where he could target smallmouth. "You had to play different parts of the lake based on their conditions," he added. All of the smallmouth he caught were locked on beds, while the largemouth were mostly post-spawn, but he was able to sight-fish them all.

Winning Pattern:

When the sky was cloudy, he tried to be near staging areas to target pre-spawners. When the sun broke through and it was calm, he knew he'd have success anywhere he went. "On day 3, I was going to start north on some largemouth," he said. "I was running up lake and saw it was way too calm. I stopped and caught five smallmouth in 10 minutes. It was all about capitalizing on the conditions being calm. That wasn't my game plan, but I changed really quick. I figured if I capitalize now, I don't have to worry about it later. More times than not, if it's calm within 15 minutes it could blowing pretty strong."

Winning Gear:

Sight-fishing gear: Nelson used a variety of Shimano and G. Loomis rods equipped with Shimano reels. His best producing presentation was a 3" Poor Boys Baits Erie Darter rigged on a 3/16-oz. stand-up jighead (3/0 hook). Color selection wasn't critical, he said, because the fish were in defense mode and would eat anything that came near the bed. When fishing around heavier cover or grass, he switched to casting gear with braided line. In addition to the Darter, he used beaver-style baits and weightless and weighted Senkos.

Main factor: "I made sure I timed out sun angles. We had clouds and sun, but I made sure I was in key areas when it was slick. I had to jump around and fish new water. I'd have two or three fish I'd just found, but I'd always be finding new ones wherever I went."

Performance edge: "My Costa sunglasses. When I'm sight fishing, having the right glasses is crucial. Also, the drag on the Shimano reels is top notch and always consistent. My Ranger boat and Mercury also got me there and back and that's a good thing. On the final day, I was the third boat to leave and I passed the first two guys. I'm always thankful for my Ranger and I'm Ranger Cup-qualified, so I appreciate how they support the sport like they do."

FLW Costa Lake Champlain Winning Profile BassFan 6/27/17 (Todd Ceisner)

Taylor Ashley had never been to Florida's Lake Okeechobee prior to last week. But once he found a vegetation-rich backwater area loaded with big fish that he could catch on a swimjig, he made himself right at home. "A swimjig is my bait," said the 19-year-old from Warrior, Ala. "If they're biting it, I expect to be in contention most of the time. It's my confidence bait and it always has been. It's what I grew up doing and I've always loved it." He amassed a 68-12 total over 3 days to eclipse a 250-angler field at the Southeastern Division FLW Series opener. His winning margin over runner-up Joshua Weaver was more than 7 1/2 pounds. The 2015 high school graduate has bounced around a bit over the past couple of years (he spent one semester in college on a fishing scholarship, then went to work for a tree-service company and has considered opening a business in the erosion-control field). He said dormitory life was the primary reason his stint at Bryan College in Tennessee was so short - the building was old and the walls paper-thin, and he rarely got to sleep before 3 a.m. due to noise from other rooms. "It's been really hitting me hard over the past couple months - what I want to do with the rest of my life. The one thing I know is I've wanted to be a pro fisherman since I was a little kid, and I'm hoping that this past weekend will open a lot of doors for me."

Competition:

Ashley had gone to Okeechobee fairly certain he'd end up flipping isolated reeds during the event, which marked his debut at the triple-A level. He tried that for awhile during practice, but achieved minimal results. He'd gotten a tip about an area on the south end of the lake that was good for numbers, so he visited it on his fourth practice day. Nearby, he found a small channel leading into a place that was full of reeds and lily pads and he hooked a couple of big ones there. That was where he spent the entire tournament. He estimated that he caught 70 fish en route to weighing a 21-pound stringer on day 1. He boated about 50 on day 2, when he scaled 25-06, and maybe 30 on the final day, when he rallied from 3rd place behind a 22-06 haul that was by far the best of that round (overall weights fell way off on day 3 due to heavy winds and the arrival of a cold front). He said the area was perhaps 500 yards long and about half that wide. "There were a bunch of pads in there, which usually means a hard bottom, and the full moon was on the second day of the tournament. I did catch a lot of males that were spawned out - some of them were really skinny - but the big ones I caught were all pre-spawn. "There was one boat lane that basically ran from a canal to the main lake, and most of the big ones I caught were within two casts of that boat lane. I think they were using the lane to travel in and out and I was catching the big ones as they were coming in."

When Ashley arrived at his spot to begin the final day, the wind was already blowing hard. His locale was shielded at least somewhat from the full force of the wind, and he correctly surmised that other competitors in places that were less protected might struggle. They did - 16-10 was the most that any other member of the Top-10 field could manage. That allowed him to easily overcome the 3 1/2-pound deficit he'd been faced with to start the day. "After I caught my second big one, my co-angler said, 'You just won this thing,' but I didn't think so. I thought I needed a couple more like that. I caught my last big one at like 12:30 and I fished hard for the last couple hours, thinking I had a shot. "(Weaver) had caught 32 pounds on day 2, so I had to figure he could bust at least 20 again. I just kept on grinding and I never gave up, but the way it turned out, I probably had it won by about 9:30."

Winning Pattern:

When Ashley was fishing lily pads, he'd make maximum-length casts and reel the jig out. His throws were much more precise when targeting reed heads, as he wanted to bring the bait past as many of them as possible each time. "There were some little lanes in there and sometimes I could hit six or seven reed heads with the same cast," he said. "There was a possibility that a 5- or 6-pounder might be on any one of those heads." On his retrieves, he shook his rod and line constantly which he said kept the jig higher in the water column (the depth in his are was only about 2 feet). "A 3/8-ounce jig wants to sink, but by shaking it I could get it to glide almost."

Winning Gear:

Swimjig gear: 7'4" heavy-action ARK Fishing rod, Lew's Super Duty casting reel (7.8:1 ratio), 65-pound PowerPro Maxcuatro braided line, 3/8-ounce Dirty Jigs No-Jack swimjig (white), Zoom Super Ultra Vibe Speed Craw trailer (pearl).

Main factor: "On the final day I made the decision to start on the other end of my area from where I'd been starting before any other boats got there, and I caught all of my big ones up there. When I went to the clumps where I'd started the first 2 days, I didn't catch a single fish."

Performance edge: "Power-Poles were a big key on the final day. I caught one 5-pounder off a little clump that the wind was blowing me into and there's no way I could've fished it without them. The other thing was my rod and reel - usually when you're catching them on a swimjig and setting the hook as hard as I was, you break one or the other. I wore the fish out on that same rod and reel and they held together."

FLW Series Lake Okeechobee Winning Pattern BassFan 1/31/17 (John Johnson)