Randy Haynes Wins FLW Lake Eufaula

Randy Haynes came to Lake Eufaula for last week's FLW Tour event with a feast-or-famine outlook. Basically, he was going to fish the way he's most comfortable and take his chances that way. That meant he was counting on a good number of fish having made the transition from the spawning areas out toward deeper water where he would be waiting, armed with an arsenal of deep-seeking crankbaits, mapping software and the know-how to put them to use. His gamble - and it was in some regards just that considering how drawn out the spring has been in the south - paid off. While many of his competitors combed the shallow grass or targeted docks or mixed shallow targets and offshore structure, he committed to an area not far from blast off and found ledges and bars that attracted packs of fish every day. Once he got dialed in to how the fish set up on those areas and identified a few sweet spots and the right timing of when to be there, everything fell into place for the Counce, Tenn., resident. He averaged better than 17 pounds through 2 days, then built an 8 1/2-pound lead with a 22-pound stringer on day 3. His lightest sack of the event came on the final day, but the 16-01 was more than sufficient to close out his first career Tour-level win after four previous victories in the EverStart Series.

He picked off the fish with a three-pronged attack that included Strike King's Series 5 and 6XD crankbaits, along with a swimbait and a Carolina rig that he picked up on day 3. More than anything that happened during the tournament, though, he believes the real turning point occurred last Wednesday, the off day between practice and the start of competition. "If those fish weren't deep, I'd have probably zeroed," he said. "It was a total do-or-die deal. I'd made my mind up what I was going to fish and just kept hoping. It really happened on the off day Wednesday. It got up to 88 degrees and was still calm. We had a 60-degree night that night. That's when those fish really moved out." He got started fishing ledges on Tennessee River impoundments in the late 1990s and FLW Tour angler Mark Rose, widely hailed as a master of offshore structure fishing, credits Haynes with guiding him through the lengthy learning process of what it takes to consistently catch fish well off the bank.

But Haynes was nearly speechless when asked to put words to what this triumph meant to him. "The first one means everything and my win at Kentucky Lake was against such a tough field of competitors, but this is right there with all of them," he said. "David Fritts was there, so was (Bryan) Thrift and (Scott) Martin and (Justin) Lucas and (David) Dudley. It's pretty special." While Haynes' offshore expertise has been built on the Tennessee River, he liked the potential Eufaula held due to its plethora of humps and ledges. The lake's history also intrigued him because it was a place anglers he grew up idolizing, including Fritts, made names for themselves. He immersed himself in map study leading into practice, but it didn't translate to success on the water right away. "You can't help but have a lot of information on a lake like that," he said. "I really studied the maps and the drains and ditches and high spots. I about went blind looking at that map. "My first 2 (practice) days were terrible. I had some fish up the river one day, but got the bites so late in the day that it scared me to death, especially with the current generation. I got some bites Tuesday and when I saw the forecast, I knew it was a shot in the dark, but that's just the way I fish. I knew I was taking a risk, but I didn't have a choice."

Competition:

While some anglers struggled to comprehend what happened to their pre-tournament game plans on day 1, Haynes saw his gamble start to pay off. He caught 17-03 and was in 10th place after the first day of competition. Some of his competitors took notice, too, noting that if their patterns tailed off, he could be a threat to make a move upward. He kept up the pressure on day 2 with a 17-11 stringer that put him in 2nd, 2 1/2 pounds behind Thrift. Because it didn't have the history at Eufaula that he does at TVA lakes, he was still in the midst of learning the way the fish related to the structure he was fishing during the tournament. "I was still learning the bars and how to fish them and how each one sticks out and how the corners corner and all that," he said. Another thing he noticed was the fish were in smallish packs of five to seven and it was hard to catch more than two out of a particular grouping before they scattered. "They got me on camera (on day 3) catching a 4 1/2-pounder and I threw back and caught a keeper," he said. "I must've thrown back in there 20 times after that and couldn't get a bite." That 4 1/2-pounder was part of a 22-02 stringer on day 3 that propelled him to a commanding 8 1/2-pound advantage. As part of his spot rotation, he would let certain areas rest to give the fish time to replenish and reposition. During the afternoon on day 3, he had a brief but memorable encounter with Dudley, who moved in on his primary area. "I moved off of it for a bit to let them rest," he said, "and he pulled up pretty close so I started inching back over. He said, 'Hey Randy, are you fishing this?' I said, 'Yeah, but you can go ahead and fish it.' He didn't say another word. He just picked up his trolling motor and left. I thought that was super nice of him." On the final day, Haynes said he "got out of whack" on his rotations and started too early and struggled for a bit in the morning. But by the end of the day, he got back in sync and the sweet spots in Cowicki Creek produced one more time to allow him to close out the win. "I had some places in Cowicki and some places in river, but my main places were in river the last 2 days," he said. "I don't have a choice but to fish offshore. A lot of people will catch fish around the bank and once they get five, they go deep and only catch one so they head back to the bank. It just worked out for me."

Winning Pattern:

By the time tournament was over, Haynes knew exactly how and when the fish would position in relation to the ledges he was on. "In the morning, they'd sit in front of the bar and that's when I'd throw the swimbait and crankbait," he said. "When the sun got up, it seemed to push them up on the bar. On day 3, they fed with the rain and storms coming through. He said the water temperature reached 74 out where he was fishing and just a little bit of tint to it. "After 4 days, I really figured out how they laid and how they fed," he added. "Each place I had, I figured out the three or four sweet spots on each one, but you had to lay it in there perfect on those places. A couple inches to either side and you weren't going to get bit. "That lake set up like parts of Kentucky Lake with the shallow bars. They'd top out between 6 to 10 feet and most of them were on top, but were just off the top edge. Most of the bars were hard rock bottom with some chunk rock. If there was a kick out, that's where they'd be."

Winning Gear:

Crankbait gear: 7'11" medium-heavy Kistler KLX Mark Rose Offshore casting rod, Lew's Speed Spool BB-1 casting reel (5.1:1 gear ratio), 14-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, Strike King Series 5XD and Series 6XD crankbaits (citrus shad). He swapped out the stock hooks for #2 Mustad KVD Elite Round Bend trebles on the 6XD and #4s on the 5XD.

Swimbait gear: 7'6" heavy-action Kistler KLX casting rod, Lew's Tournament Pro casting reel (7.1:1 gear ratio), 20-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, 1/2-ounce unnamed swimbait head (5/0 hook), unnamed 5" and 6" swimbaits (various colors). He switched colors of swimbaits based on water clarity.

Carolina rig gear: Same rod as swimbait, same reel, same line, 1-oz. unnamed Carolina rig weight, unnambed creature bait.

Main factor: "That ball of fire in the sky and that warm night we had Wendesday. That pretty well put them in transition. It was one of those tournaments that because everything's been late by 2 or 3 weeks, a lot of people turned a blind eye toward offshore. Guys would catch them in the grass and then go out deep and not catch them so they went back to the grass. Only the person willing to put the time in out there could do well and I was that guy because I had no choice. It was the reason I won at Pickwick and why I won here. That brought the fish to me."

Performance edge: "My Lowrance electronics. I didn't really use them to much to find fish, but I relied heavily on the mapping and SideScan to see how those points and kickouts laid out. I wasn't interested in finding the fish because I knew they'd be on those bars. The Navionics and Lowrance mapping were big keys."

Lake Eufaula Winnng Pattern Bassfan 5/21/13 (Todd Ceisner)

Bryan Thrift has had success at Lake Eufaula before - he won an EverStart Series there in 2005 and was runner-up in the 2010 Eastern FLW Series - but he knew things had changed since he last fished it. "I try to relearn it every time," he said. "Before practice, I'd planned on fishing shallow. When I saw the lake the Saturday before practice coming over the bridge, the water was up in the grass and it looked like it'd be really good (shallow), but I couldn't get on a strong shallow bite. There were a lot of fish in that transition stage, recovering from the spawn and just hanging out." For that reason, he devoted time to shallow grass areas and offshore during practice, probing both with a swimjig. The deeper haunts he fished were dotted with some sort of vertical cover like a stump, brush pile or standing timber. "Most of the fish were suspending on that stuff," he said. "I'd throw my bait out and try to deflect it off the cover 4 or 5 feet up off the bottom. It wasn't that hard to figure out the right cast. It didn't matter the angle, as long as I hit it." He committed to a run-and-gun strategy from the get-go, hitting dozens of spots each day. He started strong, catching one of three 20-pound bags on day 1 and assumed the lead on day 2 with nearly 17 pounds. The overcast skies and rain that moved in on Saturday made for a struggle as he came in with just four fish for less than 8 pounds. When the sun returned on the final day, the fish where he was turned on again. "I think the sun was a key factor for just based on how bad (Saturday) was," he said. "It was the only day with considerable clouds and normally you'd think the fish would bite better when it's cloudy. Maybe it made them roam more and got them out away from the cover. I don't know."

Swimjig gear: 7'6" heavy-action unnamed casting rod, unnamed casting reel (7.1:1 gear ratio), 20-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, 3/4-ounce unnamed swimjig (shad), 4" Damiki Baits Anchovy Shad (pearl white), 4.8" Keitech Swing Impact FAT swimbait (white).

Main factor: "Having the confidence to know if I fished 60 to 70 places a day that I'd run into a couple good ones."

Performance edge: "My Ranger/Evinrude combo worked flawlessly and the Humminbird electronics were a big key for me. I love those electronics."

Lake Eufaula Patterns 2-5 Bassfan 5/22/13 (Todd Ceisner)

Of all the tournaments on this year's Tour schedule, Justin Lucas was most concerned about his performance Eufaula. Despite his Alabama mailing address, he wasn't all that familiar with the venue. It's safe to say he surprised even himself with his 3rd-place showing, his second Top-3 finish in as many years. "I think the more I live in Alabama, the more I'm learning how to fish these lakes," he said. "This was the one I was really worried about so it feels really good to walk away with 198 out of a possible 200 points. I'm very excited about what I did (last) week. "I was most excited after the first 2 days because I knew most of my stuff was done. I was able to make a decision on the fly and commit to sight-fishing and it worked out. I was pretty pumped about that." He took the lead with a massive 22-06 bag on day 1 doing a little of everything (one sight-fishing, one on a frog, two on a Lucky Craft LC 2.5DD crankbait and one on a swimjig), but saw his weight halved on day 2 when he came in with only three fish. His predominant pattern on the weekend was sight-fishing late spawners in pockets with finesse worms and dropshots, but he couldn't get any of the females to play along. Seven of his 10 fish over the final 2 days came off beds. "After day 1, I knew some things really went my way," he said. "And after day 2 still being up there three fish, I knew after Randy took the lead, my top objective became to make as much money as possible." He'd throw a swimjig through shallow grass in the mornings in a little bay off the main river, close to the main channel. When he'd sight-fish, he'd move down to the clear water toward the dam because it warmed up slower.

Crankbait gear: 7'3" medium-heavy prototype Lamiglas Excel 2 casting rod, Abu Garcia Revo SX casting reel (6.4:1 gear gation), 12-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line, Lucky Craft LC 2.5DD crankbait (sexy shad). He hung #2 Owner Stinger treble hooks off the crankbait instead of the stock hooks.

Shaky-head gear: 7'1" medium-action prototype Lamiglas Excel 2 spinning rod, Abu Garcia Revo Premier 30 spinning reel (5.8:1 gear ratio), 8-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line, 3/16-ounce homemade shaky-head jig, various straight-tail worms (various brown-green/chartreuse patterns).

Dropshot gear: Same rod, same reel, same line, 1/4-ounce Eco Pro Tungsten dropshot weight, 2/0 Owner straight shank hook, same baits.

He opted for the Premier 30 spinning reel because of its higher line-retrieve rate. "It's the same weight as the 20, but it has a larger spool and picks up 33 inches of line per turn, which is insane. It makes a big difference on a spinning reel. Some people don't realize it, but I'm able to pick up one more foot every two turns." He also threw some Texas-rigged plastics at some fish he could see on or near beds. He opted for white baits, not for visbility, but because "the fish seemed to like it," he said. "I started with green-pumpkin and flipped to a couple of females and they didn't seem interested. I changed to white and they locked onto it immediately." He said the key on his Texas rigs was using a 3/4-ounce Eco Pro Tungsten weight. "You could pop them in the face with it," he said. "When those were being stingy, if you hit them on the nose with it enough times it would make them made enough to eat the bait."

Main factor: "As much as I was sight-fishing, I couldn't have finished where I did without my Gone Fishing sunglasses. I've used every brand of high-dollar sunglass out there before and I used the Wahoo model with a brown lens. They're a $40 pair of glasses and I was able to see all the fish I needed to, hands down."

Performance edge: "My Power-Poles. There's no way I could've made the Top 10 without them."

Lake Eufaula Patterns 2-5 Bassfan 5/22/13 (Todd Ceisner)

David Dudley averaged a shade above 15 pounds a day to record his fifth Top-5 finish since the start of 2012 and he did it fishing grass. "My favorite way to catch them is out on the ledges," he said. "It really doesn't matter what I'm faced with. I'd prefer to fish ledges, but not in a tournament setting because all of the bass get ganged up and with 150 boats, it sucks. This was a good tournament because everyone was able to spread out." He'd found a couple of schools out deep during practice and was 50/50 before day 1 whether he'd chase offshore fish or head to the green stuff along shore. After catching 16-02 to start the tournament out of the grass, he opted to stay that course the rest of the way. "It seemed like they bit a little better under cloud cover," he said. "In the thicker grass, they'd peak their nose out and roam a little more. When it was sunny, I didn't see as many roaming around or just swimming. They were mostly fry guarders. It was hard to tell if any were truly on beds because I was just casting." He worked a Booyah Pad Crasher frog through the thicker grass and pitched a YUM Dinger into open patches.

Frog gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Lamiglas Excel casting rod, unnamed casting reel (7.1:1 gear ratio), 60-pound Gamma Torque braided line, Booyah Pad Crasher (leopard frog).

Soft stickbait gear: 7' medium-heavy Lamiglas Excel spinning rod, unnamed spinning reel, 15-pound Gamma Torque braided line, 10-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon line (leader), unnamed 2/0 worm hook, 5" YUM F2 Dinger (green-pumpkin purple). He also caught some fish using prototypes of a new series of Lamiglas rods that will bear his name.

Main factor: "The biggest key was the action of the Dinger," he said. "A lot of baits like that just sink."

Performance edge: "Just having total confidence in my Mercury motor getting me back and forth to my spots. The reliability of that motor is tremendous and it's absolutely incredible on gas."

Lake Eufaula Patterns 2-5 Bassfan 5/22/13 (Todd Ceisner)

While others found consistent success jacking fish out of the grass from Eufaula's shallows, Stetson Blaylock couldn't duplicate it. Instead, he caught most of his fish off inconspicuous bare banks and docks with a Kinami Flash rigged on a shaky-head jig. "Coming down here, I figured I could them in the grass on a frog or ChatterBait, but that just didn't happen," he said. "I had a few bites doing that, but on the first day of practice, I put together that deal on shallow banks. I was practicing with my brother (Keaton), who fished as a co-angler, and he kept getting bit doing it, so I gave it a try and stuck with it." After bagging nearly 17 pounds on day 1, he averaged better than 14 pounds the rest of the way to steadily climb from 14th (day 1) to his first Top-5 Tour finish since his Lake Norman victory in 2009. "It wasn't very easy," he said. "We had a good first day of practice, but after that it kind of slowed down. It just happened and those shallow fish just kept replenishing. "I fished mostly main-lake flat banks the farthest away from the river channel when it flattened out. Not many guys were doing and I think that was the biggest key. The deepest side of the docks was usually 5 feet. On the bare banks, I'd have the boat over 5 to 7 feet and just pitch up to the bank and bring it back slowly. I think some of those fish were up on bream beds."

Shaky-head gear: 7'1" medium-heavy 13 Fishing Envy Black spinning rod, unnamed spinning reel (5.4:1 gear ratio), 15-pound Seaguar Kanzen braided line, 10-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line (leader), 3/16-ounce Bass-X shaky-head jig (brown), 5" Kinami Flash (green-pumpkin). He said he tried dipping the tails of the bait in chartreuse dye during practice, but he didn't get as many bites.

Main factor: "Just doing something different from everybody else."

Performance edge: "One of the biggest keys was the Flash. I really think that bait is why I caught what I caught. I think guys who were throwing a Trick Worm weren't catching the same kind of fish."

Lake Eufaula Patterns 2-5 Bassfan 5/22/13 (Todd Ceisner)