James Elam Wins Fort Gibson Lake BASS Central Open
Elam set aside one day to prep tackle for both Fort Gibson and the AOY event since he knew he'd be leaving right from the Open to head north. He spent 4 days on Fort Gibson, checking different sections of the lake each of the first 3 days and revisiting some productive areas on the final day before taking the day before the tournament off to rest up. "I practiced on the lower end on the first day and probably had 17 or 18 pounds worth of bites," he said. "After that I was like, 'Cool.' That area wasn't on like that at the last Open." He was keying on rock, mostly, in practice. "I could catch them out of 1 to 3 feet pretty good in the mid-lake, but I was not catching good-sized fish. All across the lake, they were keyed in on rocky stuff with the exception of the river. Any rocky that resembled softballs or basketballs was good and the more isolated the better." He concentrated the next couple days on the middle section of the lake - "The area I like the most," he said - and caught a steady diet of 2 1/2-pounders. He also spent some time on the upper end and in the river, which is typically a fallback plan for tournament anglers, including Elam. "I grew up fishing the river and I'm good there, but it wasn't happening," he said. "You need it to fish really good in a big tournament in case you need it as a plan B. It wasn't as good as it needed to be." He said prior to practice there was more current in the river as the lake level was falling, but once the water release stopped, so did the current and the fishing got tough as a result. He spent his final day on the lower end again and looked at other patterns that had worked in the past. "After that I knew what I was going to do," he said.
Competition:
Elam went out on day 1 with a fair bit of confidence based on his practice, plus his Elite Series points standings (29th) had him feeling a bit less pressure to come out of the Open with a victory in order to make the Classic. "I started on what I thought was my best place," he said. "It was the offshore side of a point with a rubble patch in 4 to 8 feet with six brush piles on it." He executed on seven of nine bites, all with a Texas-rigged 10-inch worm, but the two he lost were estimated to be in the 3 1/2-pound class. "That was a weird deal because it was an early bite," he said. "I didn't catch them all day long. That bite turned off around 9 a.m." He wound up with 13-00 to start, a decent start that had him in 25th place, but it left him thinking another similar bag or better on day 2 would probably put him in contention to make the Top-12 cut. "I knew if you can catch a limit 2 days in a row that's golden on that place," he said. "I wasn't too worried about 13 pounds. I figured if I could catch that again I'd be in the Top 12." He went back to the same spot to start day 2, but didn't get a bite in 2 hours of fishing. He ran to another spot with shallow rocks and put one keeper in the boat. He was heading down lake to another area when he saw a point that he'd wanted to fish on day 1 - there were boats on it three different times he drove by it - was unoccupied. "I set down there and caught a 3 1/2, then fished for a while and caught a 4-08," he said. "I fished a little more and then changed baits (a brush hog) and caught a couple more keepers." He later switched to a shakey-head and boated six more keepers. "I caught as much as I could there," he said. "I left there with an hour to go and I ran back to where I started and caught a 3 1/2 with 15 minutes left out of the brush. That was a good upgrade." He knew he could've caught a slew of keepers on various other baits, but he stuck with Texas-rigged plastics, a jig and the shaky head since those produced the better quality fish. "It's a weird lake the way it fishes that way," he said. "I haven't been anywhere else like it." His 15-11 effort on day 2 moved him into 2nd place and he trailed Blaylock by 2-11 entering the last day. He fished clean on the day 2 after losing two good fish at the boat on Thursday and his confidence was starting to grow based on his lengthy history at Gibson. "I knew there was a good chance some guys weren't going to catch them as good (on day 3)," he said. "It's hard to do this time of year on that lake so I knew there was an opportunity for me if I caught what I was capable of catching - 16 to 18 pounds. I knew if I did that I'd have a shot.
"By the last day, you start figuring out more stuff. If you look at a lot of the good guys that improve each day, they do that every tournament. Those are the guys who win. They're figuring out more and practicing each day and get better game plans for the next day. I tried to do same thing. It was easy to do on a place I know." With the AOY event still on his mind, he didn't feel near the pressure that Blaylock was likely feeling. "I didn't go out nervous and I think it was because I had that attitude," he said. "It took the pressure off and I just went out and caught them." The point that he fished on day 2 was his first stop on the final day, but it produced nothing in the hour he fished there. He picked up two good fish out of the brush at the spot he'd been starting on, but he started to sense he was running out of fish there. "I ran up to a different area of the lake and fished the stuff I got bit on, but didn't catch anything," he said. "I had one big bass spot up there - just a little insignificant deal that holds big ones. On about my 20th cast, I caught a 4 on a football jig and figured two more keepers and I'd win." Another 90 minutes went by without another bite. He stopped again on the point he started on, but a local was there and let Elam fish it as well, but he told Elam he'd caught eight fish there already. "I got there a little late, I guess," Elam joked. "I started fishing stuff I knew there could be fish on. It was almost like practicing again. That's where it helped to have a little bit of history." He caught a 3 1/2-pounder on a buzzbait around some rocks and a 2 1/2-pounder finished out what proved to be his best sack of the event. "It was a shorter day," he said. "It was a tougher weather day. I just happened to get some good bites. I also knew the type of day it was. It was so hard for people to catch them. We had two massive fronts come through lake came up a foot. It was just unstable conditions. "Things were different on day 3. Knowing where there was brush was key because they went into the wood. There's always one day post-front where they'll get in the wood and that was that day. It helped knowing that. I caught three that way." After he checked in at the ramp, he got a sense that the tournament was his to lose, which made the 45-minute drive to the Bass Pro Shops that much more enjoyable. "It was a cool fishing knowing I had the fish to win," he said. "I didn't tell anyone what I had. I've been there on the last day and not caught them. It's not cool."
Winning Pattern:
Every one of Elam's fish came out of 8 feet of water or less and the key was slowing down his presentations. "When I'd let it sink, every now and then they'd hit it on the way to the bottom," he said. "The deal was fishing it slow along the bottom. I had to retie often and watch my hook points. If someone else was doing what I was doing and went an hour without a bite, they might've bailed."
Winning Gear:
Worm gear: 7' medium-heavy unnamed casting rod, unnamed casting reel, 15-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, 3/8-oz. homemade worm weight, 4/0 Owner all-purpose worm hook, 10" Berkley PowerBait Power Worm (redbug). Elam said the weight he used is one his dad makes and it has a more rounded shape than a traditional worm weight. "It works really well in and around rock," he said.
Brush Hog gear: Same rod, same reel, same line, same weight, same hook, 6" Zoom Brush Hog (green-pumpkin blue). His football jig was a homemade 1/2-oz. head with a black/blue skirt and a Zoom Speed Craw in matching colors as a trailer.
Main factor: " I've fished that lake enough with my dad and everybody so I just know the place really well. Also, knowing that I had a good shot (of making the Classic) at the AOY event, I wasn't freaked out about it so I was able to fish well."
Performance edge: "My Phoenix boat has been great this year. I've had no problems with it and have not had a fish die. That was tough on those fish last week. We had heat indexes around 110. I also ran my HydroWave because I was shallow enough to where would do me some good."
