James Elam Wins BASSMASTER Cental Open at Grand Lake
Practice:
Elam's goal for practice was to establish a game plan that he had full confidence in. "I wanted to be all-in on what I was doing," he said. "I was after five to eight keeper bites a day and there were a lot of different things on the table that could've produced that - a lot of (techniques) and a lot o places. "I had a lot of things to look at - even stuff I hadn't messed with before." Junk-fishing is often a good option at Grand during this time of year, but he didn't think that was viable last week. "A lot of times you can catch three or four on a topwater, a couple on a square-bill (crankbait) and a couple around docks. Some people caught them like that, but it wasn't as good as it can be in October. The fish were more in between - they weren't real strong on the deep structure and they weren't as far up as they're going to be probably in a couple weeks when the water gets a little cooler. "I knew I was going to have to look on the flats, the flatter points, breaks in the pea gravel and other places where they chase shad up." He eventually focused in on a handful of creeks, pockets and cuts and a few places on the main lake. The key depths were 5 to 7 feet and 10 to 15 and he enticed bites with both a topwater and a Carolina rig.
Competition:
Elam got 10 keeper bites on day 1, the most of any day during the event, but lost three good ones in brush piles. Nonetheless, he was in 3rd place with the weigh-in concluded, a pound and a half behind leader Toby Hartsell. "I didn't have to share water with anybody and nobody moved in where I was fishing," he said. "Allan Nail (the eventual 5th-place finisher) was farther back than I was in one of the creeks, but other than that I don't think I was ever close to anybody at all." He came in more than a pound and a half lighter on day 2, but moved up to the No. 2 position as Texas teenager Andy Ortega took over the lead. He faced a deficit of just 7 ounces going into the final day. A minor storm moved in on the night of day 2 and conditions were still cloudy and drizzly at take-off the next morning. The rain stopped by mid-day, followed by a change of wind direction and the appearance of the sun, and the action became painfully slow under the post-frontal conditions. Elam finished his limit just 30 minutes prior to check-in time. "The (early morning) weather was right for running around and throwing a spinnerbait and a topwater and I wanted to give that a fair shot," he said. "Later, when the sun popped out, I went back out deeper again. I ended up catching only one keeper when it was cloudy - the rest came after. "I had to stay in it mentally. I left myself an hour at the end of the day to fish one of my better places and it happened there - I caught two on the Carolina rig. I knew it would be a tough day and only two or three guys would catch a limit, and I ended up being one of them. I knew I needed a limit to give myself a shot, and it was hard."
Winning Gear:
Carolina-rig gear: 7'3" heavy-action McCain Hi-Performance Graphite Carolina Magnum rod, Shimano Metanium MGL casting reel (8.5:1 ratio), 17-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line (main line and 2' leader), unnamed 3/4-ounce tungsten weight, 4/0 Owner Rigging Hook, bargain bin plastic lizard (green-pumpkin).
Topwater gear: Same rod and reel (7.4:1 ratio), 50-pound Seaguar Smackdown braided line, Jackall Pompadour (gill bone or black bone).
Main factor: "I did practice a little every day, leaving myself time to try new things to either eliminate stuff or find something for the next day. It just kept taking me back to what I needed to be doing."
Peformance edge: "My Phoenix/Mercury with the Power-Poles and Lowrance units. My whole boat setup is a key thing for me because it's such a peace-of-mind thing. Not having fish die is very important in the fall and I've never had one die since I've been running this setup."
BASSMASTER OPEN Grand Lake Winning Pattern BassFan 10/10/17 (John Johnson)
