Jimmy Houston's Pattern, Baits & Gear

Jimmy Houston wouldn't change a whole lot if he had to fish the same tournament under the same conditions again. He caught his biggest fish out away from the buck brush and willows that others focused on. He alternated between a buzzbait, bladed jig, and spinnerbait, and also caught some cranking. "I used a real slow retrieve on the buzzbait," he said. "I did have a nice fish hit on a fast retrieve and I thought that might be the deal, but I stayed with the slow retrieve on everything." He concentrated his efforts between the Sailboat Bridge and Shrangri-La. "I fished grass flats mainly," the Cookson, Okla., pro said. "I don't know if I had an advantage or not. I knew of some places where historically you can catch bigger fish and I felt like they'd come in better during the tournament." He was in 2nd after day 1 following a 21-07 stringer that trailed only Christie's 21-12 sack. He stumbled with 14-01 on day 2, but rebounded with 18-pound bags on days 3 and 4 to score his best finish in FLW competition. "The place I was fishing had so much shad in it," he said. "Wait another 2 or 3 weeks and those fish will look like Butterball (turkeys). They didn't look like typical Grand Lake bass. If the water had not come up, I still think the weights would've been about the same." The key for him was getting an early limit in the boat. On the final 3 days, his livewell was full by 9 a.m. at the latest. His cranking area, though, was susceptible to changes in wind direction, especially on days 2 and 4. He lost three good fish there on Saturday, but couldn't relocate them on the final day. "The wind would put shad in certain places where you would know they'd be and the bass would follow them in," he said. "That didn't happen on day 2 or 4."

Buzzbait/Bladed jig gear: 6'6" medium-heavy HT Enterprises Jimmy Houston Enticer casting rod, U.S. Reels SuperCaster reel (6.6:1 ratio), 15-pound Hi-Seas Grand Slam Select co-polymer line (moss green), 1/2-oz. BOOYAH Buzz buzzbait (black), 1/2-oz. BOOYAH Boogee Bait (black blue shadow). He replaced the buzzbait skirt with a skirt from the BOOYAH Moon Talker spinnerbait (black silver flake). He also threw a white spinnerbait and caught a few Boogee Bait fish on a rod/reel combo that Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris gave him recently at a promotional outing.

Main factor: "I was fishing water where the bass would replenish well."

Performance edge: "My Ranger boat performed flawlessly all week long."

Grand Lake 2-5 Patterns Bassfan 6/12/13 (Todd Ceisner)

5 Colors

Booyah Buzz Buzzbaits

$5.99

5.0

1 Review

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