Alton Jones Jr's Pattern, Baits & Gear
It didnwet take long for Alton Jones Jr. to develop an affinity for the every-fish-counts format utilized in Bass Pro Tour events. "I'm in love with this format," he said. And rightly so. The youngest angler in the field made it through to the final round by following a popular recipe that's been successful in other MLF events Ð get around groups of fish and be ready to make decisions on the fly. Jones did both and scored a top-5 finish because of it. "I thought practice was really valuable even with the bad weather because having the rain and wind allowed me to practice fast," he said. "That meant lipless cranks, crankbaits and bladed jigs. That's a big asset in Florida with just two days. I just searched for areas that had fish and I was able to find three areas that I thought had fish. I knew, coming in, one of those three areas, or two, would really play."
Undecided where to start, he leaned toward the area that wound up being his least favorite of the three. He caught a single 3-pounder in the first period of Group B's Shotgun Round. From there, he moved into a canal at the south end of Lake Kissimmee and figured the fish there would be more resilient against the cold front. "Even if it gets cold, those are resident fish," he reasoned. "They can move up and down, but they never really vacate the area. I had them penned in. The downside was they didn't really replenish, and I learned by the end of day 2 they'd been pretty well picked over." Still, there were enough fish in there around shoreline bushes to give him 24-10 after day 1. He flipped a YUM Dinger to catch the fish in the canal, probing viney, overgrown bushes. "They were overgrown along the edges and the fish were along the ends and bases," he said. "I think a few were spawning at the bases while the other bites were suspended under the thick stuff."
After catching a total of 44-12 across the Shotgun and Elimination Rounds, Jones moved to new water in Kissimmee for the Knockout Round. That's when he transitioned to an old-school lipless crankbait reeled over the top of hydrilla that topped out about a foot under the surface. "I'd caught a few there in practice on a Cotton Cordell Hotspot," he said. "It's really light and that allowed me to fish it slower. Compared to other guys in the area, I'd say I had quite a few more bites in the morning than them. I could fish it over top of that grass." Once the sun got up later in the morning, he moved back into the canal and caught six for 12-05 in the third period to clinch a spot in the finals. While he fell in trying to land one fish that had gotten wrapped up in a branch, Jones said the 3-11 he caught on the last cast was one he won't soon forget. "That gave me the separation I needed and moved me from 9th to 5th," he said. "That last hour was one of the most high-stress situations I've ever fished in. It was one of the most fun, but most stressful hours ever."
Gear:
Flipping gear: 7' heavy-action Kistler Z-Bone casting rod, unnamed casting reel, 50-pound unnamed braided line, 25-pound unnamed fluorocarbon line (leader), 1/2-oz. unnamed worm weight, 5/0 unnamed flipping hook, 5" YUM Dinger (green-pumpkin purple flake).
He favored the shorter rod for flipping in the canal because it allowed him to be more precise around the bushes.
Lipless crankbait gear: 7'3" heavy-action Kistler KLX casting rod, same reel (6.6:1 ratio), 15-pound unnamed fluorocarbon line, vintage Cotton Cordell Hot Spot (gold).
The particular KLX rod he was using has a fiberglass tip, which he said makes it very effective when throwing a reaction bait like a lipless crankbait.
Main factor: "My decisions. In this format, every fish counts and I tried to put myself in position to catch the most weight possible. I got fortunate with some of my calls. It started off cold and warmed up and my biggest call was leaving those lipless crankbait fish and going into that canal that had been beat up. I was hoping the warmer weather changed the attitude of those fish and I turned out to be right."
Performance edge: "I was running to the south end of Kissimmee, which was about an hour boat ride. This is my first year in a Skeeter FX21. Especially through practice, it was a Cadillac in that big water. It made moving around easy in that rough water. I was super pleased with how that performed."
(MLF)Bass Pro Tour Kissimmee Chain of Lakes 2-5 Patterns BassFan 2/6/19 (Todd Ceisner)
