Scott Martin's Pattern, Bait & Gear
His offerings included a crankbait, a big worm, a hair jig and a Carolina rig. "The key was really (on day 3) at about 1 o'clock when I found some rusty swivels in my boat and tied on a Carolina rig for the first time in many years. I finished my limit with it, then I lost a 5-pounder and caught a 5. "(On day 4) I caught my second-biggest fish on it and several others that were over 3 pounds." The tops of the ledges at that end of the lake are much shallower - just 6 to 8 feet compared to 20-plus in the northern end.
Gear:
Carolina rig gear: 7'6" heavy-action Okuma TCS Scott Martin Signature Series rod, Okuma TCS casting reel (8:1 ratio), 20-pound P-Line Tactical fluorocarbon line, 1-ounce tungsten weight, 4/0 Trokar EWG hook, Googan Baits Bandito creature bait (green-pumpkin).
Jig gear: 7'11" medium-heavy Okuma TCS Scott Martin Signature Series Power Crank rod, same reel, 15-pound P-Line Tactical Fluorocarbon, 1/2-ounce hand-tied hair jig (white).
Worm gear: 7'3" heavy-action Okuma TCS Scott Martin Signature Series rod, same reel, 15-pound P-Line Tactical fluorocarbon, generic 3/8-ounce jighead, 5" Googan Baits worm (green-pumpkin).
Cranking gear: 7'6" Okuma TCS Scott Martin Signature Series rod, same reel, 15-pound P-Line Tactical fluorocarbon, 6" LiveTarget Blueback Herring swimbait.
Main factor: "There weren't very many boats down there where I was, even on the first 2 days. In my mind, that stuff wasn't getting messed with."
Performance edge: "My Garmin Panoptix allowed me to find the highest spots on those bars, which was very key, and the Spot-Lock (on his Minn Kota trolling motor) allowed me to make very precise casts in there. The last thing was that I could program my route back to the launch on my Garmin and it would give me the navigation and a precise ETA. I could manage my time and I wasn't stressed out about what time I should leave."
FLW Tour Kentucky Lake Patterns 2-5 BassFan 5/24/18 (John Johnson)
