Kelly Jordan's Pattern, Baits & Gear
The wind kicked up on the last day of practice and he opted to run back to the Cooper. He stayed close to Georgetown, but couldn't find anything he was too enthused about. After the weather delay on day 1, he chose to fish the Santee to maximize his fishing time. "I had a tough decision," he said. "I was in the first flight and if I went to the Cooper, at best I'd get 2 hours with a rough ride to fish. I didn't like that so I chose the Santee. "I ran around and missed a couple and the plan was to work my way up river until I ran out of time and then run in." It was a slow go as he was without a fish until he caught an 8-05 pitching a creature bait on his last spot. It was his lone fish of the day, but it gave him a clue as to what to look for. He also got a clue while standing in the bag line near John Murray, who'd also caught an 8-plus pounder in the Santee on Thursday. Murray told Jordon he'd caught it on a vibrating jig. "When he told me that, I figured I'd found stuff where they might eat a ChatterBait," Jordon said. "That gave me a little more confidence." Still, he had a decision to make for day 2. Should he run to the Cooper as he'd intended to on Thursday seeing he was in the later flight and would have more time on the water? Or should he go back to the Santee and try to expand on what he found, especially near where he caught the 8-pounder? When he left the blast-off point Friday, he still hadn't made a decision where to go. "Not until I got to the split," he said. "I made a gut call to go big. That's how I roll. It's burned me a million times. I know that's one of my faults, but it's also a strength. For the next 10 to 15 minutes of that boat ride, I was like, 'God I hope I made the right call.' On paper, it was a poor decision based on confidence, but I liked it since I knew I'd have nobody around." Jordon's tortured decision turned out to be on the money. After stopping at a couple spots on his way further up river, he arrived at his best area around 9:30 a.m. "By 10:30, I had 24-07," he said.
He went through eight keepers, the biggest of which was 7-10 (the smallest was 2 3/4). "I backed off," he added. "I wished I hadn't because I think I could've caught 30. They were biting like crazy. I caught them on my last three casts. I think I could've smoked them." He said the Santee didn't get a lot of attention in practice because anglers were wary of the clarity, but Jordon sensed it was starting to round into shape before his eyes. "Nobody was able to practice that because it wasn't right until the tournament," he said. "Current was blowing through it and it was three or four feet higher. It just wasn't the same." He described the area as a channel swing flat on the back side of a river bend. It was out of the current, but still on the main river so there was a steady flow of bait for the fish to prey on. The water was still high and had gotten into the bushes and willow tree along the bank. "There was grass all the way out on a bar, too, and there was a backside slough with flooded wood," he added. "I knew there was a bunch of fish in there. That's how we fish in Texas - you find a depression in the grass and that acts as a highway for them. The water was dropping out and they were coming to it." After his massive flurry on day 2, he tried to find similar areas for later in the event, but found nothing that set up the same way. He committed to the Santee the rest of the way and lost a couple 4-pounders on day 3 and still brought in 16-plus pounds to keep himself in contention. "I wish I would've have more than one fish on day 1 and a limit on the last day," he said. "It was an awesome tournament. I was on and I found the load and had it all to myself. That's hard to do anymore. Theonly reason I was able to is it wasn't there in practice. People just wrote it off."
Vibrating jig gear: 7'9" extra-heavy Duckett Fishing White Ice Kelly Jordon Signature Series flipping rod, Duckett Fishing 360RB casting reel (6.3:1 ratio), 20-pound unnamed fluorocarbon line, 3/8-oz. Phenix Vibrator jig (green-pumpkin), 4.5" Lake Fork Tackle Live Magic Shad (green-pumpkin). The Vibrator jig is no longer in production. The bruiser he caught on day 1 fell for a beaver bait pitched under a 1/4-oz. weight.
Main factor: "That crazy, ill-informed decision on day 2 to go back to the Santee. It was a bold, gut decision. It wasn't the wisest decision, but I did it because I caught an 8 up there and I liked how it set up and there was no one else there."
Performance edge: "My rods were really important because of the cover I was fishing. Those pads were tough. One fish I lost on day 3 tore up four pads. Five casts later, I caught a 5 1/2 in the same spot. The 7-10 on day 2, I caught it throwing the ChatterBait right down the middle of the ditch. If I had been using lighter line, it would've broken me off. It's hard to control an almost 8-pounder but I cranked down on that thing so hard and got its head turned."
