Dustin Connell's Pattern, Baits & Gear
Dustin Connell has been near the top of the points list all season and has qualified for all three MLF Cup events to date despite having no opportunities to fish offshore. The second Table Rock tournament was his first shot at plying his specialty. "I was happy to be able to get off the bank a little bit," he said. "The main thing I tried to do in practice was idle and I did it for 2 days straight - I rarely fished. I found as many schools as I could, even though some were on community places." He fished the James River, farther up than Wheeler but not as far as fellow top-10 finishers Ott DeFoe and Jesse Wiggins. Most of his fish came from 20 to 25 feet of water. "I was fishing schools of spots and I also had some timber that had fish in it. I found all of that with my Lowrance units. I ended up with six or seven places and four of them were within 2 miles of each other." Like Palaniuk, he employed a dropshot/swimbait combo.
Dropshot gear: 7'2" medium-heavy Favorite Fishing Jackhammer rod, unnamed spinning reel, 10-pound Seaguar Smackdown braid (main line), 8- or 10-pound Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon leader, 3/8-ounce Googan tungsten dropshot weight, 1/0 Owner Cover Shot hook, Googan Drag 'N Drop worm (watermelon red or morning dawn).
Swimbait gear: 7'1" medium-heavy Favorite Fishing Rush rod, unnamed casting reel, 12-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon, homemade 3/8- or 1/2-ounce bullet-style swimbait head, 3 1/2" prototype Googan Baits swimbait (natural shad).
MLF Tour Table Rock Lake 2-5 Pattern BassFan 6/10/19 (John Johnson)
