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Paul Mueller's Pattern, Baits & Gear

Mueller had by far the worst day of any of the Top-5 finishers, but rebounded to equal his career-best showing in a regular-season Elite event (he was also 5th at Toledo Bend last year). He focused his efforts on places that he deemed to be in fairly close proximity to spawning areas. "I could look on the bank and see a nice combination of rock and gravel, and even sometimes clay," he said, "and there was deep water close to the shore. They were areas that fish were staging before they come up on the banks. "I had six areas from practice, but one of them other competitors beat me to and a couple of guys who did well fished there. In the tournament I rotated through five, and they were spread out a little bit from mid-lake to the southern end. He used his Garmin Panoptix electronics to home in on the location of fish, and then he'd drop a Reins Bubbling Shaker down to them on a jighead. "Instead of letting it got to the bottom, I tried to keep it above them and constantly shake it," he said. "Sometimes they'd eat it right away and other times I'd let it sit above them and they'd slowly come up and eat it. "Every fish was different. The electronics would tell me what mood they were in and then I'd work each one accordingly." He also caught a few weigh-in fish on a small swimbait attached to an under-spin. "If they were moving fast or if it was windy and I couldn't position the boat right to get over them, I'd cast the swimbait to them. I could see where they were at with the Panoptix, and if they were maybe 30 to 40 feet away I'd cast beyond them. The key was letting it go to the bottom and then slow-rolling it."

Jighead gear: 7'2" Dobyns Champion Extreme spinning rod, unnamed 2000-size spinning real, 10-pound Gamma Torque braided line (main line), 6-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon (12' leader), hand-poured 3/8-ounce ball-head jighead (from Do-It mold), 3 1/2" Reins Bubbling shaker (bluegill, baitfish or natural pro blue). He threw the under-spin on a 7'6" Dobyns Champion Extreme rod with a Team Lew's Pro Speed spinning reel. He employed 15-pound braid with an 8-pound leader.

Main factor: "I knew I needed to catch a good bag every day after that bad first day, when the cold front moved the bait out of my areas. Once conditions got more stable, the bait moved back in and that brought the (bass) back."

Performance edge: "The Panoptix - it allows you to see everything that's happening away from the boat in real time."

Cherokee Lake 2-5 Patterns BassFan 2/15/17 (John Johnson)

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