Randy Howell's Pattern, Baits & Gear

Just about everyone expected the Classic to be a jerkbait-dominated affair throughout the winter. However, when the water failed to clear up in the wake of the December flood, that idea was nixed. Few competitors even bothered tying one on last week. Randy Howell was an exception. The Livingston Lures Jerkmaster 121C was one of four offerings he employed to catch weigh-in fish, along with a spinnerbait and a crankbait. "Practice went okay," he said. "I wasn't catching them like gangbusters, but the ones I did catch were big fish. The wind blew all through practice and I was almost 100 percent cranking on the rip-rap and the rocks. "Then the wind calmed down for the tournament and that (action) slowed down. I hadn't planned on throwing the jerkbait at all because of the water color, but I picked it up on the first day after I'd had some short strikes on the crankbait. I caught a 3-pounder, so I started chasing that pattern then." He spent the entire tournament in the Elk River, where the warmest water on the lake could be found (it hit 58 degrees before the event concluded). On day 2, he fished the exact spot where Evers caught his massive final-day bag. "On day 3 I started about a mile from that flat and I was working my way to it, and I came around the corner and he was right dead on where I was on the second day. I could see those fish swimming around in the calm water, but I couldn't make them bite. "He said he had a big stringer and he had a chance to win, so I let him stay there and I moved on. I caught one more good one up ahead of him a little ways." He said most of the fish he caught appeared to be about ready to go to the beds. "They were fat and they had bright red bellies. I was surprised that they were that colorful already."

Jerkbait gear: 7' medium-light Daiwa Tatula rod, Daiwa Tatula CT Type-R casting reel (6.3:1 ratio), 12-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon line, Livingston Lures Jerkmaster 121C (Table Rock shad).

Spinnerbait gear: 7'2" medium-heavy Daiwa Steez XT rod, same reel (7.3:1 ratio), 16-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon, 1/2-ounce Hawg Caller spinnerbait (chartreuse shad with No. 4 1/2 silver Colorado and No. 3 nickel willow-leaf blades).

Cranking gear: Same rod, reel and line as jerkbait, Livingston Lures Howeller Dream Master Classic (Okie craw). He caught one quality fish on the final day on a Texas-rigged 5" Yamamoto Senko (green-pumpkin/purple/green).

Main factor: "I was really happy that I stayed open-minded. As the fish and the conditions changed each day, I changed with them."

Performance edge: "The new Insight Genesis mapping for the Lowrance. They gave it to us right when we got there and it was really accurate on those channels. I could run the flats and stay on the places that had a hard bottom and find right where the drains were coming into the flats."

Classic Patterns 3-6 BassFan 3/10/16 (John Johnson)

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