Chris Johnston's Pattern, Baits & Gear
Chris Johnston's weights grew successively larger across the tournament's first three days and he began the final round with a 5 1/2-pound lead. However, the reedy spot that had been so good to him didn't surrender any brutes on Sunday and he was one of seven anglers leap-frogged by the legendary Rick Clunn, who boxed a tournament-best 34-14 for his second consecutive win at the St. Johns. Johnson, like many in the field, did not have an encouraging official practice session. "I was going through reeds looking at old beds and I found some buggy-whips that looked like the best stuff to spawn in I'd seen," he said. "I finally got a bite on one, and around the corner were some more reeds and I got another bite. "On day 1 of the tournament, a lot of fish had pulled up onto those old beds. They were in a foot to a foot and a half of water."
Some of them he could see - for instance, he looked at a 7 1/2-pounder before catching it on day 1 - but most of his approach consisted of blind-casting soft plastics in the extremely shallow water. "If you got anywhere near them, they were pretty spooky. If I'd go over a bed that had one on it, I'd mark it (using the GPS on his depthfinder) and then come back later and blind-cast to it."
Gear:
Worm gear: 7'5" heavy-action G. Loomis G. Loomis NRX 893 Jig and Worm rod, Shimano Metanium MGL casting reel (7.4:1 ratio), 16-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon line, 3/0 Gamakatsu Superline EWG hook, Zoom Speed Worm (junebug).
Soft stickbait gear: 7'5" heavy-action G. Loomis GLX 894, same reel, 20-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon, 3/8-ounce tungsten weight, 5/0 Gamakatsu straight-shank hook, 5" Yamamoto Senko (black/blue).
Main factor: "I just kind of figured out that the fish were all on the beds. Every clump of reeds in the right depth had fish. I just kept running that pattern and I knew I could get a big one on any cast."
Bassmaster Elite Series St. Johns River Patterns 2-5 BassFan 2/13/19 (John Johnson )
