Todd Faircloth Wins BASS Lake St. Clair

A rough five-tournament stretch this season notwithstanding, Todd Faircloth's professional angling career has been a chronicle of consistency. The 40-year-old Texan has qualified for the past nine Bassmaster Classics and can be counted on to win an Elite Series event about once every other year. His latest victory at Lake St. Clair was his fifth on the circuit and washed away most of the sting from a less-than-stellar year. He'd gone into the previous derby at the Chesapeake Bay thinking he had no hope of making the 2016 Classic, but two strong showings have moved him up to 40th in the Angler of the Year (AOY) race and placed him at (or very near) the spot where the Classic cutoff will fall. If he can move up just one or two places at this month's AOY Championship event at Sturgeon Bay in Michigan, he'll assure himself a place in the field at Oklahoma's Grand Lake next March. His performance at St. Clair was yet another testament to his steady ways as he surpassed the 20-pound mark each day en route to amassing a 4-day total of 84-07. His 22-02 close stringer was more than 2 pounds heavier than any other brought to the scale that day and gave him a 6-pound margin of victory over runner-up Brandon Palaniuk.

Faircloth found the large flat in Anchor Bay where he'd spend the entire tournament on the first day of practice. That day was exceptionally windy, which greatly inhibited anglers' ability to move around or fish, but he managed quite a few bites with some good quality mixed in. The next day he set out in search of some deeper action and found a place that harbored the best-looking grass he'd seen, but although he caught a few fish, he felt like he couldn't get a good grasp on what the fish were doing in that locale. He returned to the flat on the final practice day and was zig-zagging across it when he came across a large void, or clean spot, in the large blanket of grass. The grass around that sandy section, which extended for perhaps 500 feet and was 40 to 50 feet wide, was 2 to 3 feet taller than the vegetation that surrounded it. "I caught one there immediately, and then I had four bites on consecutive casts and the last one I caught was a big one," he said.

Competition:

The wind kicked up again on day 1 and made holding on a specific spot difficult, but Faircloth's fish bit well and he had no company that hindered his game plan. He employed a Strike King Z Too soft-plastic jerkbait on a dropshot rig to compile his sack fairly early and then went in search of other swept-out areas, of which he found several. Day 2 was considerably calmer and he started out throwing the Z Too again, but it wasn't as productive. His action picked up after he downsized to a 1/4-ounce weight and switched the bait to a Strike King Dream Shot, and he ended up catching a half-pound more than he had on day 1 to move from 8th to 6th in the standings. He began day 3 on a spot where he'd fished briefly on the afternoon of day 2 and caught fish on nearly ever cast for 30 or 40 minutes. The only drawback was a large muskie was feeding in the area and attempted to steal just about every smallmouth that Faircloth pulled toward his boat. "That place was at the very tip of the longest stretch I'd found and I didn't realize it ran out as far as it did," he said. "I caught more fish that day on any other." That sack moved him up to 2nd place and he started the final day exactly 2 pounds behind Palaniuk. He again caught a quick limit that included a couple of 4-pound-plus specimens, although the action wasn't as brisk as it'd been the previous day, and he fished through the entire stretch without upgrading. He then relocated to a spot that he'd fished for awhile on day 1, but avoided on days 2 and 3 because other competitors were in the immediate vicinity. He added three more big bronzebacks to go with the two he'd picked up earlier. "I felt like I had at least 20 pounds, maybe a little more than that, and I knew I'd had a good day," he said. "I'd fished as efficiently as I could and win, lose or draw, I'd had a great tournament. "I'd done everything I could do and fortunately I came out on top."

Winning Pattern:

Faircloth never drifted his baits, but instead made casts and short pitches to the clean spots. Frequently he'd see a fish on his depthfinder and drop straight down beneath the trolling motor to catch it. The fish were holding in 15 to 18 feet of water. "There was a lot of yellow perch in there, and I think that was the key," he said. "Sometimes in the early morning they'd get out in the middle of those places, but when the sun got higher they'd get tighter to the grass."

Winning Gear:

Dropshot gear: 7' medium-action Castaway spinning rod, Shimano Stradic 2500 spinning reel, 10-pound Sunline SX1 braided line (main line), 8-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon leader (12'), 1/4- or 3/8-ounce Strike King tungsten dropshot weight, 1/0 Gamakatsu Split Shot/Drop Shot hook, Strike King Dream Shot (KVD magic) or Strike King Z Too (Arkansas shiner).

Main factor: "I think I won the tournament by expanding on that area each day instead of going somewhere totally different after I'd catch a good bag. I really treated the second half of the first 3 days like practice and I found some key spots that were important later on."

Performance edge: "The baits were critical, but I'd have to say it was my Lowrance units. I was 4 or 5 miles offshore and they were pivotal for finding those places in the grass. They allowed me to be real precise and I had a good understanding of what I needed to be looking for.

Lake St. Clair Winning Pattern BassFan 9/1/15 (John Johnson)

Either Palaniuk or eventual 10th-place finisher James Elam might've been able to win the event had they not been forced to share their hot spot in the upper river. Then again, both said the breakup of the enormous congregation of big smallmouths that was there the first 2 days was the issue, so the place might not have held up for 4 days under any circumstances. Palaniuk, who led after days 2 and 3, has made the 40-minute run up there each time he's visited the venue Ð twice for Elite derbies and once for a Bassmaster Northern Open. "The way it sets up suits me pretty well," he said. "You're fishing more structure than you are anywhere else and there's more depth changes." There was a short section that he'd make drifts through, but unlike Elam, he spent most of his time casting his dropshot rig. A small eddy was particularly productive. "I was concentrating on a 50- to 75-yard stretch and just one current line," he said. "Most of the fish were in 24 to 30 feet of water. "There wasn't much grass right where the fish were positioned, but they were just off the grass. There's a big grass point that comes out and it was just loaded with bait and the current was pushing the bait out. The fish were sitting on a little ridge that had some gravel and some shells." He caught all of his weigh-in fish there on the first 2 days, including a 6 1/4-pounders, a 5 3/4, a 5 1/2 and a 5. He had to return to the home lake for his fifth one on day 3 and for all five on the final day when the river locale failed to produce a single bite for either him or Elam.

Dropshot gear: 6'10" medium-action Abu Garcia Fantasista Regista spinning rod, Abu Garcia Revo MGX 30 spinning reel, 8-pound Berkley FireLine Crystal (main line), Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon leader (8'), 3/8-ounce Eco Pro Tungsten Full Contact dropshot weight, size 1 VMC dropshot hook, Berkley PowerBait Twitchtail Minnow (green-pumpkin).

Main factor: "Fishing that area put me around the right quality of fish. I just wasn't catching enough of them."

Performance edge: "It'd have to be the Humminbird 360 with Navionics. It allowed me to see exactly where the little drops were on the shell beds and the rock bar and it was important for figuring out what the fish were holding on and how they were positioned."

Lake St. Clair Patterns 2-5 BassFan 9/2/15 (John Johnson)

Lane, who won the 2013 St. Clair event, fished right in the middle of Anchor Bay in the northern portion of Lake St. Clair, which was only about a 2-mile run from the launch in Harrison Township, Mich. He casually drifted along with the current provided by the St. Clair River and made casts to either side of his boat. He used a soft-plastic swimbait to catch grass-oriented fish in about 12 feet of water. "It wasn't hard current; it was a nice, easy drift and I could fish for an hour or 2 hours straight," he said. "I'd run all the way up, but I wouldn't drift exactly the same stuff coming down every time - I'd be maybe 50 feet to the side of where I'd just come down. Everything's the same in that area. "I'd throw the bait as far as it would go, the count to 4 and start swimming it back. I'd keep it just off the grass - about 2 feet off the bottom. It seemed like every 20 or 30 minutes, from morning until 1 o'clock, I'd get a bite. After 1:30, it was over." He missed several good fish on day 1, but rectified that issue by switching to a heavier rod and faster reel. His 24-pound sack on day 3 was the best of the tournament.

Swimbait gear: 7'3" heavy-action CarbonLite rod, Johnny Morris Signature Series casting reel (7:1 ratio), 12-pound Stren 100% Fluoro line, unnamed 3/8-ounce jighead, unnamed 3 1/2" swimbait (sexy shad).

Main factor: "It was slowing down. Especially with smallmouth, I usually like to run and gun and beat around and be pretty aggressive. I couldn't do that this time."

Performance edge: "Once I got the rod, reel and line all dialed in right, that was the deal. The first day I lost three that were 4 to 5 pounds."

Lake St. Clair Patterns 2-5 BassFan 9/2/15 (John Johnson)

Pipkens relied on his vast knowledge of Erie to post his second consecutive Top-5 finish. Erie's north shore is never at its best during the "dog days" of August and a massive algae bloom was another aggravating factor. The big smallmouth weren't grouped up there like they are during early summer and in the fall, but Pipkens, who won the Bassmaster Northern Open there in 2014, had enough experience that he could bounce around between numerous waypoints and pick them off here and there. On the final practice day he went farther down the lake to one of the places he'd exploited during last year's Open and used a crankbait to catch 18 pounds in less than half an hour. "I figured I could come down and catch 14 to 16 pounds on the crankbait with my eyes closed, and then maybe go deep," he said. "I only caught one fish on a crankbait in the tournament, and that was at 9:30 on the first day. Everything else came on a dropshot." He ran into a group of fish at noon on the second day that produced the bulk of his 22-pound stringer. It was a place he was unable to investigate during practice due to the powerful winds. "My lake history was a huge factor," he said.

Dropshot gear: 7' medium-light Powell 702 rod, Abu Garcia Revo SX 30 spinning reel, 8-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, 3/8-ounce unnamed round dropshot weight, size 1 Gamakatsu Split Shot/Drop Shot hook, Poor Boys Erie Darter (stone or smoke pepper). His crankbait fish, a 4 1/4-pounder, came on a Damiki DC 300 in real shad.

Main factor: "Being in areas I had confidence in."

Performance edge: "The Humminbird 360 played a big role. With that crankbait fish I caught, I just saw a shadow, and the same thing with one of my better culls. It's so easy when you're looking at the picture to (determine) the exact angle to drag the bait."

Lake St. Clair Patterns 2-5 BassFan 9/2/15 (John Johnson)

Greg Vinson ran two programs, both within about 5 miles of the launch ramp. One consisted of dropshotting isolated weed clumps in 18 feet of water and the other involved cranking in shallower water once the sun got high and the wind kicked up. In addition, he picked up a couple of key fish throwing a swimbait. "On day 1 I was really struggling in one area that had shown promise - I'd run all my waypoints and gotten one bite," he said. "I eventually caught one decent one on a dropshot, but I decided I needed to punt and go catch a limit. "I'd wanted to avoid cranking because of the rule that fish had to be hooked in the mouth, but I caught a quick limit and I realized I could get some bigger bites doing it. The more fish I caught on the crankbait, the more confidence I got that they'd be hooked in the mouth and the second day it produced a couple of big ones." He also caught a 5 1/2-pounder and a 5 on day 1 by drifting the dropshot around deep weed clumps. "That tipped me off to the right depth for that area. Then I just kept piecing things together a little more each day."

Dropshot gear: 7' medium-light Halo Daylight spinning rod, Shimano Stradic 2600 spinning reel, 20-pound Seaguar SmackDown braided line (main line), 8-pound Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon (20' leader), 3/8-ounce unnamed dropshot weight, 1/0 Gamakatsu G-Finesse hook, Jackall Cross Tail Shad (green-pumpkin). He colored the tails of the bait chartreuse with JJ's Magic dye. "It seemed to make a difference, especially when there was cloud cover," he said.

Cranking gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Halo Twilight rod, Shimano Metanium casting reel (6.2:1 ratio), 10-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, Rapala DT 10 (blueback herring).

Swimbait gear: 7'6" medium-heavy Halo Twilight rod, Shimano Metanium casting reel (7:1 ratio), 10-pound InvizX, 1/2-ounce Fish Head V-Lock jighead, unnamed 4" swimbait (sexy shad). He designed the V-Lock jighead, which he says will hold a swimbait in place without the need for glue.

Main factor: "Getting those two big bites on day 1 did a lot for my confidence."

Performance edge: "I'd say my Phoenix/Mercury for getting me around in those rough waves and my Lowrance electronics for helping me find the key weed clumps."

Lake St. Clair Patterns 2-5 BassFan 9/2/15 (John Johnson)