Check out what it took to win and contend on the Bassmasters American Major. Conventional wisdom suggests deeper water is the way to go this time of year on Wylie, but Wolak shrugged off that textbook approach when he discovered packs of fish along the banks.
Practice
Wolak had never fished Wylie before, but he knew from experience on similar lakes that deep water was the standard during mid-summer. During the first day of practice, he started in deeper water, but quickly discovered that approach wouldn’t work for him.
Next he tried shallow water and saw bass that were good-sized and accessible. “I saw a lot of fish cruising and just sitting in shallow water,” he said. “There were little wolfpacks hanging around the banks and attacking the shad.”
He tried to get them to strike with a number of baits, before he finally settled on a Zoom Ultravibe Horny Toad. He also found if he pitched a worm behind it, he could get some of the fish that wouldn’t hit the Horny Toad. Most of the fish were at a depth of between 6 inches and 2 feet.
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As he found more packs of fish, he marked them on his GPS so he could go back to them during the tournament. By the end of practice, he had a stockpile of points marked with quality fish.
Competition
Day 1: 5, 15-06
Day 2: 2, 4-13 (20-04)
Day 3: 5, 15-06
Day 4: 5, 10-08 (25-14)
On day 1, Wolak went back to his GPS points and started to catch fish. He bagged 15-06 and knew he had a pattern that could carry him through the tournament.
He tried the same pattern on day 2. The fish were there, but he had a tough day and only caught two keepers for 4-13. He didn’t catch any until the afternoon and one came at the end of the day. “I didn’t execute,” he said. “I missed a couple. I squeaked into the cut, but I was optimistic, because I knew my pattern would hold up.”
On day 3 he fished a frog and pounded the fish. He finished with his second 15-06 sack of the tournament and held a nearly 5-pound lead.
Day 4 was sunny and still, and he figured the frog wouldn’t be as effective, so he fished a worm and caught his target of 10 pounds to win the tournament. “I learned from day 2 that when it was super sunny and stagnant, they didn’t get that frog that well,” he said. “I fished with a worm a lot more. Knowing I only had to get about 10 pounds to win, I knew that was a better strategy.”
Winning Gear Notes
> Frog gear: 7’6″ unnamed flipping stick, unnamed reel, 50-pound unnamed braided line, Zoom Ultravibe Horny Toad.
> Spinning gear: 7′ unnamed rod, unnamed reel, 10-pound unnamed fluorocarbon line, 1/8oz weight, Zoom Finesse Worm (green pumpkin).
> Main factor in his success – “I did something a little bit off the wall that most guys wouldn’t have thought would win it. I pretty much ran with it and said this is what I’m going to do, and stuck with it.”
2nd: Kevin VanDam
> Day 1: 5, 16-04
> Day 2: 4, 9-07 (25-11)
> Day 3: 5, 9-02
> Day 4: 5, 13-13 (22-15)
When Kevin VanDam started the tournament, he felt deeper water would be the key to a victory, but he soon discovered shallow water would be more productive. Why? The bass were still hanging around the bream beds.
The first 2 days of the tournament, he concentrated on offshore structure with a jig. He worked the fish slowly and the approach got him 16-04 on the first day and 9-07 on day 2. However, he figured out the slow approach wouldn’t work for the six-hole format on the final 2 days.
So on day 3 he moved to shallow water and threw a mix of baits at the banks and docks. He landed 9-02 to make the final six. “The main thing was to target the secondary pockets in the creeks and find the bluegill beds,” he noted. “I was fishing the docks and everything that was in there. I was just using whatever I thought would work. I had 15 rods out on the deck.”
He stuck with the same strategy on day 4. He moved quickly from one area to the next as he attempted to find fish, and finished with 13-13 – the largest sack of the day.
> Flipping gear: 7’4″ heavy-action Quantum PT Series flipping stick, Quantum Energy Burner reel (7:1 gear ration), 20-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS fluorocarbon line, 5/16-ounce weight, 4/0 Mustad Big-Mouth Tube Hook, Strike King Craw Tube (green-pumpkin).
> Main factor in his success – “I think the biggest thing was working extremely hard and making accurate casts. Those docks are tough to fish. A lot of fish were suspended under the foam and you needed to put it right in there.”
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3rd: Gerald Swindle
> Day 1: 5, 12-00
> Day 2: 5, 14-04 (26-04)
> Day 3: 5, 10-07
> Day 4: 5, 11-14 (22-05)
During practice, Gerald Swindle figured his best bet for a victory was to flip shallow water, and he stuck with that pattern throughout the tournament. At times it was a struggle, but he found enough fish to stay in the hunt.
On day 1 he only had 1 keeper in the boat at 1:30, but he felt his pattern would produce if he stayed patient. He caught a pile in the last hour. Every day it was an all-day battle to catch five.When the fish didn’t bite, he had to remind himself that they would eventually, if he stayed with it.
“I just had to hunker down and wait for it to happen. You have to fish your pattern and stay mentally strong.”
> Flipping gear: 7’4″ heavy-action Quantum Tour Edition PT Gerald Swindle signature rod, Quantum Tour Edition PT reel (6.3:1), 15- and 20-pound Berkley G-String line, Zoom Trick Worm (watermelon, green-pumpkin).
> Main factor in his success – “The biggest key for me was patience. I had to make myself slow down to get the strikes. When you fished slow, you’d get the big ones.”
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4th: Jason Quinn
Day 1: 5, 9-02
Day 2: 5, 11-12 (20-14)
Day 3: 5, 8-06
Day 4: 5, 13-07 (21-13)
Like many other anglers, Jason Quinn figured the best bite would come in deep water. But once practice started, he discovered good fish were still shallow and he changed his mindset.
“The bluegill are usually done bedding by now, but this year they were still bedding and the bigger bass were still shallow up around the beds,” he noted. “They should have been back out there on deep structure.”
The first 2 days of the tournament, he concentrated on those shallow areas, but spectator traffic increased dramatically the final 2 days and he was forced to move to deeper water. He found that many of the fish were still in transition from shallow to deep, so they were tough to locate, but on day 4 he found some schools and caught his largest sack of the tournament (13-07) with a crankbait.
Every day the offshore structure kept getting better and in another week and it would have been different.
> Deep cranking gear: 7’10” medium-action Team All-Star crankbait rod, Pflueger President casting reel, 8-pound Shakespeare Supreme line, Rapala DT 16 (shad) or 3/4-ounce Luhr Jensen Hot Lips (green back) crankbaits.
> Topwater gear: 6’6″ medium All-Star Topwater Special rod, Shakespeare Supreme casting reel, 17-pound Shakespeare Supreme Super Tough line, Brian’s Bees Prop Bee (bluegill).
> Flipping gear: 7’6″ heavy All-Star Platinum flipping stick, Shakespeare Supreme casting reel, 20-pound Shakespeare Supreme Super Tough, 1/2-ounce Tru-Tungsten Jason Quinn jig.
> Main factor in his success – “I think the key to my success was staying focused and not letting everything around me affect me.”
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5th: Mark Menendez
Day 1: 5, 11-07
Day 2: 5, 8-09 (20-00)
Day 3: 5, 8-14
Day 4: 5, 10-05 (19-03)
On the first day of practice, Mark Menendez tried to fish deep structure, but couldn’t find any fish. Then he moved in along the banks and spotted some bluegill beds with bass on them. Once he saw those beds, he knew that’s what he’d fish during the tournament.
He threw both topwaters and jigs, but didn’t get many bites during the first 2 days of the tournament. He made the cut, but the last 2 days of the tournament weren’t any easier.
“The last day was excruciating,” he noted. “I was so worn out from the heat, it took me until about 10:30 to get in any kind of rhythm with my casting. In the last two holes, I caught my limit. They came on a topwater chugger.”
> Jig gear: 6’6″ medium-action Pflueger Trion rod, Shakespeare Supreme reel, 14-pound Shakespeare Supreme line, 3/8oz Strike King Premier Elite Jig (black/blue).
> Flipping gear: 7’6″ heavy Pflueger Trion rod, Pflueger President reel, 20-pound unnamed fluorocarbon line, 3/8oz Strike King Premier Elite Jig (black/blue).
> Casting gear: 7′ medium-heavy Pflueger rod, Shakespeare Supreme reel, 15-pound unnamed fluorocarbon, Strike King Spit-N-King (Arkansas shiner) or weightless Strike King 3X Plastic Bait – Zero (watermelon-red).
> Main factor in his success – “The key was being persistent and not panicking. Also, I only lost one fish. I fished a clean tournament.”
What a weird deal to be fishing Bluegill beds in July in NC, I have not seen bluegill beds in MN for weeks….
Rich
www.richlindgren.com
basstournament.blogspot.com
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