In a tournament where most if the top finishers were all doing the same thing (throwing topwaters) it was Davy Hite that was doing something different to bury the competition and run away with the “Pride of Augusta” tournament on Clarks Hill Reservoir.  You could say he “mopped up” the competition.

1st – Davy Hite relied on his years of experience that comes with living within 40 minutes of the lake.  He decided that going for ‘down fish’ rather than surface feeding fish would be the answer to this tournament.  They key was a Buckeye Pro Jig made by the same company that makes the Spot Remover.  Important factor was the large diameter living rubber skirt of the just that makes it look like a softball falling though the water.  He fished his jog on main lake shoals and points on days 1-3 and then on day 4 he switched to a Storm Wild Eye Swim Shad in a shad hues.

2nd – Kenyon Hill lived and died by the topwater by making milk runs from point to point with a Cotton Cordell Pencil Popper and Heddon Zara Spook .  He had a huge bag the first day but could never match that though the next 3 days.  He just made 10-15 casts at each spot and knew if he kept moving, he would find fish feeding on herring and catch them, it was just the lack of big bites that held him back.

3rd – Jason Quinn rotated between a Cotton Cordell Pencil Popperand a brown 1/2oz Tru-Tungsten Jig for when the fish were not chasing herring.  He also weighed a couple fish on a Gambler Super Stud soft jerkbait.  Quinn mainly focused on the blueback herring spawn on main lake shoals as well.

4th – Kevin Wirth fished a lot like Quinn except he carolina-rigged a Gulp! Sinking Minnow instead of a jig for his down fish.  80% of the fish were caught on a Super Spook topwater in a Lake Fork Shad color.  He mainly targeted main lake points but he did into some main pockets as well.

5th – Randy Howell actually got better as the tournament went on, which he attributes to just getting the timing down and hitting the right points at the correct times for prime activity of the herring & bass.    He also fished a Pencil Popper, but he would wait until fish started to crash before he would even make a cast.  He also caught 4 keepers on a 3/4oz Hawg Caller 3-blade spinnerbait in a blueback herring color.

I only wish we had topwater action like this in MN, sometimes on the Mississippi River, but that is about it.

Rich
www.richlindgren.com
basstournament.blogspot.com

Guntersville ended up being the most under whelming of the 4 Elite Series tournaments so far, but it still produced quality bags.  I guess I just expected more bags that would get anglers into the Busch Shootout.  Ike was the only to crack the Top 10 for the season, he is likely to get bumped at Clarks Hill or Champlain for sure.

1st: Mike Iaconelli – Ike fished about 50/50 deep vs. shallow.  Day 1 & 4 were predominantly sight fishing and the rest of the time was spent targeting pre & post spawn fish.  He used a finesse type presentation for the shallow fish using the a Berkley Beast & Gulp Noodle both with Tru-Tungsten Tungsten Sinkers .  He used a nail in the tail of the noodle to give it a reverse fall.   His deeper fish he targeted with chartreuse/blue back Frenzy & Rapala DT6 crankbaits.

2nd: Alton Jones – Alton Jones made it close, but he lost his biggest bite each of the 4 days and weighed two dead fish. He finished just 2 ounces behind Iaconelli, & like Ike, he had both deep fish and spawning fish.

Nearly all the deep fish he weighed bit a spinnerbait. “I was fishing it real slow on the outside edge of the hydrilla – anywhere from 7 to 15 feet deep. “That Booyah Spinnerbait (white with a single, gold willow-leaf blade) was definitely my main deal, but I had to mix it up with some spawning fish,” he added. “I wasn’t sight-fishing though. I was casting a Yum Dinger (green pumpkin) in good spawning areas where the water was a little too deep to see them.   He also lost a 7lb+ the last day on a Fat Free Shad .  It really seems like this was Jone’s tournament to lose.

3rd: Steve Kennedy – Kennedy focused exclusively on sight-fish, and for the most part, they were males.  Kennedy targeted mostly sandy spots along main lake points and main creeks.  The males ranged from 2.5 – 4.5 lbs, most of them likely guarding fry rather than spawning.  The baits of choice were a watermelon/green pumpkin laminate Smallie Beaver and a green pumpkin Kinami Flash .

4th: Kevin VanDam – Kevin VanDam was basically committed to his deep hydrilla fish. He tried some new things on the final day in a gamble to win, but they didn’t work. “I was mainly slow-rolling a 3/4-ounce spinnerbait around grass on ledges,” he said. “I was fishing on the outside edge – the deep side. “I’d slow-roll it, then try to shake it a lot and twitch it. I was trying to make it look like a wounded shad. You couldn’t just reel it straight.”   KVD’s spinnerbait of choice was a Strike King Premier Pro Model in a blue shad.  He also credits his Biosonix for activating shad with triggered more neutral fish into biting, you can find Biosonix units at Basspro.com.

5th: Gerald Swindle – Gerald Swindle fished deeper water all tournament. “I was slow-rolling a 1/2-ounce War Eagle Spinnerbait in main-river milfoil beds in 3 to 6 feet of water,” he said. The pattern also centered on the shad spawn.” He also noted that if a fish missed his spinnerbait, he’d fire back right away with a Lucky Craft LVR D-7 lipless crank.  He also used a new G-String low stretch mono that was developed for Berkley, it will be launched at ICAST show.

On to Clarks Hill….
Rich
www.richlindgren.com
basstournament.blogspot.com