Jeremy Starks wins Douglas Lake Challenge one fish at a time – BASS Results

May 7, 2012 By SiteOwner Leave a Comment

Method man

Jeremy Starks wins Douglas Lake Challenge one fish at a time

James Overstreet

Jeremy Starks wins the 2012 Elite Series Douglas Lake Challenge.

May 6, 2012

DANDRIDGE, Tenn. — Jeremy Starks confirmed for himself at least three things when he won the Douglas Lake Challenge on Sunday: 1) the shortest distance to a win on the deep Tennessee lake is a long line; 2) the best fish can come on the last few casts; and 3) victory happens one fish at a time.

Using an old, deep-cranking technique some pros call long-lining, Starks of Scott Depot, W.Va., was victorious at the Bassmaster Elite Series event with 81 pounds, 2 ounces. He came from second place to win by a margin of 2 pounds, 1 ounce over Britt Myers of Lake Wylie, S.C., thanks to three last-minute bass that allowed Starks to cull and improve his day’s weight.

It was Starks’ second Elite title, a long-awaited follow-up to his 2008 Elite win on Alabama’s Wheeler Lake. His Douglas Lake prize was $100,000 and a guaranteed berth in the 2013 Bassmaster Classic. The Classic qualification was a first for Starks.

“To make the Classic has been a lifelong goal of mine,” he said. “I’ve had an incredible year, and even Angler of the Year isn’t out of the question.”

Sunday’s win propelled Starks into 13th place in the points standings that determine the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year award.

Starks said that missing the 2011 season, which he sat out for medical reasons, might be helping him this year. Just to remind himself of his new goals, Starks begins each competition day by leaving a note to himself in waterproof marker on his left hand. Like many pros, he writes his check-in time. But Starks adds another line: “One at a time.”

“It’s made me fish completely different. Anytime I start to panic, I look down and see ‘one at a time.’ It’s a reminder that you don’t have to catch five fish in the first 10 minutes,” he said.

Perhaps the talisman worked. Starks excelled and did it on a lake he had not competed on before.

“I’d never even seen it,” he said. “But this lake fishes a lot like some of my home lakes [in West Virginia]. One — Summersville — is nearly identical to this. It’s smaller, but has the same deep structure with the same deep contours where the fish want to be.”

The similarities were enough to clue Starks in on the potential of a deep spot that held a huge school of bass. But he could also thank Myers for some inadvertent help.

On Day 1, Starks approached his first choice of spots and discovered that Myers had beat him to it. Starks left, went hunting and spotted some baitfish at the end of a deep point in Muddy Creek. His electronics showed him an enormous school of fish relating to a hump at the end of the point. He caught a limit from the spot, keying on the fish at the bottom, which seemed to bite readily.

To reach them, Starks employed the long-line (also called strolling) technique to drive his crankbait into the strike zone for a longer period of time than is possible with a traditional cast-and-retrieve technique. After a very long cast, he kept the reel in free-spool while moving the boat to force the crankbait deeper. When most of the line was played out —- or a bass took the bait — the spool was engaged and the reeling-in began.

Starks said the crucial ingredient in the long-lining recipe was speed.

“You had to absolutely crank the fire out of that reel,” he said.

His first day started with a break, but a debilitating headache drove him to shore at about noon. He lost hours of competition time and ended the day with 16-1 and in 12th place.

Recovered by Friday morning, he returned to his spot. The fish were still there, and no one else seemed to have discovered how to catch the deep bass; Starks had it to himself the rest of the competition. He took 23-1 from the spot Friday and moved up to third place, then another 19-11 Saturday for the runner-up spot behind Myers. He trailed Myers by almost 6 pounds.

At that point, Starks feared that the lost hours of Thursday would come back to haunt him. “It never left my mind today. I thought it was going to cost me,” he said Sunday.

Things got dicey when he returned Sunday to his huge school of bass, but the school was scattered. What was left, he caught by 2 p.m. With an estimated 20 minutes left in the competition to fish another spot, he ran downlake toward the dam — and found another magic deal.

“I thought I’d stop at the mouth of a creek thinking that if they started running current, then they would all stack up there,” Starks said, referring to the bass. “I idled by, saw some bait and on the first cast caught a 5-pounder. Then I caught a 4, lost two, then caught another. I culled three times in the last minutes.”

He said he then had only 9 minutes to get to the check-in point. He made it.

Starks said he caught all his fish on a Strike King 6 XD. He chose the blue chartreuse color for morning light, then switched to the sexy blue back herring finish when the sun rose higher.

Myers’ four-day tournament total was 79 pounds, 1 ounce. He caught 21-1 of his total the first day to tie at third place. On Day 2, he moved up into the lead after building a 24-1 sack, which turned out to be the tournament’s Berkley Big Bag.

On Day 3 he held on easily at No. 1 by weighing 19-8. His margin over Starks, his nearest challenger going into the final round, was 5-13. But his final bag of 14-7 missed the mark, and he took second place for the second time in two weeks in an Elite event.

“If I could finish in second place the rest of the year, it’s all good for Britt Myers,” he said, referring to his second-place finish at Bull Shoals on April 22.

Myers went deep for his bass, but unlike most of the 99-angler field, his strategy didn’t hinge on schools of fish. He targeted big, single bass he could see on his electronics. He also used the long-lining technique with two deep-diving crankbaits, a Strike King Series 6XD and a Luhr Jensen Hot Lips. When the wind was blowing, he turned to the noisy rattling Hot Lips. When he wanted a silent presentation, he reached for the 6XD.

Finishing third was Day 1 leader Aaron Martens of Leeds, Ala., with 74-5. Dean Rojas of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., was fourth with 73-13. Rounding out the Top 5 was Randy Howell of Springville, Ala., with 72-12.

The Douglas Lake Challenge results shook up the leaderboard in the 2012 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year race. With his fifth-place finish Sunday, Howell earned enough points to take over. He now sits 26 points ahead of David Walker of Sevierville, Tenn., who moved up one tick into second place. Former points leader Brent Chapman slipped to third.

Rookie Brandon Card of Caryville, Tenn., continued his climb up the points ladder. He not only remained the clear leader in the Bassmaster Rookie of the Year contest, he shot from 11th into fourth place in the overall points race, a remarkable accomplishment for a first-year Elite pro.

Several anglers earned bonuses at the Douglas Lake Challenge included:

Carhartt Big Bass of the tournament, which paid $750, plus another $750 if the angler was wearing Carhartt clothing: Byron Velvick for his 6-10 on Day 2
Berkley Heavyweight Award of $500 for the best five-fish limit: Britt Myers’ 24-1 of Day 1.
Power-Pole Captain’s Cash of $1,000 if the winner has Power-Poles installed on his boat: Jeremy Starks
Toyota $1,000 bonus to the leader in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year points race: Randy Howell with 358 points
Luck “E” Strike Comeback Award of $500 to the most-improved pro in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year points race: Andy Montgomery, from 62nd place to 36th place

The Douglas Lake Challenge will air on ESPN2 Sunday, May 13, at 8 a.m. ET, and again the same day at 10 a.m. ET, on ESPN Classic.

The Elite Series will travel next to Many, La., for the June 7-10 Toledo Bend Battle.

Special Thanks to

Bassmaster.com

Filed Under: Featured, General Tagged With: Jeremy Starks

Mike Iaconelli – Douglas Lake Day 1 – Interview – Video

May 3, 2012 By SiteOwner Leave a Comment

Catching up with Mike Iaconelli before the start of Day one on Lake Douglas. Take a listen to what he thought about the event, and get his opinion in what it would take to win

Filed Under: Featured, General

Late flurry lifts Dudley to winner’s circle

April 30, 2012 By SiteOwner Leave a Comment

Late flurry lifts Dudley to winner’s circle

David Dudley celebrates after learning he won the FLW Tour event on Beaver Lake. (Photo by Brett Carlson)

Virginia angler claims fourth tour win on Beaver Lake

29.Apr.2012 by Brett Carlson
ROGERS, Ark. – As a rule of thumb, it is never wise to count David Dudley out of any professional bass fishing tournament. At noon Sunday, Dudley only had three average Beaver Lake bass in his livewell. Reports of big stringers from Andy Morgan, Luke Clausen and Scott Canterbury made Dudley’s fortunes look bleak. Just when he was about to retreat to one of his spotted bass schools, it clicked. And then it was vintage fourth-quarter Dudley.The first fish of the flurry was a 3 1/2-pound largemouth caught on a homemade umbrella rig. Most importantly, it kept Dudley from leaving his largemouth areas. An hour later he made another adjustment, this time putting down the umbrella rig and picking up a wacky rig. After moving to a steep, wind-blown bank, Dudley caught a 3-pounder, and then shortly after a 4-pounder and another 4-pounder and it was on. When it was over, Dudley finished with a final-day weight of 16 pounds, 9 ounces. And with that, the Castrol pro put to bed any notion of the Walmart FLW Tour Major being won up the river.“The key decision was to stay on the largemouths, because I had like 10 or 12 schools of spotted bass located. It was tempting, but I knew in the back of my mind they (the spotted bass) wouldn’t play. What I did today was like hitting two grand slams in the last inning of a baseball game. It was one of the best runs I have ever been on in my life. Every choice I made was a good one.”While the umbrella rig with willow blades and swimbaits was Dudley’s main presentation, the wacky rig proved critical. Immediately after he picked it up Sunday everything changed.

“That really jump started me. From there, everywhere I stopped was big one, big one, big one.”

In total, 13 of Dudley’s 20 fish came from the umbrella rig and seven came from the wacky rig. While many others described their umbrella-rig patterns as focused on shad, Dudley said his was random and just about every bite was a surprise. He decided to focus on the main-lake portion around Deer and Bear islands simply because he believes that’s where the greatest concentration of largemouths lives.

For those that aren’t familiar with the Lynchburg, Va., angler, his motto is “never be satisfied.” He hates to finish anything but first and frequently cites second place as the first loser. Dudley dedicated this week to his 95-year-old grandmother who is fighting for her life. Before he left for the Ozarks, his grandmother told him she’d pray for big fish. With that power of prayer, her grandson delivered.

“You can go now granny,” Dudley said via FLW Live. “This is all for you.”

While much of the attention this week once again centered on the reemergence of umbrella rigs, Dudley credited his latest victory to decision making.

“The Alabama rig works, but it’s just one tool, not a cure-all tool. Fishing is not just about skill. It’s about the mental game, the decisions. Decisions are what separate anglers in this sport.”

Dudley’s four-day cumulative weight was 54 pounds, 7 ounces and he never weighed anything but a largemouth, something that he’s never done in over a decade fishing the White River impoundment. He earned another $125,000, bringing his all-time FLW record up to $2.88 million. Counting the Ranger M1, this was Dudley’s fifth major title and fourth tour title.

Morgan surges to second

Andy Morgan was steady during the first three days of competition and then made a serious run – catching 17-8 the final day to finish in second place with 53 pounds, 15 ounces. Morgan, a noted shallow-water flipper, said he has learned his lesson about heading south of the Highway 12 Bridge and fishing up the river. Instead, he stuck relatively close to the launch and fished an umbrella rig, much like Dudley. Morgan oftentimes was seen away from the pack as far east as Ford’s Creek, and thus his areas didn’t receive as much pressure.

Morgan’s umbrella rig was a smaller version made by Power Tackle called the Get ‘em Going Rig and he used Zoom Swimmin Super Fluke Jr.’s in albino color. The Dayton, Tenn., pro said structure wasn’t as important as the presence of bait and wind. He threw it shallow on the bank as well as in 7 to 8 feet of water.

“I winded it on bluff walls in the wind and on flat areas with shad,” he said. “I also threw it some on mudlines. I would say most of my fish came in the back third of the creeks. Paying attention to the wind was important, unless the shad were there, then that was the most important factor.”

Morgan’s lone FLW Tour win came at Beaver back in 2007. At that tournament, he had to scrounge up a small limit on a finesse worm. After weighing 17-8 the final day, he’s impressed with the Beaver.

“This is a new Beaver Lake. It’s back; there’s no doubt about it.”

Humble as always, Morgan took the news of his record 50th FLW top-10 finish in stride.

“That’s great, but that just means I’ve been at this a long time.”

For finishing in second place, he earned $35,000.

Clausen falls to third

In a normal Beaver Lake event, catching limits of 14-5 and 12-0 the final two days would be considered a success. But Luke Clausen did that this year and fell from first to third. He finished the tournament with a total weight of 53 pounds, 9 ounces, earning $30,000.

“I let it slip through my hands because I didn’t make the right decisions,” said the former Forrest Wood Cup and Bassmaster Classic champion. “I probably had too much confidence in my areas today and should have ran some other water. I just couldn’t generate much for bites.”

Like Dudley and Morgan, Clausen was on the umbrella-rig main-lake program. He used a compact umbrella rig, 3-inch swimbaits and 3/16-ounce jigheads.

“In the morning I would start on steeper rock bluffs in 8 to 12 feet of water. As the day wore on I would gravitate to more flat, shallow stuff like pea gravel bank.”

Clausen said he got on the umbrella-rig pattern late during his prefish and essentially practiced all week.

“The more I learned the deeper I fished, especially in the morning. But that didn’t hold up today.”

Clausen’s next challenge will be to defend his Potomac River title from 2011.

Canterbury falls to fourth

Just as he did on day three, Scott Canterbury caught the fire out of the bass today. The only difference was that he didn’t get the big kicker bites. He still managed a limit weighing 10 pounds, 8 ounces, pushing his total weight to 52 pounds, 13 ounces. The Straight Talk pro earned $25,000 for fourth.

“I probably caught 30 fish again today, just not the right ones,” said the Springville, Ala., pro.

Earlier in the week he sampled Prairie Creek, but Canterbury immediately ran south to War Eagle Creek this morning. While he caught several keepers right away, he noticed the presence of shad was largely gone.

His bread and butter was the smaller version of the Swim N’ Frenzy, the same umbrella rig Spencer Shuffield took second with on Table Rock Lake, but with Berkley Hollow Belly swimbaits. During his big-fish flurry on day three, Canterbury caught a 4-pounder on a Jackall Bowstick and a 4-pounder flipping a jig with a Sasuteki craw. The day-three leader would cover water with the umbrella until he encountered certain lay-downs he wanted to flip.

Canterbury said after weigh-in that he fished his hardest and has no regrets. He did lose a 2 1/2-pounder late in the day that would have moved him up, but wouldn’t have overcome Dudley.

“You want to win when you get in position, and believe me I want it bad. Coming into this week I just wanted to make a top 50 because I’ve never done that here before. Now I’m actually looking forward to coming back.”

Browne fifth

Glenn Browne proved it’s possible to fish dirty water up the river successfully for four days on Beaver Lake. But even after catching 51 pounds, 14 ounces, the Dr. Pepper TEN pro still finished fifth and claimed a moral victory.

“I started back in War Eagle Creek like I had been doing the past three days but it wasn’t working,” said Browne. “At noon, I didn’t have a keeper so I scrambled and went up further up the White River.”

Browne instinctively surveyed the area with a Super Spook Jr. topwater bait and never had to put it down.

“After that, I just whacked them. I probably caught 25 fish in the afternoon. I wish I would’ve gone there earlier.”

Most of the week Browne threw a 1/2-ounce Screamin Eagle spinnerbait made by War Eagle. He’d cover water until he came up on an appealing lay-down, then he’d flip with his signature black and neon Gambler tube. The specific area Browne targeted is known as the 50-cent hole.

“Today I only caught one flipping and the rest came on the topwater.”

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 pros at the FLW Tour event on Beaver Lake:

6th: Jay Yelas of Corvallis, Ore., 50-5, $17,000

7th: Charlie Evans of Gilbertsville, Ky., 46-10, $16,000

8th: Jacob Powroznik of Prince George, Va., 45-14, $15,000

9th: Kelley Jaye of Dadeville, Ala., 40-2, $14,000

10th: Brad Rightnour of Mingoville, Pa., 38-12, $13,000

The next FLW Tour event is slated for the Potomac River in National Harbor, Md., May 17-20, the fourth of six Majors.

Special thanks to Everyone at FLW.com

http://www.flwoutdoors.com

Filed Under: Featured, General

Palaniuk Cranks Out Win – Elite Series Reults – Bull Shoales Lake 4-23-12

April 23, 2012 By SiteOwner Leave a Comment

James Overstreet

Brandon Palaniuk set his eyes on this trophy from the start, and focused on little else until the end.

By Cara D. Clark

Apr 22, 2012

Editor’s note: The Bassmaster Elite Series TroKar Quest on Bull Shoals Lake will air on April 29 from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET on ESPN2 and from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. ET on ESPN Classic. For more details on Bassmaster event airings, including Elite Series events, please click here.

BULL SHOALS, Ark. — Brandon Palaniuk may have $100,000 in the bank after his win today at the Bassmaster Elite Series TroKar Quest at Bull Shoals Lake, but that’s not going to change his lifestyle. He planned to spend Sunday night sleeping in his pickup truck, just as he has every night this week and during most other tournaments.

“It’s just easy,” said Palaniuk, who beds down in his covered pick-up bed near launch sites. “I’ve got power and a shower, and it’s close to the water. That’s all I need. And it’s free. A hundred thousand dollars doesn’t go as far as it used to.”

The 24-year-old angler from Rathdrum, Idaho, began the final round with a forbidding lead of 12-pounds, 13 ounces, after weighing in the heaviest five-bass limits each of the first three days.

Although his final string was much lighter than usual, his four-day total of 78 pounds, 6 ounces gave him a double-digit margin over Britt Myers of Lake Wylie, S.C., who had 66 pounds, 8 ounces. The rest of the field was much closer. Myers outranked Trussville, Ala., pro Matt Herren’s four-day total of 66-7 by just 1 ounce.

Edwin Evers of Talala, Okla., took fourth place with the day’s biggest bag of 17-11 for a tournament total of 66 pounds, and Brent Chapman of Quivira, Kan., was fifth with 64-7. Chapman took over the lead for Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year with his performance at Bull Shoals.

Palaniuk found his winning area in the west Sugar Loaf part of Bull Shoals Lake. The area held ideal spawning habitat — flat gravel banks and brush, as well as offshore structure with a roadbed across the back of the spawning pocket.

“The fish were only a couple of hundred yards away from where they wanted to spawn,” Palaniuk said. “It was a quick two- to three-minute swim from where they wanted to hang and where they wanted to spawn. I honestly had the best area in the lake.”

It’s a textbook structure spot, and one that other competitors in the Trokar Quest tried during practice. None had the confidence in it that Palaniuk did. The young angler found it on a lake map, and on his first cast to the spot in practice, he caught a 3 ½-pound bass on it. That validated his game plan and gave him confidence he could win, even before competition began.

Palaniuk fished deep-diving crankbaits – a Rapala DT16 in a blueback herring color and a Strike King 6XD in brown ghost craw. He fished them on an Abu Garcia Veritas rod with a Revo Winch reel in a 5.4:1 gear ratio. “The DT 16 series is my confidence bait,” he said. “I caught my entire 24-4 bag on Day 2 on that.”

A key to getting bites, he explained, was to hit the submerged rockpiles around the roadbed from precisely the right angle. The rockpiles were about the size of a boat deck, and a miss of 1 or 2 feet wouldn’t get a bite.

Palaniuk also praised his Hydrowave unit, an electronic device that mimicks the sound of baitfish, for triggering bites from bigger bass. “After I would turn it on, I would catch a 3- or 4-pounder,” he said.

Myers, whose previous top spot in a Bassmaster Elite was seventh, felt as if second place was a win for him after a slow start to the 2012 season. The weather affected his fishing today, making all the difference to his tournament.

“It got really rough, and I made a NASCAR move,” said Myers who hails from Lake Wylie South Carolina. “I came back about 35 minutes early, because it was rougher than I anticipated. I might have won the tournament that way if Brandon didn’t make it back.”

Myers’ move paid off. He caught a 3-plus pound smallmouth right next to the dock, improving his bag by that critical ounce.

Myers’ key bait was a Rapala DT10 on 10-pound-test Berkley fluorocarbon line. He used a Pinnacle 6.3:1 reel with a 7-11 cranking stick.

“That was key, because I could launch that DT10, which was designed to run 8 or 9 feet, and I could get it down to 10 or 12. The fish were on the ledge. They were close to the bank but it wasn’t a bank deal.

Herren said a combination of the water clearing and the level falling caused him to lose track of the fish. Yesterday, with two hours left of fishing, the Trussville, Ala., angler located them again in the main channel. He followed up with that strategy today, pulling in 75 using the M Series green pumpkin jig.

Evers boated his 17-11 bag today by fishing any windblown point with a mudline, using a square-billed crankbait Xcs Excalibur 200 and 300 size.

“You could catch a 3-1/2-pounder on the points,” he said. “I caught a bunch, but just ran out of time.”

One of the youngest anglers in the Series, Palaniuk launched his career in the Elites with a win in the B.A.S.S. Federation National Championship, in 2010. He finished in the Top 5 in his first Classic and was the first Federation Nation champion to join the Elite Series.

First prize in the TroKar Quest is $100,000 and a qualification for the 2013 Bassmaster Classic. Pros are also fishing to rack up points that count toward postseason entry, Classic qualification and the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year award.

Carhartt Big Bass of the tournament, which paid $750, plus another $750 if the angler was wearing Carhartt clothing: Zell Rowland’s 6-13 on Day 2. Berkley Heavyweight Award of $500 for the best five-fish limit: Brandon Palaniuk’s 24-4 on Day 2. Power-Pole Captain’s Cash of $1,000 if the winner has Power-Poles installed on his boat: Brandon Palaniuk

Toyota $1,000 bonus to the leader in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year points race: Brent Chapman with 286 points.

Luck “E” Strike Comeback Award of $500 to the most-improved pro in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year points race: Brandon Palaniuk

Special Thanks to

Bassmasters.com

Filed Under: General Tagged With: Brandon Palaniuk

Oakley Big Bass – Smith Mountain Lake 4.22.12 Winner

April 22, 2012 By SiteOwner Leave a Comment

Their were 502 participants in the two day Oakley Big Bass event held on Smith Mountain lake. This event pays pays back cash for big fish for the top five places each hour of the event. Congratulations to all that received a check. But the man that took the brand new Nitro Z7 home was Phillip Cox with a Big Fish weight of 7.18 Lbs.. Check out the results of the results bellow…

Take a Look at the Weather Conditions for Day two of this event

Results: Blue Ridge Big Bass Classic
Overall
Rank Angler Weight
1 Phillip Cox 7.18
2 Kyle Whisnant 6.31
3 Cory White 6.02
4 Jarrett Cecile 5.89
5 Russ Simpson 5.83
6 Morris Dickens 5.76
7 Andrea Miller 5.70
8 Bill Hayes 5.64
9 Cody Pike 5.62
10 Travis Whitt 5.56

Saturday 8-9
Rank Angler Weight
1 Jarrett Cecile 5.89
2 Kevin Lankford 4.92
3 Jason Carwile 4.59
4 Philp Ofrias 4.38
5 John Kern 4.08

Satuday 9-10
Rank Angler Weight
1 Jeremy Hammond 5.46
2 Tim Bailey 5.36
3 Chris Dillow 4.39
4 Kevin Lankford 3.76
5 Jody White 3.47

Saturday10-11
Rank Angler Weight
1 Travis Whitt 5.56
2 David Pomeroy 4.17
3 Lane Largen 4.06
4 Jeff Taylor 3.91
5 Matt Kluender 3.82

Saturday 11-12
Rank Angler Weight
1 Kyle Whisnant 6.31
2 Cody Pike 5.62
3 Buster McRoy 4.56
4 Thomas Wooten 4.04
5 Carson Rejzer 3.91

Saturday 12-1
Rank Angler Weight
1 James Cassaday 4.97
2 Kyle Whisnant 4.67
3 Derick Hudson 4.58
3 Ron Butler 4.58
4 Phillip VanDerMeer 4.53

Saturday 1-2
Rank Angler Weight
1 Rick Lawson 4.94
2 Jeffrey Rogers 4.56
3 TJ Hebb 4.39
4 Jody Draper 4.31
5 Travis McLaughlin 4.12

Saturday 2-3
Rank Angler Weight
1 Cory White 6.02
2 Allen Faw 4.61
3 Joseph Perdue 4.44
4 Bill Hayes 4.43
5 David Hohenbrink 4.38

Sunday 8-9
Rank Angler Weight
1 Phillip Cox 7.18
2 Paul Mcdowell 4.22
3 AJ Smith 4.10
4 L.T. Markham 3.76
5 Paul Sarver 2.86

Sunday 9-10
Rank Angler Weight
1 AJ Smith 5.41
2 Joseph Mayberry 4.86
3 Michael Brogan 4.78
4 Monte Atkins 4.30
5 Leroy Miller 4.20

Sunday 10-11
Rank Angler Weight
1 Russ Simpson 5.83
2 Harold Hower 5.46
3 Ronald Lemons 4.78
4 Thomas Whitmore 4.41
5 Charles Maychek 4.19

Sunday 11-12
Rank Angler Weight
1 Andrea Miller 5.70
2 Geoff Hill 4.89
3 Bradley Houchins 4.84
4 James Cassaday 4.52
5 Ryan Payne 4.10

Sunday 12-1
Rank Angler Weight
1 Bill Hayes 5.64
2 JD Perdue 4.70
3 Dennis Stump 4.47
4 Justin McNeal 4.43
5 Tim Goff 4.34

Sunday 1-2
Rank Angler Weight
1 Bill Hayes 5.51
2 Harve Burdette 4.33
3 Gregg Basham 4.10
4 David Fraley 4.09
5 Dennis Brown 3.97

Sunday 2-3
Rank Angler Weight
1 Morris Dickens 5.76
2 Dave Perdue 5.10
3 Timothy Shortridge 4.80
4 Rick Riddle 4.12
5 Leonard Law 3.99

View All

Filed Under: Featured, General Tagged With: Oakley Big Bass, Phillip Cox, Smith Mountain Lake

Flw Pro Brent Long Wins on Table Rock 4.1.12 – Results

April 2, 2012 By SiteOwner Leave a Comment

Pro winner Brent Long holds up his two biggest bass from day four on Table Rock Lake. (Photo by Brett Carlson)

Long claims second Walmart FLW Tour win in namesake creek

01.Apr.2012 by Brett Carlson
BRANSON, Mo. – Brent Long had no intention of fishing near the takeoff site at the Walmart FLW Tour Major on Table Rock Lake. As a known shallow, dirty-water fisherman, Long had planned on running way up one of the lake’s three main rivers. But after he misread the GPS in his truck and made an incorrect turn, he noticed the water in Long Creek was red brown – the exact color he was looking for. At that moment, the North Carolina pro knew he would spend all of his time in that aptly-named area.For a lake as massive as Table Rock, one of the most compelling storylines was the fact that all five of the top finishers were basically in the same area – south of the 86 Bridge near Table Rock State Park. Thanks to recent rains, the water there was cooler and dirty – which allowed fishermen to avoid the spawning bass, which were laying everywhere but were nearly impossible to catch.

While most in the area fished crankbaits, Long concentrated on one technique – flipping what he called “trash” for prespawn largemouths. In reality it was a mixture of sticks, stumps and lay-downs – any wood that had washed up on shore since the water came up a week ago. Long flipped the wood with either a black and blue jig made by Ernest Langley (tipped with a Charlie’s Chunk) or a Charlie’s Worms Flippin’ Bug. Long would make several pitches at each piece, starting at the outside and working his way in.

“I grew up watching and idolizing Hank Parker and Denny Brauer; they were dirty, shallow-water fishermen,” Long said. “But it’s so hard to win a tournament shallow nowadays because those fish get so beat up; you almost have to find a school. But that’s what I like to do; that’s what I do best.”

As the tournament progressed, Long worried that the water was clearing up and that there was less and less cover to probe. In fact, several of the places he caught them the first two days are now high and dry. While Spencer Shuffield mounted a furious charge, a strong morning bite was enough to put the Cornelius, N.C., pro back in the winner’s circle.

“I was catching them as they moved up,” added the 2010 Lake Guntersville champion. “I was fishing the steeper banks because they had been pulling water all week. I’m glad I don’t have to fish tomorrow because the water’s getting so low I don’t have any more cover in the water and it’s clearing up.”

Interestingly, Long said the prespawn bass were not relating to the bushes. He could never figure out why, but the cover had to be horizontal, not vertical.

Long’s third cast of the day yielded a 6 1/2-pounder. The morning bite all but stalled at 10 a.m. until Long finally coaxed a 5-pounder around lunchtime. His final-day weight registered 19 pounds, 14 ounces, pushing his total to 78 pounds, 13 ounces. The 41-year-old Long earned $125,000.

“When I won Guntersville we decided to start building a new home. I’m a general contractor when I’m not fishing and because the economy has slowed, we had to put those plans on hold. The best part about this is that we just restarted construction so we can really use the money.”

Long also said he won for his mother, who celebrated her birthday on day one of the tournament. Compared to his first victory, the fifth-year pro said it’s the same unbelievable feeling all over again.

“When you win one, they can say you just got lucky, you are a one-hit wonder. When you win two, I think that solidifies you as a good angler.”

Shuffield second by 7 ounces

The younger Shuffield is already making some serious noise in just his fourth tournament as a professional. The 2011 Co-angler of the Year crushed the Table Rock bass this week on a modified umbrella rig called the Swim N’ Frenzy. With shorter wires, smaller Keitech Swing Impact swimbaits and tiny willow blades, the entire rig can be thrown and pitched with ease. While Missouri state law allows only three hooks, Shuffield has already won a BFL event on Lake Ouachita with the bigger five-hook version.

Early in the week, the Bismarck, Ark., pro fished the Frenzy around channel swings and standing timber in 8 to 15 feet of water. But on the final day he went shallow and threw it around bushes the way one would work a traditional spinnerbait. Proving its versatility, it worked to the tune of 22 pounds, 13 ounces.

“They got up there last night and started doing their thing and I just instinctively figured it out,” said Shuffield. “The last three days all of my fish have been fat and healthy (prespawn) but today they were bloody and had battle scars (from spawning).”

At first, Shuffield didn’t like the development of the umbrella rig. But he’s learned to embrace it and recently has won several tournaments back home with it. After a disappointing Hartwell event, he worked with Rick Powell on designing a smaller, compact version.

“I know the downsizing made all the difference. I had co-anglers throw the standard version behind me and they weren’t catching nearly the same amount I was.”

Shuffield also weighed four bass this week by sight-fishing with Typhoon sunglasses. He purposely targeted deeper beds because those bass were more apt to bite. Shuffield mostly fished in Cow Creek.

For finishing in second place with a total weight of 78 pounds, 6 ounces, he earned $35,000.

“I was close. Looking back, there were so many opportunities lost. I thought I was going to do it and I kept telling my cameraman I needed one more 4-pounder and it just never came.”

Morrow rises to third

After a disappointing day one in which he finished 97th, Troy Morrow steadily climbed the leaderboard the rest of the week. After catching a 21-pound, 13-ounce stringer Sunday he rose from eighth all the way to third and finished with a total weight of 70 pounds, 13 ounces, earning $30,000.

“My goal today was to make the top five,” said the Eastanollee, Ga., pro. “First thing this morning I stopped a couple hundred yards from takeoff on a smallmouth. I caught her and then I had a limit with a big fish by 8 this morning.”

Morrow worked both the clear and the dirty water near the State Park. On day one, he sampled the clear water and struggled. He thrived in the dirty water on days two and three but a gut instinct told him to return to the clear water Sunday due to the boat pressure in the dirty water. It turned out to be the right decision.

“In the clear water, I was using an original Wiggle Wart painted by Xtreme Lure Creations in a green pumpkin crawfish pattern,” said Morrow. “What can you say about the Wiggle Wart? We keep throwing them and the bass don’t seem to figure it out because they keep eating them.”

In dirty-water areas, Morrow would opt for standard squarebill crankbaits.

“Other than missing some fish on day one, I’m really happy with how it played out. I had a good practice with three things going – the Wart, a Swarm (umbrella rig) and the squarebills. I weighed one Swarm fish, four Wart fish and 14 squarebill fish.”

Brownlee adjusts, rises to fourth

Clint Brownlee caught a hefty 18-pound, 8-ounce stringer Sunday and climbed from ninth to finish the tournament in fourth place. His total weight was 67 pounds, 6 ounces – earning $25,000.

“I was catching most of my fish out a bit in the 5- to 10-foot range,” said the Tifton, Ga., pro. “When the water started dropping, I decided to fish steeper banks.”

Brownlee said he felt most comfortable in the dirty water and never had inclination to play the sight-fishing game in the clear water. His key baits were Strike King 3XD and a Lucky Craft 1.5 crankbait in browns and crawfish colors.

“It’s been a fun week but my shoulder is tired. I’ve never done well before on Table Rock so were expecting to leave Friday.”

Brownlee too fished the lower end of the lake near the State Park Marina in Brush Creek and Long Creek among others.

Hometown King falls to fifth

After a brutally tough practice, Stacey King was happy to dial into a solid prespawn pattern – targeting flat points in 8 to 10 feet of dirty water. He threw a Rapala DT in both red crawdad and brown crawdad color and his bite was particularly effective when the wind blew from the south.

“It was a good program, but I think stuck with it too long,” said the veteran pro. “I knew we were coming up on the tail end, but all those staging fish evaporated today. It’s tough to leave something that’s been that good to you. You’re constantly thinking your next cast will be that big bite that you need.”

The local Reeds Spring, Mo., resident caught four bass worth 7 pounds, 14 ounces Sunday – by far his lightest sack of the week. King’s four-day cumulative weight registered 63 pounds, 13 ounces, good enough for fifth place and $20,000. King’s 8-pounder from day two officially goes in the books as the heaviest bass of the tournament.

“I’ve exceeded my expectations in this tournament. I said after the first two days that if I didn’t catch another bass in the finals I’d be happy and I am.”

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 pros at the FLW Tour event on Table Rock Lake:

6th: Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, S.C., 62-9, $17,000

7th: Chris Baumgardner of Gastonia, N.C., 62-1, $16,000

8th: Jason Christie of Park Hill, Okla., 61-11, $15,000

9th: Kyle Welcher of Opelika, Ala., 60-2, $14,000

10th: Clent Davis of Montevallo, Ala., 56-5, $13,000

The next FLW Tour event is slated for Beaver Lake in Rogers, Ark., April 26-29, the third of six Majors.

Filed Under: Featured, General

Alton Jones wins St. Johns Showdown

March 20, 2012 By SiteOwner Leave a Comment

James Overstreet

Alton Jones finally got the win he’d been searching for. The St. Johns tournament played on one of his strengths: sight fishing.

By Deb Johnson

Mar 18, 2012

PALATKA, Fla. — Alton Jones’ Sunday victory on the St. Johns River was all the sweeter for the redemption sprinkled on top.

He finally got the St. Johns Bassmaster Elite Series win that slipped through his fingers last season. That memory, and the fact that he ran out of time Sunday to entice a lunker he could see on a bed, gave the pro from Woodway, Texas, a few tense moments as he was waiting for the final-day trek to the scales. He was feeling shaky despite the 9-pound lead he had going into the day.

But win he did, with 75 pounds, 9 ounces and by a margin of 1 pound, 2 ounces, over runner-up Todd Faircloth of Jasper, Texas.

“I am absolutely speechless that I won. I entered the weigh-in line today thinking I had lost this tournament. It was a complete reversal of fortune from last year,” he said. “That’s all gone now. It always feels good to win.”

What he won was $100,000 and an instant berth in the 2013 Bassmaster Classic. He also is leading the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year race.

“That’s what I’m most excited about,” he said. “To have a Classic qualification frees me up to really go for Angler of the Year, take a few more risks in other tournaments this season.”

Jones said on Sunday he tried to ignore his 9-pound lead, knowing one lunker off a bed by one of the pros chasing him would be his undoing.

“I knew I had to go out and pretend like I was 2 pounds behind,” said Jones, who won the Bassmaster Classic in 2008 and has won four other Bassmaster events but had never landed an Elite Series win.

Faircloth’s 20-pound, 10-ounce bag of Sunday could have stopped Jones in his tracks if only Jones had stumbled a bit. And Jones almost did. His 12-11 of Sunday was his lightest over four days, and he had to work hard to get that.

“I left it all out on the water,” said Jones, a pro’s way of saying he did everything he could think of to win.

Jones started the St. Johns River Showdown under the radar: 17th place after Day One. He became a big player with his Day Two sack of 28-7 — the tournament’s largest — and he snapped up the lead by more than 7 pounds. By the third day, he was up by 9 pounds.

Jones relied on sight fishing all four days in several areas of the river’s Lake George.

“I wasn’t around a lot of fish, I was just around a few good fish,” he said. “The important thing was to be in an area where the fish were wanting to spawn, and that I probably moved faster than a lot of the guys out there. And not stopping and locking up on the little ones was the key.”

Each day, he intentionally left some of the males on beds so that they’d draw the bigger females he knew he would need to excel at the scales.

He said his primary lure of the week was a 6-inch junebug-colored Yum Dinger; it was the bait that brought him all his fish heavier than 4 pounds. Junebug is the color he automatically ties on when fishing in Florida.

“I have a lot of confidence in that color, and if it’s working, I don’t switch it,” he said.

His largest bass of Sunday, which he described as a “5-something female,” he caught at about 11:30. He said he spent the remainder of the day searching for larger fish, and filling his limit with a few smaller ones. He spent his last two hours of the tournament trying for a bedding female in the 6-pound class.

“I really thought I was going to catch her. She was behaving right, but there just wasn’t enough time to do it,” Jones said. “I knew if I caught that fish, I’d win this tournament. Honestly, I thought that if I didn’t catch that fish, I was really leaving the door open for someone else.”

And he knew the “someone else” was probably Faircloth, but Faircloth ended the day where he began it, runner-up to Jones.

Faircloth said he fished clean, with no mistakes and in keeping with a sight fishing plan that he stuck with.

“I really felt good about today, like I had a shot at the win. I never felt like I was out of it. I knew Alton would have to have a day like he had today for me to catch him, but I was just that one fish short,” Faircloth said.

“I had a 3 1/2-pounder, so if I had caught another 4- or 5-pounder, it would have been real close. I could sit here and go through the ‘woulda-coulda-shoulda,’ but I trusted my instincts and I don’t know what else I would have done differently.”

Like Jones, Faircloth fished Lake George, but he said they didn’t share water. His final two days, he keyed in on a line between eelgrass and dollar-pad vegetation that had a slightly harder bottom attractive to bass as good bedding sites. The bass he got from that area was what pulled him up from 19th place on the first day and into contention by Day Four.

Faircloth’s primary lures were a Yamamoto Senko in watermelon black flake and a Yamamoto Flappin’ Hog.

The other Top 5 finishers in the St. Johns River Showdown were Keith Combs of Huntington, Texas, who climbed from 46th on Day One to take third place with 71-2; Brent Chapman of Lake Quivira, Kan., with a steady performance over four days for fourth place with 67-8; and Skeet Reese of Auburn, Calif., in fifth with 64-5.

Local favorite Terry Scroggins of San Mateo, Fla., finished sixth with 60-11, a big move from 35th place on Day One. First-day leader J Todd Tucker of Moultrie, Ga., finished 12th with 51-15.

Bonuses earned by anglers at the St. Johns River Showdown included:

Carhartt Big Bass of the tournament, which paid $750, plus another $750 if the angler was wearing Carhartt clothing: Greg Hackney’s 10-9 of Day One
Berkley Heavyweight Award of $500 for the best five-fish limit: Jones’ 28-7 of Day Two
Power-Pole Captain’s Cash of $1,000 if the winner has Power-Poles installed on his boat: Jones
Toyota $1,000 bonus to the leader in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year points race: Jones

Elite Series competition continues this week with the Power-Pole Slam on Florida’s famed Lake Okeechobee. The event will begin Thursday and run through Sunday at C. Scott Driver Park, Highway 78 West in Okeechobee, Fla. As always, fans can watch the Elite Series event in person and online at Bassmaster.com, which provides free, full access to all pages and features.

Filed Under: General

Ehrler captures FLW Tour title on Lake Hartwell

March 12, 2012 By SiteOwner Leave a Comment

Brent Ehrler wrestles another one to the boat. (Photo by Rob Newell)

California pro nets fourth FLW Tour victory in dominating fashion

11.Mar.2012 by Gary Mortenson

ANDERSON, S.C. – All week long, Brent Ehrler of Redlands, Calif., said that he didn’t want to be in first place until after the final day of competition on Lake Hartwell. Well, he lived up to his word. Using a whopping 20-pound, 5-ounce catch as a springboard during Sunday’s finals, Ehrler effectively ran away with the title – boasting a total catch of 74 pounds, 13 ounces to walk away with the fourth FLW Tour victory of his career by out-fishing his next closest competitor by more than 3 full pounds.

If it wasn’t clear before, it’s certainly obvious now that Ehrler is fishing as well as anyone on the planet. And that’s no exaggeration. In addition to today’s Lake Hartwell victory, Ehrler has won the Forrest Wood Cup title (2006), the FLW Tour event on Lake Ouachita (2010), the FLW Tour Table Rock Lake contest (2010), two FLW Series titles (Lake Havasu in 2009 and Lake Shasta in 2010), and the 2004 EverStart Series Championship.

In addition, Ehrler boasts 29 top-10 finishes in FLW events since 2003 as well as over $1.86 million in career earnings. He has recorded two angler-of-the-year titles (EverStart Series Western Division in 2003 and FLW Series Western Division in 2010), finished runner-up in the FLW Tour Angler of the Year race in 2008 and 2011 and netted three top-10 finishes in the Forrest Wood Cup since 2006.

And as a final bonus, Ehrler managed to shrug off his second-place finish at the FLW Tour Lake Hartwell event just one year prior en route to full redemption in South Carolina in 2012.

Not bad for a few days work.

“It feels so good,” said Ehrler, who netted $125,000 in first-place winnings at the Lake Hartwell contest this week. “I can’t tell you how awesome it is to win this thing. I just had a very good day today.”

Ehrler said that he had been mixing it up all week, fishing in depths ranging from 2 to 50 feet and employing multiple baits including everything from drop-shot rigs, to jigs, reaction baits to Picasso umbrella rigs. But today, Ehrler said he honed in on two key areas where he managed to do most of his damage.

“All of my fish came on two spots today,” he said. “Basically, both of those spots had fairly big drop-offs from about 30 to 50 feet. This lake is fairly flat so when you find those deeper drop-offs, you can get those better quality bites. It took me awhile to get going. But when those spots turned on, it went fast. I had a limit by about 9:30 a.m.”

Ehrler said that he targeted staging bass that were adhering to deeper drop-offs and content on feeding up on baitfish before moving onto the banks to spawn.

“I pulled up on one spot and caught a 4- or 5-pounder right away,” Ehrler said. “I had a dry spell in the middle of the day but I caught two good fish pretty late. I basically conserved both of my main areas today and that really paid off. I didn’t fish one spot at all until today and the other one, where I caught most of my fish, I only fished a little bit on day three.”

While Ehrler’s arsenal was vast all week, the California pro said he concentrated mostly on fishing a Phenix football jig and Phenix casting jig equipped with a 5-inch twin-tailed grub. Then when he found the fish he was looking for, he often employed a drop-shot Senko rig.

But winning the tournament wasn’t the only bonus for the young pro this afternoon.

“Today I got a text from my wife that my son just started crawling,” said Ehrler, trying to hold back tears onstage. “This has just been an awesome week. It really has.”

FLW Tour Major competition resumes March 29-April 1 at Table Rock Lake in Branson, Mo.

Special thanks to everyone at http://www.flwoutdoors.com

Filed Under: Featured, General Tagged With: Ehrler, FLW Tour, Lake Hartwell