bass

Matt Herren's Pattern, Baits & Gear As foreign a place as Lake Ray Roberts was to Matt Herren before he started practice for the Toyota Texas Bass Classic last Tuesday, it turned out be everything he could want in a tournament venue. Despite inconsistent conditions that included a sudden drop...

Dave Mullins's Pattern, Baits & Gear David Mullins is having a pretty good year on the Bassmaster Elite Series, with three finishes between 19th and 31st through the first five events. He sits at No. 26 in the Angler of the Year (AOY) race and could be in line for his first Bassmaster...

4th Place - Keith Combs's Pattern, Baits & Gear Keith Combs surmised that he wasted a lot of time and a lot of gas on this visit to Toledo Bend. "On the first 3 days I spent the mornings down by the dam and then went north," he said. "I was running over 100 miles (round trip) every day. "I...

2nd Place - Chris Lane's Pattern, Baits & Gear Chris Lane had never before thrown a Dahlberg Whopper Plopper, now marketed by River2Sea, before coming to Toledo Bend. "My neighbor (in Guntersville, Ala.) gave me two of them and asked me if I wanted to try them," he said. "I told him that I'd...

Kevin VanDam's Pattern, Baits & Gear Winning a Bassmaster Elite Series event is tougher than ever, the seven-time Angler of the Year and four time Classic champion asserts. The competition is more knowledgeable and better skilled and everybody has access to the best equipment (particularly...

4th Place - Jamie Horton's Pattern, Baits & Gear Jamie Horton couldn’t have scripted a better first year on the FLW Tour so far. He’s collected two top-5 finishes and is a legitimate contender for Angler of the Year with two tournaments to go. His confidence is growing, thanks to averaging more...

Buddy Gross's Pattern, Baits & Gear The sign Buddy Gross was looking for came just before dusk last Monday. That’s when he saw one blade – a single blade – of eelgrass floating in the water. He initially thought it may have just drifted out from shore. It’s not a prevalent species of vegetation...

4th Place - Steve Kennedy's Pattern, Baits & Gear Steve Kennedy fished from one end of the lake to the other and at depths ranging from just a few inches of water to 20 feet. The shad spawn was the foundation of his program. Unlike many in the field, he had no trouble catching quality in...

2nd Place - Dave Lefebre's Pattern, Baits & Gear Lefebre, the former FLW stalwart who's in his initial campaign on the Elite Series, had visited Wheeler just one other time when it contained pre-spawn fish. He'd had some success with a bladed jig on that occasion, and the first thing he did...

Takahiro Omori's Pattern, Baits & Gear Takahiro Omori blew the two major pre-tournament theories regarding the Wheeler Lake Bassmaster Elite Series right out of the water. One of the preconceived notions leading up to the derby was that the winner wouldn't catch much more than 60 pounds over...

4th Place - Matt Herren Pattern, Baits & Gear Matt Herren was one of four anglers in the top 5 who went into Sunday hoping to lock up his first Elite Series win. He led after day 1 and bounced back after a disappointing day on Friday to get back in contention. Ultimately, he fell 3 pounds...

2nd Place: Skeet Reese's Pattern, Baits & Gear Skeet Reese fished at two different speeds last week – Bull Shoals Slow and Norfork Fast. His damage at Bull Shoals was done flipping a craw/creature bait in bushes and buck brush while a swimbait/crankbait combo is what he relied on at Norfork...

Randall Tharp's Pattern, Baits & Gear If Randall Tharp were to visit Lake Norfork to go fun-fishing, he’d tie on a jig and go down some rocky banks, target the stair-step rocks and crevices in between. That’s easy for him to say – that’s exactly how he fished all 4 days en route to winning his...

4th Place - Brent Chapman's Pattern, Baits & Gear Brent Chapman split his practice between the Waccamaw River and the Cooper and eventually settled on the latter once the tournament started. "I'd planned on fishing the Waccamaw, but had two or three keepers bites there on the first day of...

Britt Myers's Pattern, Baits & Gear On Monday morning, Britt Myers was chatting with a friend about his stirring win at the Winyah Bay Elite Series over the weekend. The conversation eventually turned to Myers’ bait selection on the final day and his friend couldn’t comprehend how Myers made...

4th Place: Drew Benton's Pattern, Baits & Gear Those who know how Drew Benton likes to catch fish know the St. Johns River in March sets up to be in his wheelhouse. He was the lone angler to catch 20 pounds or more on three of the four days and he did it largely by stalking spawning fish all...

2nd Place: Greg Hackney's Pattern, Baits & Gear After day 2, Hackney was lamenting the fact that he’d yet to tangle with a fish in excess of 6 pounds as he watched many of his competitors parade on stage with 8-, 9- and in some cases 10-pounders. Finally, on day 3 he connected with a 7-10...

John Cox's Pattern, Baits & Gear The way John Cox has been fishing, his second tour-level victory was bound to come sooner rather than later. Perhaps it occurred because he's stopped thinking about winning all the time. "I used to do that," the 31-year-old Floridian said. "I'd go into every...

Rick Clunn's Pattern, Baits & Gear With the direction the bass fishing tournament world has been going, Rick Clunn could sense his old ways needed to change. He needed to evolve or risk getting left behind. Long gone were the days of the 15-fish limit when a bounty of 2-pounders would...

5th Place Randy Howell: Pattern, Baits & Gear Just about everyone expected the Classic to be a jerkbait-dominated affair throughout the winter. However, when the water failed to clear up in the wake of the December flood, that idea was nixed. Few competitors even bothered tying one on last...