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2nd Place - Michael Neal's Pattern, Baits & Gear
Michael Neal was the only top-5 finisher to bag a limit each day of the tournament, but it wasn’t enough to cash in his first career FLW Tour win. Losing more than a quarter of his day to a mechanical breakdown on Friday hurt his chances, for sure.
“Nothing against (Buddy), but the way he won was off the wall, throwing a hair jig is grass,” he said. “Nobody’s ever heard of that. That and breaking down on the second day. Three hours of fishing time is a lot of time on this pond. Just like (Sunday), in the last 10 minutes, I caught my two biggest fish, so who knows.”
After finishing 2nd to Greg Hackney at Pickwick in 2014, Neal said the lake set up much differently this time around. The wind was a big factor and so was the lack of current generation.
“It fished a lot different from two years ago,” he said. “The place I caught the big one was a place I caught them two years ago. They weren’t there the first day. A few showed up Friday and a few more Saturday and a few more Sunday. They are coming, but they kind of threw me a curveball. I don’t really know what happened.”
He checked several areas that had grass during practice because he knew it could be a player.
“I knew it was early, but I knew I had to keep it in mind,” he said. “I caught some good fish out of it. I started there day 1 and weighed one in, but it was only bite I had. After day 1, I wrote the grass off.”
He fished plenty of history, but it was difficult to formulate much of a pattern or strategy based on the transition phase the fish were in. Most of his fish came out of 10 to 12 feet.
“I ran every waypoint that had fish on them the last time,” he said. “They were on just a couple and after I did that, I went back and looked and said, ‘Well this one’s at this ditch and it goes this way toward the bank and there’s a shallow spot with a high spot over here.’ I looked at where I thought they were going to be on their way out to where I know they go.
“It wasn’t a pattern because they’re not all going to be on a point or a channel swing or whatever. It was that in between depth range that makes it hard to graph, but you can still find them in that depth range.”
Swimbait gear: 7’6” medium-heavy Cashion Rods CRT casting rod, Ardent Apex Elite casting reel (6.5:1 ratio), 20-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, 1 oz. True South Custom Lures swimbait jig, 5 1/2” Big Bite Baits BB Kicker Shad (blue gizzard)
Hair Jig gear: Same rod, same reel, same line, 1 oz. homemade bucktail jig (Tennessee shad)
Main factor – “The background I have in offshore fishing and having been here before. I knew what areas of the lake layed out better for me so I knew which ones I wanted to concentrate on more. I also knew where the fish were going so it was up to me to find where they were now.”
Performance edge – “My Cashion rods. I’ve gotten comfortable with them and in the wind the first day, they were not biting very hard. Most of the time on these offshore deals with swimbaits they really thump it, but these would barely load up. I never lost a fish this week that would’ve hurt me."
3rd Place - Scott Suggs's Pattern, Baits and Gear
Scott Suggs was thrilled with how his tournament went. He was on quality fish and had multiple bait options. The only drawback was the conditions didn’t let him truly realize the potential his best areas held.
“We had three days of practice under clouds and then we had fronts and changing winds, which forced me to fish backwards,” he said. “I’m totally pleased with where I wound up.”
On day 1 when he caught 21-05, he took advantage of calmer conditions.
“I got to start on a spot when it was dead slick and I fished it properly and caught three big ones before the wind got up,” he said. “On day 2, by the time I got there, the wind was already pounding it. I fished backward because of how the current was and caught a 6-pounder, but that was my only fish there.”
Day 3 was his lightest stringer of the week and again it was a product of the wind – “Nothing was right about my spot,” he noted.
He targeted shell beds in 10 to 12 feet of water with bottom-hugging baits. When he’d fish around grass, he threw a spinnerbait and swimbait.
“I think calm conditions or some current would’ve helped me,” he said.
Swing-head jig gear: 7’6” heavy-action Abu Garcia Veracity casting rod, Abu Garcia Revo Premier casting reel, 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line, 7/16-, 5/8-, 3/4-oz. unnamed swing-head jigs, Zoom Z Craw (green-pumpkin), Zoom Magnum Trick Worm (green-pumpkin), Gene Larew Biffle Craw (green-pumpkin).
Cranking gear: 7’ medium-action Abu Garcia Venerate casting rod, same reel, same line (10-pound), Berkley Dredger crankbait.
The Dredger is a new addition to Berkley’s hardbait series and will be introduced at ICAST. Suggs likes it because it has a small profile, but can still achieve depths down to 20 feet. “It might be the most unbelievable crankbait I’ve ever thrown,” he said. “For something with that small of a profile to get it down to 20 feet, it’s virtually effortless reeling it.”
Main factor – “A lot of people tried to fish offshore in practice. I did a whole lot of idling and looking. I did the same thing, but once I found what I was looking for I’d leave it and go back to it and thoroughly fish it to see if I could get bit. I know Mark (Rose) and some other guys found schools out deep, but there just weren’t enough of those places. Even better, I had places to myself.”
Performance edge – “I really relied on my Lowrance electronics. The way that wind blew and the fine lines you had to follow to make sure you weren’t moving off your stuff, that was the biggest key – being able to stay on a place.”
PIckwick Lake 2-5 Patterns BassFan 5/12/2016 (Todd Ceisner)
“Nothing against (Buddy), but the way he won was off the wall, throwing a hair jig is grass,” he said. “Nobody’s ever heard of that. That and breaking down on the second day. Three hours of fishing time is a lot of time on this pond. Just like (Sunday), in the last 10 minutes, I caught my two biggest fish, so who knows.”
After finishing 2nd to Greg Hackney at Pickwick in 2014, Neal said the lake set up much differently this time around. The wind was a big factor and so was the lack of current generation.
“It fished a lot different from two years ago,” he said. “The place I caught the big one was a place I caught them two years ago. They weren’t there the first day. A few showed up Friday and a few more Saturday and a few more Sunday. They are coming, but they kind of threw me a curveball. I don’t really know what happened.”
He checked several areas that had grass during practice because he knew it could be a player.
“I knew it was early, but I knew I had to keep it in mind,” he said. “I caught some good fish out of it. I started there day 1 and weighed one in, but it was only bite I had. After day 1, I wrote the grass off.”
He fished plenty of history, but it was difficult to formulate much of a pattern or strategy based on the transition phase the fish were in. Most of his fish came out of 10 to 12 feet.
“I ran every waypoint that had fish on them the last time,” he said. “They were on just a couple and after I did that, I went back and looked and said, ‘Well this one’s at this ditch and it goes this way toward the bank and there’s a shallow spot with a high spot over here.’ I looked at where I thought they were going to be on their way out to where I know they go.
“It wasn’t a pattern because they’re not all going to be on a point or a channel swing or whatever. It was that in between depth range that makes it hard to graph, but you can still find them in that depth range.”
Swimbait gear: 7’6” medium-heavy Cashion Rods CRT casting rod, Ardent Apex Elite casting reel (6.5:1 ratio), 20-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, 1 oz. True South Custom Lures swimbait jig, 5 1/2” Big Bite Baits BB Kicker Shad (blue gizzard)
Hair Jig gear: Same rod, same reel, same line, 1 oz. homemade bucktail jig (Tennessee shad)
Main factor – “The background I have in offshore fishing and having been here before. I knew what areas of the lake layed out better for me so I knew which ones I wanted to concentrate on more. I also knew where the fish were going so it was up to me to find where they were now.”
Performance edge – “My Cashion rods. I’ve gotten comfortable with them and in the wind the first day, they were not biting very hard. Most of the time on these offshore deals with swimbaits they really thump it, but these would barely load up. I never lost a fish this week that would’ve hurt me."
3rd Place - Scott Suggs's Pattern, Baits and Gear
Scott Suggs was thrilled with how his tournament went. He was on quality fish and had multiple bait options. The only drawback was the conditions didn’t let him truly realize the potential his best areas held.
“We had three days of practice under clouds and then we had fronts and changing winds, which forced me to fish backwards,” he said. “I’m totally pleased with where I wound up.”
On day 1 when he caught 21-05, he took advantage of calmer conditions.
“I got to start on a spot when it was dead slick and I fished it properly and caught three big ones before the wind got up,” he said. “On day 2, by the time I got there, the wind was already pounding it. I fished backward because of how the current was and caught a 6-pounder, but that was my only fish there.”
Day 3 was his lightest stringer of the week and again it was a product of the wind – “Nothing was right about my spot,” he noted.
He targeted shell beds in 10 to 12 feet of water with bottom-hugging baits. When he’d fish around grass, he threw a spinnerbait and swimbait.
“I think calm conditions or some current would’ve helped me,” he said.
Swing-head jig gear: 7’6” heavy-action Abu Garcia Veracity casting rod, Abu Garcia Revo Premier casting reel, 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line, 7/16-, 5/8-, 3/4-oz. unnamed swing-head jigs, Zoom Z Craw (green-pumpkin), Zoom Magnum Trick Worm (green-pumpkin), Gene Larew Biffle Craw (green-pumpkin).
Cranking gear: 7’ medium-action Abu Garcia Venerate casting rod, same reel, same line (10-pound), Berkley Dredger crankbait.
The Dredger is a new addition to Berkley’s hardbait series and will be introduced at ICAST. Suggs likes it because it has a small profile, but can still achieve depths down to 20 feet. “It might be the most unbelievable crankbait I’ve ever thrown,” he said. “For something with that small of a profile to get it down to 20 feet, it’s virtually effortless reeling it.”
Main factor – “A lot of people tried to fish offshore in practice. I did a whole lot of idling and looking. I did the same thing, but once I found what I was looking for I’d leave it and go back to it and thoroughly fish it to see if I could get bit. I know Mark (Rose) and some other guys found schools out deep, but there just weren’t enough of those places. Even better, I had places to myself.”
Performance edge – “I really relied on my Lowrance electronics. The way that wind blew and the fine lines you had to follow to make sure you weren’t moving off your stuff, that was the biggest key – being able to stay on a place.”
PIckwick Lake 2-5 Patterns BassFan 5/12/2016 (Todd Ceisner)