TW_Staff
02-17-2009, 01:00 PM
David Fritts cranked up 83 pounds of fish at Lake Guntersville to take the first FLW event for 2009.
This week set up perfectly for Fritts in that there was a dominant bite in the grass that kept a vast majority of the field occupied with rattling lipless crankbaits in shallow water.
"It's very exciting," he said. "It's pretty much the same feeling I had when I won the 1993 Classic. I fished good today and executed well. "I don't really know how to explain it, but it was just one of those things where everything worked out well. I was really in a zone – I'd make 50 casts to one rock, and then I'd catch a fish on the 51st cast."
Winning Pattern:
While most pros winded and grinded in the grass, Fritts snuck off to his favorite rip rap and road bed on one of the bridges crossing Guntersville and cranked rock with Rapala DT-10 crankbaits.
The DT-10 and rock combination was his go to pattern but he also had it supported solidly with a secondary pattern that involved dragging a football jig on a main river ledge.
“Most of my fish came off the rocks and rip rap on the DT-10, especially the last two days,” he said. “But over the first two days I caught five really big bass dragging a ¾-ounce Fat Ratz football head jig with a Zoom Speed craw (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=ZSSDC) on a little honey hole along the main river channel. It’s a little high spot that comes up to about 7 feet on top and it’s got some good rock all around it.
As for his DT-10’s (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=RDT), Fritts primarily used two colors: chartreuse and brown and plain shad. Both were tied to 10-pound test Suffix line (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SFE).
Most people can not sit there and cast to a single rock under the water and hit it 30 or 40 times in row. But that’s what it took to get those fish to eat that crankbait. I had to hit the spot over and over again, without missing it, until one finally bit.”
The Field:
Sam Newby:
He was fishing in the Siebold Creek area where he had located a “little drain” off a flat that connected to the main river. His key lure was a red ¾-ounce rattling lipless crankbait fished on 30-pound test Spiderwire braid (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SWUC) tied to a 5-foot length of 17-pound test fluorocarbon leader.
Newby liked the enhanced sensitivity of the braid, but noted that sometimes the braid would catch the hooks of his lure and foul up his casts, the fluorocarbon leader eliminated that problem.
Lipless crank gear: 6'8" medium-fast All Star ASR Series spinnerbait rod, Abu Garcia Revo Premier (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AGRP) casting reel, 30-pound Spiderwire Ultracast (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SWUC) braided line, unnamed 3/4-ounce lipless crankbait (red). He caught one fish – a 6 1/2-pounder on day 3 – on a 1-ounce jig with a 4-inch Berkley PowerBait Chigger Craw (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BPCC) trailer.
David Dudley:
Dudley spent the week fishing out on the main river channel targeting a mixture of rock and grass. He used a 1/2-ounce rattling lipless crankbait in a baby bass color and fished the lure on 17-pound test Berkley 100% Fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC) line with a Fenwick Elite Tech Riggin’ Stik (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=FETC).
“That Berkley fluorocarbon allowed me to feel the difference between rock and grass and that’s so critical. You can cover miles of pure grass and then feel just a rock or two in there and that’s where you’re going to get bit. But if you never feel that difference in what your bait is hitting, you’ll never know that sweet spot is there.”
Lipless crank gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Fenwick Elite Tech Riggin' Stik (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=FETC), Abu Garcia Revo Premier (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AGRP) casting reel
Ramie Colson:
“The whole key where I was fishing was a mix of milfoil in hydrilla,” Colson said. “There was some green hydrilla on the bottom, but interspersed in the hydrilla were tufts of milfoil that stood up above the hydrilla. And when you hit one of those clumps of milfoil with the trap – you better hang on. I could tell when I was about to get a bite because I’d feel the bait run across one of those milfoil tops and it would change the vibration of the bait.”
Lipless crank gear: 7' medium-heavy G. Loomis cranking rod (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GLCBCR), Abu Garcia Revo Premier (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AGRP) casting reel, 17-pound Berkley Trilene Big Game (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTBG) line, 1/2-ounce Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=RT5) (chartreuse/black back).
Tom Mann Jr.:
Mann spent most of the week fishing a Rapala Rattlin’ Rap in areas just above the BB Comer bridge the first two days and then retreated to Town Creek today and twitched a Rapala X-rap over grass lines in 3 to 5 feet of water. “The whole key to that place I was fishing earlier in the week was a good mix of green hydrilla and milfoil,” Mann said. “Most of the grass out here now is dormant and has that slimy mucky look to it. But wherever there were strips of good, green grass, that’s where the fish were.”
Lipless crank gear: 6'10 medium-action All Star rod, Pflueger Supreme (6.3:1 ratio) or Pflueger Patriarch (7:1 ratio) casting reel, 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC) fluorocarbon line, Rattlin' Rapala (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=RAT) (redfire crawdad or shad).
Jerkbait gear: Same rod, reel and line, Rapala X-Rap (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=RXR) (olive green).
TW Staff
This week set up perfectly for Fritts in that there was a dominant bite in the grass that kept a vast majority of the field occupied with rattling lipless crankbaits in shallow water.
"It's very exciting," he said. "It's pretty much the same feeling I had when I won the 1993 Classic. I fished good today and executed well. "I don't really know how to explain it, but it was just one of those things where everything worked out well. I was really in a zone – I'd make 50 casts to one rock, and then I'd catch a fish on the 51st cast."
Winning Pattern:
While most pros winded and grinded in the grass, Fritts snuck off to his favorite rip rap and road bed on one of the bridges crossing Guntersville and cranked rock with Rapala DT-10 crankbaits.
The DT-10 and rock combination was his go to pattern but he also had it supported solidly with a secondary pattern that involved dragging a football jig on a main river ledge.
“Most of my fish came off the rocks and rip rap on the DT-10, especially the last two days,” he said. “But over the first two days I caught five really big bass dragging a ¾-ounce Fat Ratz football head jig with a Zoom Speed craw (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=ZSSDC) on a little honey hole along the main river channel. It’s a little high spot that comes up to about 7 feet on top and it’s got some good rock all around it.
As for his DT-10’s (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=RDT), Fritts primarily used two colors: chartreuse and brown and plain shad. Both were tied to 10-pound test Suffix line (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SFE).
Most people can not sit there and cast to a single rock under the water and hit it 30 or 40 times in row. But that’s what it took to get those fish to eat that crankbait. I had to hit the spot over and over again, without missing it, until one finally bit.”
The Field:
Sam Newby:
He was fishing in the Siebold Creek area where he had located a “little drain” off a flat that connected to the main river. His key lure was a red ¾-ounce rattling lipless crankbait fished on 30-pound test Spiderwire braid (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SWUC) tied to a 5-foot length of 17-pound test fluorocarbon leader.
Newby liked the enhanced sensitivity of the braid, but noted that sometimes the braid would catch the hooks of his lure and foul up his casts, the fluorocarbon leader eliminated that problem.
Lipless crank gear: 6'8" medium-fast All Star ASR Series spinnerbait rod, Abu Garcia Revo Premier (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AGRP) casting reel, 30-pound Spiderwire Ultracast (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SWUC) braided line, unnamed 3/4-ounce lipless crankbait (red). He caught one fish – a 6 1/2-pounder on day 3 – on a 1-ounce jig with a 4-inch Berkley PowerBait Chigger Craw (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BPCC) trailer.
David Dudley:
Dudley spent the week fishing out on the main river channel targeting a mixture of rock and grass. He used a 1/2-ounce rattling lipless crankbait in a baby bass color and fished the lure on 17-pound test Berkley 100% Fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC) line with a Fenwick Elite Tech Riggin’ Stik (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=FETC).
“That Berkley fluorocarbon allowed me to feel the difference between rock and grass and that’s so critical. You can cover miles of pure grass and then feel just a rock or two in there and that’s where you’re going to get bit. But if you never feel that difference in what your bait is hitting, you’ll never know that sweet spot is there.”
Lipless crank gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Fenwick Elite Tech Riggin' Stik (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=FETC), Abu Garcia Revo Premier (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AGRP) casting reel
Ramie Colson:
“The whole key where I was fishing was a mix of milfoil in hydrilla,” Colson said. “There was some green hydrilla on the bottom, but interspersed in the hydrilla were tufts of milfoil that stood up above the hydrilla. And when you hit one of those clumps of milfoil with the trap – you better hang on. I could tell when I was about to get a bite because I’d feel the bait run across one of those milfoil tops and it would change the vibration of the bait.”
Lipless crank gear: 7' medium-heavy G. Loomis cranking rod (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GLCBCR), Abu Garcia Revo Premier (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AGRP) casting reel, 17-pound Berkley Trilene Big Game (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTBG) line, 1/2-ounce Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=RT5) (chartreuse/black back).
Tom Mann Jr.:
Mann spent most of the week fishing a Rapala Rattlin’ Rap in areas just above the BB Comer bridge the first two days and then retreated to Town Creek today and twitched a Rapala X-rap over grass lines in 3 to 5 feet of water. “The whole key to that place I was fishing earlier in the week was a good mix of green hydrilla and milfoil,” Mann said. “Most of the grass out here now is dormant and has that slimy mucky look to it. But wherever there were strips of good, green grass, that’s where the fish were.”
Lipless crank gear: 6'10 medium-action All Star rod, Pflueger Supreme (6.3:1 ratio) or Pflueger Patriarch (7:1 ratio) casting reel, 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC) fluorocarbon line, Rattlin' Rapala (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=RAT) (redfire crawdad or shad).
Jerkbait gear: Same rod, reel and line, Rapala X-Rap (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=RXR) (olive green).
TW Staff