TW_Staff
04-29-2009, 10:22 AM
Stetson Blaylock wins FLW Tour’s Lake Norman to become the youngest angler winner. Blaylock made the difficult transition of moving to the front of the boat and fishing as a professional. Expectations were high, but nobody thought the young pro would claim victory in year one, not even himself.
“I guess I proved that theory wrong,” said the Benton, Ark., native. “I think everybody missed out on the jig bite. It was really strong at first, and I know that it triggered the big fish. It wasn’t good for getting a lot of bites, but it was good for getting the right bites.”
“I think all the ones I weighed today were sight-fish. The prior days I spent a lot of time blind-casting docks. But today I decided to do some more looking, and I guess I picked the right pockets.”
Those docks and pockets were located in the middle of the lake, from the Highway 150 Bridge down to the southern third of the impoundment.
“I just love this lake – I love dock fishing and Norman is loaded with them.”
“I really don’t know how it feels yet. But this is it; it doesn’t get any bigger. You’ve got 150 of the best out here. When I stop and look at the list of guys who fished this tournament, then I’ll realize how big it really was.”
Winning Pattern Notes:
"I fished more on instinct than on knowledge," Blaylock said. "The lake's so huge, that what you did 2 years ago as a co-angler doesn't help. I just went out and looked.
"I started fishing good-looking docks, and came to find out the better docks were the ones that were real flat – play docks, really. And right where the dock ended and the boats were tied up, they had dredged-out spots. The fish, I guess, moved up out of those holes and got shallow on the dock in a foot to a foot and a half of water."
He said he'd cast as hard as he could to get the jig to skip up all the way under the dock.
"The good thing was, I could run those docks real fast and skip them, but I could also stay close to the bank and look for sight-fish. I caught a couple fish in the tournament that were sight-fish that weren't on beds – they were just sitting there. If they were facing the bank you could catch almost every one of them – as long as they didn't see you."
Winning Gear Notes:
Jig gear: 7' medium-action Abu Garcia Vendetta rod, Abu Garcia Revo premier (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AGRP) casting reel, 12-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC), 5/16-ounce homemade finesse jig (Texas-craw), 3" Berkley Power Chigger craw (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BPCC) (green-pumpkin).
The worm he threw the last day was a Berkley Power Slim Shaky (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BPSSHW) worm, which he fished on a shakey-head.
Main factor in his success – "Just covering a lot of water and pulling into the right pockets. A lot of these guys went sight-fishing and a lot of them didn't find them (on day 4). I went into three pockets and there were good ones in all three pockets. It just so happens I picked the right pockets at the right time and was able to catch those fish."
Performance edge – "Probably that Revo premier. It allowed me to skip that jig right where I needed it to be. It's real lightweight, and I turn all the brakes off and let it go. It'll skip a mile."
The Field:
Andy Morgan:
Morgan described his pattern as "kind of junk-fishing," but there were several refinements.
He said he caught 60% of his fish flipping and pitching, while he caught the majority of the rest on a swimbait and finesse worm.
He pitched and flipped bushes in areas that he called "bottlenecks." These had flowing water that often switched direction – he said he never really figured out the how and why of the flow. "They were post-spawn – spawned out females. They'd set up on the edge of bushes and trees where the water was flowing by. You knew where you were going to get bit. Everybody kind of ignored that deal."
About his swimbait presentation, he said: "I threw a (Reaction Innovations) Skinny Dipper in bad shad, and I'd just go down the bank and catch one spawning every now and then – especially in the mornings before 9:00. I caught two or three that way the last couple of mornings."
Flipping/pitching gear: 7'5" medium-heavy 2-power G. Loomis (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GLMBF) 892 rod, Shimano Core (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SCRF) casting reel (7:1), 16- and 20-pound Gamma Edge (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GEF) fluorocarbon, 1/4-ounce weight, 5/0 straight-shank hook, Zoom Super Hog (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=ZSH) (green-pumpkin) and Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=RISB) (green-pumpkin).
Performance edge – "It was probably that Skinny Dipper (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=RISKD) swimbait. I'd jump on it pretty quickly in the morning and catch two or three 2 1/2-pounders."
Koby Kreiger:
About where he looked, he said: "I was looking more for natural banks inside little secondary pockets. I was doing basically the same stuff as when I fish places like Kentucky Lake. It's pretty good because you can drive down the lake and you didn't really have to fish pockets. You can run by, see what the pocket had in it, and if there were little grass clumps or natural banks with just a downed tree or something, you could go in and fish."
He noted that all his fish were shallow – the deepest he caught fish was probably 3 feet.
Sight-fishing gear: 7' heavy-action G. Loomis (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GLMIXCR) 844 IMX rod, Daiwa Steez (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=DSHCR) casting reel, 17-pound McCoy Mean Green (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=MCMGL) line, 1/4-ounce tungsten weight, 4/0 Gamakatsu round-bend (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GRBOBK) hook, Zoom Super Hog (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=ZSH) (white).
Greg Pugh:
Greg Pugh's another accomplished sight-fisherman who spent most of the event looking.
"Here, you pretty much just look and see where they're coming up at," he said. "They bed on so many different types of banks here that I don't think one bank can always be better than any other.
"My best fish this week came on the riprap. The water this year was about a foot and a half to 2 feet higher than in the past, and the fish were bedding out deep in front of the riprap banks."
He noted he caught most of his fish in about 4 feet of water, and some a little deeper. He spent most of his time above the 150 bridge, where the water was more stained.
Spinning gear: 7'6' Fenwick Techna AV rod, Abu Garcia Cardinal (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AGC7) spinning reel, 6-pound Berkley FireLine Crystal line, 10-pound Berkley Trilene (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC) 100% fluorocarbon leader.
Casting gear: 7'3" heavy-action Fenwick Elite Tech Riggin' Stik (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=FETC), Abu Garcia Revo STX (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AGRSTX) casting reel, 15- and 20-pound Berkley Trilene (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC) 100% fluorocarbon.
He threw a variety of baits, including a 7" Berkley Power Shaky worm, 4 1/2" Berkley Power Slim Shaky (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BPSSHW) worm – both on a 3/16-ounce football head jig. He also used 5/16-ounce PJ's jigs, Hawg Caller spinnerbaits and a Hawg Caller buzzbait.
Sean Hoernke:
Sean Hoernke won the event last year, and ran pretty much the same pattern this year.
"I mostly fished docks and sight-fished," he said. "What was a little different this year was in the morning during practice I found them on a 4-inch hard swimbait from Reaction Strike called a Revo Shad. The color was ghost blueback. I found at least five good docks that way when they came out and showed themselves."
Shakey gear: 7'2 medium-heavy Setyr DSF rod, Pflueger 2500 spinning reel, 10-pound braid, 8-pound Sunline Shooter (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SLSHF) fluorocarbon leader, 1/16-ounce Hoern Toad Tackle Porky's Revenge jighead (black), 4" unnamed finesse worm (watermelon candy).
Jig gear: 7' heavy-action Setyr CLS190 rod, Shimano Curado (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SCER) casting reel (7:1), 15-pound P-Line CXX (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=PLCXCC), 1/4-ounce Hoern Toad Tackle Finesse jig (green-pumpkin).
Performance edge – "This year over last year I think it probably had to be that Revo Shad swimbait (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=RSRSS), simply because it helped me find some fish on some docks. You can cover a lot more water with it than you can with a shakey-head. I used the waking version. I didn't weigh any fish on it, but it helped me find the right stretches."
TW Staff
“I guess I proved that theory wrong,” said the Benton, Ark., native. “I think everybody missed out on the jig bite. It was really strong at first, and I know that it triggered the big fish. It wasn’t good for getting a lot of bites, but it was good for getting the right bites.”
“I think all the ones I weighed today were sight-fish. The prior days I spent a lot of time blind-casting docks. But today I decided to do some more looking, and I guess I picked the right pockets.”
Those docks and pockets were located in the middle of the lake, from the Highway 150 Bridge down to the southern third of the impoundment.
“I just love this lake – I love dock fishing and Norman is loaded with them.”
“I really don’t know how it feels yet. But this is it; it doesn’t get any bigger. You’ve got 150 of the best out here. When I stop and look at the list of guys who fished this tournament, then I’ll realize how big it really was.”
Winning Pattern Notes:
"I fished more on instinct than on knowledge," Blaylock said. "The lake's so huge, that what you did 2 years ago as a co-angler doesn't help. I just went out and looked.
"I started fishing good-looking docks, and came to find out the better docks were the ones that were real flat – play docks, really. And right where the dock ended and the boats were tied up, they had dredged-out spots. The fish, I guess, moved up out of those holes and got shallow on the dock in a foot to a foot and a half of water."
He said he'd cast as hard as he could to get the jig to skip up all the way under the dock.
"The good thing was, I could run those docks real fast and skip them, but I could also stay close to the bank and look for sight-fish. I caught a couple fish in the tournament that were sight-fish that weren't on beds – they were just sitting there. If they were facing the bank you could catch almost every one of them – as long as they didn't see you."
Winning Gear Notes:
Jig gear: 7' medium-action Abu Garcia Vendetta rod, Abu Garcia Revo premier (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AGRP) casting reel, 12-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC), 5/16-ounce homemade finesse jig (Texas-craw), 3" Berkley Power Chigger craw (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BPCC) (green-pumpkin).
The worm he threw the last day was a Berkley Power Slim Shaky (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BPSSHW) worm, which he fished on a shakey-head.
Main factor in his success – "Just covering a lot of water and pulling into the right pockets. A lot of these guys went sight-fishing and a lot of them didn't find them (on day 4). I went into three pockets and there were good ones in all three pockets. It just so happens I picked the right pockets at the right time and was able to catch those fish."
Performance edge – "Probably that Revo premier. It allowed me to skip that jig right where I needed it to be. It's real lightweight, and I turn all the brakes off and let it go. It'll skip a mile."
The Field:
Andy Morgan:
Morgan described his pattern as "kind of junk-fishing," but there were several refinements.
He said he caught 60% of his fish flipping and pitching, while he caught the majority of the rest on a swimbait and finesse worm.
He pitched and flipped bushes in areas that he called "bottlenecks." These had flowing water that often switched direction – he said he never really figured out the how and why of the flow. "They were post-spawn – spawned out females. They'd set up on the edge of bushes and trees where the water was flowing by. You knew where you were going to get bit. Everybody kind of ignored that deal."
About his swimbait presentation, he said: "I threw a (Reaction Innovations) Skinny Dipper in bad shad, and I'd just go down the bank and catch one spawning every now and then – especially in the mornings before 9:00. I caught two or three that way the last couple of mornings."
Flipping/pitching gear: 7'5" medium-heavy 2-power G. Loomis (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GLMBF) 892 rod, Shimano Core (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SCRF) casting reel (7:1), 16- and 20-pound Gamma Edge (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GEF) fluorocarbon, 1/4-ounce weight, 5/0 straight-shank hook, Zoom Super Hog (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=ZSH) (green-pumpkin) and Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=RISB) (green-pumpkin).
Performance edge – "It was probably that Skinny Dipper (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=RISKD) swimbait. I'd jump on it pretty quickly in the morning and catch two or three 2 1/2-pounders."
Koby Kreiger:
About where he looked, he said: "I was looking more for natural banks inside little secondary pockets. I was doing basically the same stuff as when I fish places like Kentucky Lake. It's pretty good because you can drive down the lake and you didn't really have to fish pockets. You can run by, see what the pocket had in it, and if there were little grass clumps or natural banks with just a downed tree or something, you could go in and fish."
He noted that all his fish were shallow – the deepest he caught fish was probably 3 feet.
Sight-fishing gear: 7' heavy-action G. Loomis (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GLMIXCR) 844 IMX rod, Daiwa Steez (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=DSHCR) casting reel, 17-pound McCoy Mean Green (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=MCMGL) line, 1/4-ounce tungsten weight, 4/0 Gamakatsu round-bend (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GRBOBK) hook, Zoom Super Hog (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=ZSH) (white).
Greg Pugh:
Greg Pugh's another accomplished sight-fisherman who spent most of the event looking.
"Here, you pretty much just look and see where they're coming up at," he said. "They bed on so many different types of banks here that I don't think one bank can always be better than any other.
"My best fish this week came on the riprap. The water this year was about a foot and a half to 2 feet higher than in the past, and the fish were bedding out deep in front of the riprap banks."
He noted he caught most of his fish in about 4 feet of water, and some a little deeper. He spent most of his time above the 150 bridge, where the water was more stained.
Spinning gear: 7'6' Fenwick Techna AV rod, Abu Garcia Cardinal (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AGC7) spinning reel, 6-pound Berkley FireLine Crystal line, 10-pound Berkley Trilene (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC) 100% fluorocarbon leader.
Casting gear: 7'3" heavy-action Fenwick Elite Tech Riggin' Stik (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=FETC), Abu Garcia Revo STX (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AGRSTX) casting reel, 15- and 20-pound Berkley Trilene (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC) 100% fluorocarbon.
He threw a variety of baits, including a 7" Berkley Power Shaky worm, 4 1/2" Berkley Power Slim Shaky (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BPSSHW) worm – both on a 3/16-ounce football head jig. He also used 5/16-ounce PJ's jigs, Hawg Caller spinnerbaits and a Hawg Caller buzzbait.
Sean Hoernke:
Sean Hoernke won the event last year, and ran pretty much the same pattern this year.
"I mostly fished docks and sight-fished," he said. "What was a little different this year was in the morning during practice I found them on a 4-inch hard swimbait from Reaction Strike called a Revo Shad. The color was ghost blueback. I found at least five good docks that way when they came out and showed themselves."
Shakey gear: 7'2 medium-heavy Setyr DSF rod, Pflueger 2500 spinning reel, 10-pound braid, 8-pound Sunline Shooter (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SLSHF) fluorocarbon leader, 1/16-ounce Hoern Toad Tackle Porky's Revenge jighead (black), 4" unnamed finesse worm (watermelon candy).
Jig gear: 7' heavy-action Setyr CLS190 rod, Shimano Curado (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SCER) casting reel (7:1), 15-pound P-Line CXX (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=PLCXCC), 1/4-ounce Hoern Toad Tackle Finesse jig (green-pumpkin).
Performance edge – "This year over last year I think it probably had to be that Revo Shad swimbait (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=RSRSS), simply because it helped me find some fish on some docks. You can cover a lot more water with it than you can with a shakey-head. I used the waking version. I didn't weigh any fish on it, but it helped me find the right stretches."
TW Staff