TW_Staff
07-30-2009, 03:02 PM
FLW pro Chip Harrison from Bremen, Ind. won a Southeastern Stren on Florida's Lake Okeechobee in 1998, and last week he notched a Central triumph on the Detroit River in Michigan. This latest win was no real surprise, seeing as how he's one of the top smallmouth anglers in the game and pounded bronzebacks to claim the trophy at the Champlain Eastern FLW Series just last year.
He loves Lake St. Clair and has exploited it en route to several high finishes on various circuits over the past decade, but this was the first time he'd finished at the top of the heap. His 61-05 total over 3 days gave him a winning margin of about 2 1/2 pounds over former Bassmaster Elite Series pro Jon Bondy.
“I love Lake St. Clair,” Harrison said, “and I’m real comfortable fishing for smallmouth. Lately I’d been making bad decisions, and that’s what fishing’s all about: making the right decisions. Everybody here has the same talent. It’s just the guy who makes the right call that day.”
Harrison began his practice period with a focus on relatively shallow water, but soon discovered that there was a better bite farther down the water column.
"Coming in, everybody talked about how the bite was off for St. Clair and Erie both," he said. "A lot of (one-day) local tournaments were being won with sacks under 20 pounds, and those were team events.
"I was thinking that 17 pounds a day would probably make the (Top 10) cut."
He spent his initial practice day concentrating on structure that was 8 feet deep or shallower. He got some decent bites and concluded that he could box 16 to 18 pounds a day in that manner.
"The second day I went out into that 14- to 18-foot range that's called 'open-water fishing' at St. Clair. The lake's pretty flat and there's not a whole lot for the fish to relate to out there. You're just looking for a big school that's roaming.
"I did that a little bit on Monday, then on Tuesday it all came together for me. I got in one area and started throwing a crankbait and I caught a 5-pounder. As I was fighting it, another 5-pounder came up and grabbed the plug, so I had two of them on. One of them came off, and yet another big one came up and tried to take the lure."
He wondered what was so special about that particular place, and he used the Side Imaging capabilities of his Humminbird 997 depthfinder to discover the reason.
"Right where it all happened there were two rocks about the size of bowling balls. That gave me something to clue in on, so I went idling around looking for more of them. Anytime I found at least one rock, there'd be a fish there every time. If I found two or three grouped up, I might catch two or three quality fish.
"I had about 15 places like that located, and I knew I could run those and maybe not get a ton of bites, but I could catch five good ones. I had one more area that was weed-oriented where I could get a lot of bites, but they weren't quite as big. I had that as a backup."
Competition:
Harrison worked the rock pattern with the crankbait on day 1 and caught a 4 3/4-pounder right away. Then, at his second stop, he boxed four more in that same size range.
"I didn't fish there anymore because I didn't think I could upgrade," he said. "I just went fishing and at the end of the day I found another area where I caught another 5-pounder.
"I had a 22-11 bag and I hadn't hardly fished anything. I felt pretty good."
He caught his smallest bag of the tournament on day 2, when he was forced to weigh a 2-pounder. He mixed in some dropshotting with his cranking pattern and boated just five keepers while losing his best bite. Still, he dropped just one position from 2nd place to 3rd.
"It was the biggest fish I'd ever hooked on St. Clair it was 6 for sure," he said of the one that got away. "The line must've gotten wrapped around a gill plate or something and it broke off on a jump. But I was still confident going into the last day because I knew the wind was supposed to blow hard."
That it did, and the run that had been taking him 45 minutes consumed a little more than an hour. When he got to the rocks, he discovered the water had become silted up a condition he'd feared.
He still had his weedy backup area, though. He fished there until almost 12:00 with only 5 pounds to show for his efforts, but he loaded up in the afternoon via a combination of the crankbait and a tube.
"I didn't totally feel like I had it won, but I knew I'd done everything I could. There were really only four of us in contention that last day, and I knew the wind would be wreaking havoc on some places.
"I knew if I didn't win, it would've been that big fish I lost on day 2 that killed me."
Winning Gear:
Cranking gear: 7'6" medium-action G. Loomis cranking rod (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GLCBCR), Abu Garcia Revo Winch (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AGRW) casting reel (5.4:1 ratio), 10-pound
Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC) line, C Flash 44 Magnum crankbait (emerald shiner).
He also caught a few fish on a Norman Deep Little N (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=NSDLN) crankbait.
Tube gear: 7'6" medium-action G. Loomis 902 spinning rod, Daiwa Sol spinning reel (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=TDSOLS), 8-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC), 3/8-ounce D's jighead, 3-inch Poor Boys tube (green-pumpkin/blue flake).
Dropshot gear: 7' medium-action G. Loomis spinning rod (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GLSJG3S), Daiwa Sol spinning reel (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=TDSOLS), 8-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC), 3/8-ounce Poor Boys straight dropshot weight, 1/0 Gamakatsu dropshot hook (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GSS), Poor Boys Goby (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=PORBDSG) (green-pumpkin/pearl).
Main factor in his success "Realizing early that the fish were starting to show up on that outer stuff and saving that one area until the last day. At both the Series event on Champlain and this one I saved an area, and it really made a big difference."
Performance edge "I used the Humminbird 997 (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=HB900) to find those spots, and then the Minn Kota Fortrex trolling motor with the long shaft allowed me to stay on them instead of just drifting. I could just sit on those waypoints and keep catching fish."
The Field:
Jon Bondy:
Bondy of Windsor, Ontario, occupied the “hot seat,” which is a boat seat near the stage from which the current leader watches his challengers weigh their fish.
A full-time guide on the Detroit River, Bondy knows the river system as well as anybody. He used that knowledge this week to make a steady climb up the leaderboard, from fifth on day one to fourth on day two to second Saturday with a 19-9 limit that brought his three-day cumulative weight to 58-12.
Bondy found a weedless area in Lake St. Clair that measured about one-half mile in diameter and that was full of gobies and gizzard shad. He used Gulp-soaked tube jigs (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-SBTUBE.html) as his primary bait and backed them up with spinnerbaits, which he also soaked in Gulp juice (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpageACCBERKLEY-BGAS.html).
Reflecting on the tournament, Bondy said, “The cooler weather has the fish a week or two behind where they normally would be. But I’m happy with what I did here this week.”
Brian Hensley:
Hensley of Edwardsburg, Mich., saw his weights drop from 22-12 on day one to 19-12 on day two to 12-6 on day three, bringing his three-day total to 54-14.
Hensley said Friday he feared his big-fish spots were not replenishing, and those fears proved to be real. He needed 18-14 to catch Harrison when he stepped onstage at the weigh-in, and his sack had two 3-pounders and three 2-pounders, which wasn’t the combination for which he had hoped.
This was Hensely’s 11th top-10 finish without a win. Six of those tournaments have been on the Detroit River. If anybody is due for a breakthrough, it’s Hensley. In Stren events here, he placed second in ’07, eighth in ’03 and third today.
Terry Baksay:
Baksay of Easton,Conn., is another pro who’s due to break through on the Detroit River. In 2007 he finished ninth and third in Stren and FLW Tour events here, respectively.
This year he was determined to finish higher, but his bid faltered when an 18-3 limit brought his three-day total to 53-5.
“I fished the same area I found during a tournament here four years ago,” Baksay said. “My best bait was a DT-10 (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=RDT) custom-painted crankbait in Sexy Shad with lavender back. They really seemed to like it. Every fish I caught had it all the way down their throats.”
Shawn Murphy:
Murphy of Nicholasville, Ky. was 17th with 17-13 after day one. That’s a lot of places to climb over. But Murphy scored 17-8 on day two and 15-3 today, bringing his three-day total weight to 50-8.
“My practice was horrible,” Murphy said. “That’s the closest I’ve ever been to just wanting to pack up and go home. I caught five keepers all week in practice.” But on day one, Murphy went to a spot he had checked in practice. It finally had some decent fish.
“We caught over 100 pounds of bass off that spot between me and my co-anglers,” Murphy said. To catch them, he dragged tube jigs (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-SBTUBE.html).
TW Staff
He loves Lake St. Clair and has exploited it en route to several high finishes on various circuits over the past decade, but this was the first time he'd finished at the top of the heap. His 61-05 total over 3 days gave him a winning margin of about 2 1/2 pounds over former Bassmaster Elite Series pro Jon Bondy.
“I love Lake St. Clair,” Harrison said, “and I’m real comfortable fishing for smallmouth. Lately I’d been making bad decisions, and that’s what fishing’s all about: making the right decisions. Everybody here has the same talent. It’s just the guy who makes the right call that day.”
Harrison began his practice period with a focus on relatively shallow water, but soon discovered that there was a better bite farther down the water column.
"Coming in, everybody talked about how the bite was off for St. Clair and Erie both," he said. "A lot of (one-day) local tournaments were being won with sacks under 20 pounds, and those were team events.
"I was thinking that 17 pounds a day would probably make the (Top 10) cut."
He spent his initial practice day concentrating on structure that was 8 feet deep or shallower. He got some decent bites and concluded that he could box 16 to 18 pounds a day in that manner.
"The second day I went out into that 14- to 18-foot range that's called 'open-water fishing' at St. Clair. The lake's pretty flat and there's not a whole lot for the fish to relate to out there. You're just looking for a big school that's roaming.
"I did that a little bit on Monday, then on Tuesday it all came together for me. I got in one area and started throwing a crankbait and I caught a 5-pounder. As I was fighting it, another 5-pounder came up and grabbed the plug, so I had two of them on. One of them came off, and yet another big one came up and tried to take the lure."
He wondered what was so special about that particular place, and he used the Side Imaging capabilities of his Humminbird 997 depthfinder to discover the reason.
"Right where it all happened there were two rocks about the size of bowling balls. That gave me something to clue in on, so I went idling around looking for more of them. Anytime I found at least one rock, there'd be a fish there every time. If I found two or three grouped up, I might catch two or three quality fish.
"I had about 15 places like that located, and I knew I could run those and maybe not get a ton of bites, but I could catch five good ones. I had one more area that was weed-oriented where I could get a lot of bites, but they weren't quite as big. I had that as a backup."
Competition:
Harrison worked the rock pattern with the crankbait on day 1 and caught a 4 3/4-pounder right away. Then, at his second stop, he boxed four more in that same size range.
"I didn't fish there anymore because I didn't think I could upgrade," he said. "I just went fishing and at the end of the day I found another area where I caught another 5-pounder.
"I had a 22-11 bag and I hadn't hardly fished anything. I felt pretty good."
He caught his smallest bag of the tournament on day 2, when he was forced to weigh a 2-pounder. He mixed in some dropshotting with his cranking pattern and boated just five keepers while losing his best bite. Still, he dropped just one position from 2nd place to 3rd.
"It was the biggest fish I'd ever hooked on St. Clair it was 6 for sure," he said of the one that got away. "The line must've gotten wrapped around a gill plate or something and it broke off on a jump. But I was still confident going into the last day because I knew the wind was supposed to blow hard."
That it did, and the run that had been taking him 45 minutes consumed a little more than an hour. When he got to the rocks, he discovered the water had become silted up a condition he'd feared.
He still had his weedy backup area, though. He fished there until almost 12:00 with only 5 pounds to show for his efforts, but he loaded up in the afternoon via a combination of the crankbait and a tube.
"I didn't totally feel like I had it won, but I knew I'd done everything I could. There were really only four of us in contention that last day, and I knew the wind would be wreaking havoc on some places.
"I knew if I didn't win, it would've been that big fish I lost on day 2 that killed me."
Winning Gear:
Cranking gear: 7'6" medium-action G. Loomis cranking rod (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GLCBCR), Abu Garcia Revo Winch (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AGRW) casting reel (5.4:1 ratio), 10-pound
Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC) line, C Flash 44 Magnum crankbait (emerald shiner).
He also caught a few fish on a Norman Deep Little N (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=NSDLN) crankbait.
Tube gear: 7'6" medium-action G. Loomis 902 spinning rod, Daiwa Sol spinning reel (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=TDSOLS), 8-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC), 3/8-ounce D's jighead, 3-inch Poor Boys tube (green-pumpkin/blue flake).
Dropshot gear: 7' medium-action G. Loomis spinning rod (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GLSJG3S), Daiwa Sol spinning reel (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=TDSOLS), 8-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC), 3/8-ounce Poor Boys straight dropshot weight, 1/0 Gamakatsu dropshot hook (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GSS), Poor Boys Goby (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=PORBDSG) (green-pumpkin/pearl).
Main factor in his success "Realizing early that the fish were starting to show up on that outer stuff and saving that one area until the last day. At both the Series event on Champlain and this one I saved an area, and it really made a big difference."
Performance edge "I used the Humminbird 997 (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=HB900) to find those spots, and then the Minn Kota Fortrex trolling motor with the long shaft allowed me to stay on them instead of just drifting. I could just sit on those waypoints and keep catching fish."
The Field:
Jon Bondy:
Bondy of Windsor, Ontario, occupied the “hot seat,” which is a boat seat near the stage from which the current leader watches his challengers weigh their fish.
A full-time guide on the Detroit River, Bondy knows the river system as well as anybody. He used that knowledge this week to make a steady climb up the leaderboard, from fifth on day one to fourth on day two to second Saturday with a 19-9 limit that brought his three-day cumulative weight to 58-12.
Bondy found a weedless area in Lake St. Clair that measured about one-half mile in diameter and that was full of gobies and gizzard shad. He used Gulp-soaked tube jigs (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-SBTUBE.html) as his primary bait and backed them up with spinnerbaits, which he also soaked in Gulp juice (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpageACCBERKLEY-BGAS.html).
Reflecting on the tournament, Bondy said, “The cooler weather has the fish a week or two behind where they normally would be. But I’m happy with what I did here this week.”
Brian Hensley:
Hensley of Edwardsburg, Mich., saw his weights drop from 22-12 on day one to 19-12 on day two to 12-6 on day three, bringing his three-day total to 54-14.
Hensley said Friday he feared his big-fish spots were not replenishing, and those fears proved to be real. He needed 18-14 to catch Harrison when he stepped onstage at the weigh-in, and his sack had two 3-pounders and three 2-pounders, which wasn’t the combination for which he had hoped.
This was Hensely’s 11th top-10 finish without a win. Six of those tournaments have been on the Detroit River. If anybody is due for a breakthrough, it’s Hensley. In Stren events here, he placed second in ’07, eighth in ’03 and third today.
Terry Baksay:
Baksay of Easton,Conn., is another pro who’s due to break through on the Detroit River. In 2007 he finished ninth and third in Stren and FLW Tour events here, respectively.
This year he was determined to finish higher, but his bid faltered when an 18-3 limit brought his three-day total to 53-5.
“I fished the same area I found during a tournament here four years ago,” Baksay said. “My best bait was a DT-10 (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=RDT) custom-painted crankbait in Sexy Shad with lavender back. They really seemed to like it. Every fish I caught had it all the way down their throats.”
Shawn Murphy:
Murphy of Nicholasville, Ky. was 17th with 17-13 after day one. That’s a lot of places to climb over. But Murphy scored 17-8 on day two and 15-3 today, bringing his three-day total weight to 50-8.
“My practice was horrible,” Murphy said. “That’s the closest I’ve ever been to just wanting to pack up and go home. I caught five keepers all week in practice.” But on day one, Murphy went to a spot he had checked in practice. It finally had some decent fish.
“We caught over 100 pounds of bass off that spot between me and my co-anglers,” Murphy said. To catch them, he dragged tube jigs (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-SBTUBE.html).
TW Staff