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Justin started off his 2nd year on the Bass Pro Tour with a nail-biter, last-minute, Bobby Lane-like win over his rookie bud Colby Miller. After finishing 37th in the points last year, Justin came out swinging – kinda like last year actually: His best finish (and only top 10) was an 8th at Toledo Bend, his home lake, which was the first tourney of the year.
How did he go all the way in this one? Here we go:
Going in and practice
> "I'd never been to Lake Conroe before. It's 3 hours from my house – I live on Toledo Bend. I went and pre-practiced for 2.5 days before it went off-limits, and found the same creek where all the hydrilla was. I did a lot of graphing, marking brushpiles, rockpiles, that kind of stuff.
> "When I got done with pre-practice, I felt that the guy who won it would utilize FFS for a period, and the other 2 periods would be in the hydrilla, in the grass. Knowing what I know being on Toledo Bend and being a Sam Rayburn guy, if you find hydrilla in a drain or on a flat in the pre-spawn, that's where you better be.
> "When I got to official practice, I went through...areas of the grass, got a few bites. I found some areas where there was bait...had a lot of bass in it. I was like, This is exactly what I anticipated. There was a warming trend – fish were going to be moving into the grass. They're going to replenish every night...a recipe for something big.
> "It went just as I thought it would go. It was won exactly the way I thought it would be won. I'm just blessed to be the guy to do it."
FFS strategy
> "I knew there would be advantages and disadvantages to using it [in any] period. For me, the advantages outweighed the disadvantages in period 1.
> "The big advantage [for FFS in period 1] is you can utilize it in your ride-around. So you have 30 minutes essentially to see if the fish are still where you left 'em.
> "...you could take advantage of the early shallow-water bite [fishing without FFS], but you'd take a risk getting back out there in that 3rd period and they'd moved...have to spend time trying to relocate them."
Tournament
He fished basically the same way every day:
> "...FFS and did it with 1 bait, a BPS XPS Rock'n Shad...Garmin LiveScope and just shaking a minnow, taking advantage of fish feeding in the mornings. They were in one 100-yard stretch and I just went back and forth...made hay while the sun shined.
> "They were in 10' of water, and in the water column ranged from 2' under the surface to roaming the bottom.
> "...multiple species of fish swimming through there – catfish, crappie, all types of stuff. Catfish was the main one...I learned how to distinguish between a catfish and a bass. Because of how good LiveScope is, I could see that. I did catch a couple catfish...smaller ones."
The 2nd and 3rd periods he fished a 150 by 80 yard stretch of grass flat (6' deep and the grass was 3-6') about 1/4-mile from his Scoping area:
> "All I did was try to re-intercept those fish swimming through my Scoping area. They were going to the back of the creek and were staging to spawn in the grass. ...the water temperature was rising so fish were on the move. They were swimming by me the 1st period so I was hoping to get out in front of them.
> "I did the majority of damage with a [unnamed] lipless and a Bass Pro Shops XPS Chatterbomb [made by Z-Man]...I didn't throw a Chatterbomb as much because the guys who were [in the same creek], almost every one of them was throwing a bladed jig.
> "The lipless I was more ripping it – burning it across the top of the grass. I was using a 8.3:1 gear ratio reel to speed that 'Trap up. In one zone the grass was taller than the rest, and keeping that lipless on top of the water was key.
> "I've seen it before on Toledo and Rayburn – man sometimes you can't even reel it fast enough.
> "I had some key bites in the Knockout Round on a swim worm with a 3/16-oz weight. It was bluebird skies that day, the wind calmed down and it kinda got flat. Any time it's slick, sunny conditions and you're shallow fishing, it's hard to get them to bite a bait that has more action. So I had to opt for something a little more subtle...."
Baits
> Jig 'n minnow: BPS XPS Rock'n Shad (space shad) – "It's a new FFS minnow-style bait that has wings on the side. They make a 4-inch and and a 5. I opted for the 4-inch.... Color didn't matter – I used 4 different colors." 3/16-oz Owner RangeRoller Jighead ("I like to go as light as I can while still being effective."
> 15-lb BPS XPS Braid (high viz yellow) to 12-lb BPS XPS Fluoro, BPS Johnny Morris Platinum Spinning Reel, 7' 1" ML F BPS Johnny Morris Platinum Series Rod.
> Lipless: 3/8-oz shiner pattern bait with #4 Owner trebles, 14-lb BPS XPS Fluoro, BPS Johnny Morris Platinum Reel (8.3), 7' 1" MH F BPS Johnny Morris Platinum Series Rod.
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