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Then in the next 5 he had 2 30s, a 20 and – 2 wins. The first win was the ultra-tough Sabine RIVER, TX, and this one was his old stomping grounds: the Upper Mississippi RIVER, WI. Here's how it went down this time – a little unusually. You'll see what I mean.
Going in and practice
> "My original gameplan was to practice all 3 pools – because I'm familiar with pools 7, 8 and 9, and I figured a lot of people would stay on 8. They'd be scared to lock...typical river stuff. I figured if I could find something on the other pools, I'd have a better chance of having it to myself.
> "The first day of practice I on 7, I found one good area. I checked a bunch of stuff that normally have 'em that didn't really have 'em.
> "I went to pool 8 on day 2 and caught fish but the size wasn't great down there. And a couple areas I really planned on catching 'em I couldn't get in there. It was a hair too low. So pool 8 I could catch keepers if I needed to, but I was not going to catch the fish I needed to win.
> "Day 3 of practice I went to pool 9...fished a couple spots. We had gotten a bunch of rain and the main part of the pool I wanted to fish was completely blown out – compeltely mud, big tres floating everywhere. So I pulled the pin and...went to pool 7, and that was the day I found the spots I primarily caught my fish on."
Tournament
> "The 1st day I started in an area which I thought would be one of my main areas. I only caught 1 decent one, then went to what I thought was my best spot. [In practice] I spent 7-8 hours on a flat to find 1 little spot.
> "...just out on a big grass flat...2-3' with grass up to the surface – it was so hard to fish. ...a boat and a half size area....
> "I think shad were there or something, I don't know [why the fish were in that 1 spot – no depth change or whatever]. I cast at a million things that looked like that for hours and hours. For whatever reason they were there.
> "I started smashing them...had a good bag pretty fast. Once I kinda went through that, I think I might have had 15.5-16 lbs.
> "Those were all on a [TX-rigged] Big Bite Jerk Minnow. Most of them were on that. I did use another one, but but the Jerk Minnow was the best one.
> "I went to [an] area I found late day 3 of practice where I had a couple frog blowups, and ended up catching 3 of my fish there on a frog – a 4, 3.25 and 3.75. ...shallow – the first 2 days it was a foot or less out to 3-4'...different things in each area I keyed on.
> "Day 2 I started out on the schooling fish and 13.5-14 lbs on that Jerk Minnow. Then I went back to that frog area. I think I caught 1 good one over there and then after I had like 15 lbs I went exploring again.
> "Day 1 I went exploring at about noon, just to see if I could get into some areas, and day 2 I did the same thing. I went into some areas and just checked them out, then locked down to pool 8.
> "...got my biggest one down there just flipping a bank. I caught 1 other one flipping that I weighed.
> "Day 3 I started on the schooling fish but the wind was blowing so hard I couldn't even see where I needed to cast. Then I went to the frog area...caught a couple good ones there. I think I had 13 lbs but it was super tough.
> "That's common the first day of a cold front down there. It was dead calm all of practice and the first 2 days, then it was blowing straight N and hard.
> "I had some smallmouth down on pool 8...they weren't big. The day before I went down there just to see what was there and I caught several 2.25-2.5 lbers. I'm like, Well if I get 2 of them, it'll gain me over a lb.
> "So I went there and caught 2, they were both 2.29, which gave me half a lb each. That was on a ChatterBait – just a current seam.
> "Then I went to 1 other area, which ended up being the area where I caught 'em the last day.I rolled in there and caught 1 3-lb largemouth [flipping] grass.
> "Day 4 was windy but it had diminished a little bit and I was able to get out on the schooling fish and actually fish. I had 1 keeper and that was it."
Frogging wasn't gonna work so:
> "I went and hunkered in on my other zone [flipping]...fish slow and be thorough and methodical. My first bite was over 4, then the same little weed clump I got a 2.4, another keeper and a short.
> "I kept working through there slow. I got another 3.5 and another 2.5, and had a pretty decent bag pretty quick. I caught all them on the first pass and just stuck in there. KJ Queen [who finished 8th] was close...fishing a little different section.
> "...eventually, once the sun came up, I caught another one that was close to 3 and another that was over 3.5. So I had 3 real good ones – 1 over 4 and 2 over 3.5 – 1 close to 3 and a 2.5-lber. All flipping."
When he locked back to pool 8:
> "I ran all the way to the bottom of pool 8, fished for 10 minutes and caught a 4.38 and 3.19 to get rid of a 2.6 and 2.4. That brought me from 16.5 to 18.5...ran back to weigh-in.
> "I thought I needed 17 lbs. I knew I had 18-19 so they'd have to catch a good bag. I felt good but not great because if [Caleb Kuphall] catches 16 lbs, he beats me." [Caleb had 12-13 and lost by 2-12.]
Baits
> Choked out grass flat: 5" Big Bite Baits Jerk Minnow (glow silver – "it's translucent whiteish with a lot of silver flake – if you're trying to imitate a shad it's the most realistic color in my opinion out of all the brands, it looks so good in the water"), TX-rigged (Texposed at most) on a 5/0 heavy-gauge round bend hook, 50-lb Sunline SX1 Braid, 7' 3" H St Croix Victory Rod.
> Frog: SPRO Bronzeye 65 (brown), 50-lb Sunline X1 Braid, 7' 4" H St Croix Legend Elite Rod ("I like it for frogging – it has a little longer handle with full cork so it's comfortable on my side."
> Flipping: Unnamed creature bait (black), 4/0 straight shank flipping hook, 3/8-1 oz weight, 60-lb Sunline XPlasma Braid, 7' 11" H Mod F St Croix Legend Elite Rod.
> Why a moderate rod: "It's more parabolic. Especially with that heavier weight and that straight shank, you get too stiff a rod you just rip a hole in their mouth. In the St Croix line, that Mod F gives you a little more forgiveness.
> "I cater how I set the hook to that and how I fight 'em – it's a whole very refined system that I have for flipping bigger weights. If I'm throwing a bigger weight, that rod and that whole system is what I like."
> The areas he flipped: "Some of it was cut bank, anywhere from 2-4'. Some of it was just flipping grass...coontail and duckweed mixed up, eelgrass clumps – just stuff.
> "A cut bank had to have current and had to be a true cut bank – it had to have an actual undercut. Current is the big factor down there. If there's not flow on those banks, the fish don't position right and it's not as productive generally."
With the water coming up, he did check some backwaters but the fish weren't there.
> Current seam smallmouths: 1/2-oz Z-Man JackHammer (white) with a Big Bite Baits Kamikaze Swimon (pearl), 20-lb Sunline Shooter fluoro, 7.3 reel, 7' 2" H Mod St Croix composite Legend Tournament Ripping Chatter Rod.
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