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Well, a jig. Yep, that's the reason. 😁 Hahaha okay that is one of the reasons he won, but yep ain't the only reason.
Just as a reminder, Wes' 1st Elite win was in 2021 at Neely Henry, AL – another tourney with rising water and where he had a jig in his hand. Ko-inky-dink? I think not. Here's how this one went down – shorter than the full version on the BB website.
Going in and practice
He'd never fished Tenkiller before:
> "The 1st day of practice I caught a few on a little shad deal. It wasn't a shad spawn. It was just a marina situation – resident fish living there. I never caught any big ones, just some good keepers.
> "As practice progressed, it started raining incredible amounts of water and the lake started coming up. I feel like I thrive in changing conditions...being able to change up on the fly, not getting locked into one thing. The areas stayed the same, but the way you had to catch them changed.
> "That's how practice went – I got a few bites but it wasn't great. Not near as good as some of my practices.
> "...the way the fish set up kind of reminded me of how they do on the Coosa River a little bit. They weren't really current-oriented...just how...during practice I'd get a few bites down a stretch...and just know some fish are there.
> "I was noticing as the tournament progressed I was getting bit off the same pieces of cover at different times...almost the exact same flip.
> "It was gonna be a 2-prong approach...start in a marina or some kind of boat dock, which the majority of the field did...fish until they quit biting. About 7:30-8:00 it was pretty much done for me.
> "[Then] pick the flipping stick up and go flip 2 areas...anything in the water. One of them was in a major creek mid-lake [same creek as the marina he fished]. Everything set up good – really good cover, a lot of bait, it had a marina in it....
> "The other [flip area] ended up being a section of the [main] lake...for some reason that 2-3 mile section had a little bit better quality of fish."
Tournament
> "The 1st day I started in that big marina. I didn't catch near as many as thought I would, but I ended up leaving that marina with right at 10 lbs.
> "I started flipping in that creek – the flipping bite was pretty much going on. I caught so many bass...30-40 bass. Most of them were keepers, a lot of 1.75-2 lbers. The only reason I kept catching them was other competitors were in the creek doing the same thing, so there was no chance of saving anything. I didn't necessarily burn it down, but I didn't try to save anything.
> "I left that area with 12.5 lbs. I had a couple hours so I ran uplake to my other area. I ended up culling 3 times....
> "I did the exact same thing the 2nd day. [The marina and then] flipping the same creek, obviously it was slower.... I had an overwhelming feeling to go up the lake where all my better-quality bites had been. So I made a move up there earlier in the day.
> "I actually caught a better limit in the marina the 2nd day. I left there with 13 lbs, which allowed me to slow down...pick all my stuff apart....
> "Day 3 I went back to the marina one more time. I think I left there with 10.5 lbs, but I knew I would have to have 13-14 lbs to make the top 10.
> "I ran back up to [flip his better-quality area] – it was a lot more crowded. I was still able to get in there, slow down and pick stuff apart behind people. I had a few more quality bites including a 4.5-lber [that] was a 2-lb cull...a big deal that late in the day.
> "When I caught that one I had a funny feeling. I knew Andrew was catching them good, but I thought that bite would give me a legit shot."
Day 4 he started at a different marina where he hadn't gotten as many bites in practice but the quality was better:
> "...a 3-lb smallmouth, and I had a limit in 45 minutes...11-13 or 11-10. That was a pretty good start and I was actually closer to the second flipping area. So I was able to get there a lot earlier and slow down...2-3 little sections I caught 'em in and really slow down. The bite was considerably tougher, but when I got a bite it was really good quality.
> "[Those sections] didn't really look that different [from anything else]. It just had a laydown [or something] that for some reason would reload every couple hours. I have no idea what was special about it...[other] trees and bushes in the area and never got a bite off any of that stuff.
> "I feel like they just wanted to be on something – this particular 10-yard or 20-yard stretch. That allowed me to fish a lot faster. ...on the main lake, don't know if the current hit it different.
> "The depth was consistently the same all the way through there, 2-4'. Most of the fish I caught were in 2'."
Baits
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