Randall Tharp’s winning Bull Shoals/Norfork pattern

Here’s how Randall Tharp won the “ping-pong” Bassmaster Elite Series event – on Norfork for 1 day, then Bull Shoals for 2 days, then Norfork again.

He caught a ton of bass and “fished exactly the same pattern on both lakes,” he said. “The areas I fished look really similar. The only difference was the third day some of the fish moved up into the bushes on Bull Shoals and I caught several in the bushes there.”

How he found ’em

“The first day I practiced on Norfork. I sight-fished and finesse-fished in pretty clear water and didn’t do much. The second day on Bull Shoals was terrible. I had a handful of bites trying to fish the same way as on Norfork.

“The third [practice] day I was on Bull Shoals again and I didn’t have a bite. So I ran to a place 4 miles up the river, near Diamond City. I pulled up on a channel-swing bank, made three pitches and got a bite. So I cranked my engine up and found three creeks like that one, that had stained water and channel-swing banks in the back. I didn’t fish them, just rode around to look at water color.

“That night I pulled my map out of Norfork, and saw three creeks with exactly the same look. The very first place I went, the first pitch I had big one bite. That was the same spot I started on on day 1, and that was the spot I won the tournament. It looked right on the map, and it looked right when I pulled up on it.”

How he caught ’em

“All the fish were thinking about spawning or spawning,” he said. “They were really shallow, like in 1-4′ and feeding heavily. They were all on something irregular [wood or structure].”

Water visibility averaged 2 feet. “One channel swing to the next had different water color. The very backs of the creeks were more stained, and the channel swings toward the main lakes were clearer. If [those clearer-water areas] had wind I preferred fishing those, but if not I’d fish the more-stained water sort of to conceal myself.

“I had two jigs tied on, a 1/2- and 5/8-oz 4×4 Randall Tharp Signature Series Jig in golden craw with a Zoom Big Salty Chunk in green pumpkin. It’s exactly the same jig I won the Open with on Ross Barnett [in 2013]. When the water is stained to clear, that’s the color [combo] I throw most of the time. I carry that color and black/blue – they’re the only ones in my boat.”

He made a “really quick vertical presentation. I’d drop it, pop it up a couple times then reel in. It seemed like they would come 5 feet to get it, so I was just covering tons of water and making a lot more casts than anyone else.”

Tidbits

> “In practice on the same stretches you could crank a Wiggle Wart and never get a bite .”

> “At those Ozark lakes they feed on crawfish there than any other place. I was cleaning out my livewell and it looked like there was 2 lbs of crawfish in there.”

> “Every day my best bite happened the last few hours. I’d cull all day then catch everything I weighed in from 12 to 3.”

> He used a 7′ 6″ heavy action Halo Fishing Twilite Series II rod, a Team Lew’s Pro Magnesium Speed Spool ACB reel (7.5) and 16-lb Gamma Edge fluorocarbon.

> “I had 60 bites the first day and caught 30-something keepers. The second day I had 12 bites and 7 keepers. The next day I had 35-40 bites and the final day 50 fish with 30 keepers. I’d go 15-20 minutes without a bite, then hit a stretch and get bit on every cast. My whole career I’ve never culled as much as I did the first day.”