> “One area about the size of a football field had 4-5 brushpiles…a couple were isolated with nothing else around, just kind of by themselves.

> “I went through a lot of different baits that first day trying to figure it out. I started off throwing a big worm and was catching good ones on that, a big squarebill, a Carolina rig…changing a lot…figured out the lineups and where I needed to sit.

> “Every day was just a little bit different, but it was consistent. Even with that wind and the clouds…sun and wind was when I caught my biggest ones. It seemed like they were a little scattered when the clouds were out — the sun brought those fish close to that brush.”

> “I was mixing up my baits every 10 minutes it seemed like.”

> 2.5 squarebill (chart shad-ish, looks like “summer sexy shad”) — “I wanted a big bait that didn’t run real deep…a big squarebill that wouldn’t get hung in the brush and something that wouldn’t run very deep. Color didn’t seem to matter.

> “A big squarebill really doesn’t come up that often in a tournament. Most times guys are throwing a 1.5-style bait. But I felt the bigger profile would get a bigger bite.

> “I was burning the bait — really reeling it. Seemed like the faster you reeled it, the more bites you’d get.

> “You just had to get it around the brush [not in it]. It seemed like if you went right over top of it you could get bit, but the fish were just sitting around [to the sides of the brush] too.”

> “I starting mixing in a swimbait on a belly hook — it was catching some bigger fish — showing them something different…. After days of fishing [the same stuff over and over] I was just getting bored really, or I was throwing something to try to catch a bigger fish or more fish.”

> “I don’t know if I’ve won ’em all. I won there last year at Kissimmee, so I guess there’s something special down there in those waters. I don’t know.

> “…going to a 3-lb minimum, that was pretty awesome. I’ve never been in a tournament where there’s been a 3-lb minimum. So you had to be on the right caliber of fish just to weigh in a fish. I just happened to be on the right stuff. It just was pretty much a perfect week.”

> “I had a milk run of about 5 brushpiles. I fished 60-70 a day, but if I got within a mile or mile and a half of those 5, I’d hit them multiple times during the day. I think they just had fresh fish all the time. I don’t think they were residents — they were just coming and going.

> “…couldn’t see fish on a lot [of the brush he fished]. The 3rd day I sat on brushpile — Spot-Locked, I could see it the whole time on the 360 — and caught 15 out of it. I think a lot of guys weren’t fishing the ones they couldn’t see fish on.

> “I fished everything, whether I could see them or not. I made a few casts and if I didn’t get bit, I’d leave. I had that trolling motor up and down 500 times a day.”

> “We’re throwing at brushpiles and ledges further than we used to. We’re making 100′ casts now, and being able to penetrate a fish 100′ away from you [is key]. Fluorocarbon seems to have more stretch than what it had….

> “I’ve been working on a jig with a good hookup ratio…had trouble keeping a lot of them on, so I downsized the weedguard and hook to get penetration.

> “It’s kind of a hybrid between a heavy and finesse jig: 3/4-oz with a lighter wire [hook] and lighter weedguard, and it doesn’t get hung up. I lost 3 jigs in 4 days, so it’s pretty special.”

> Just hanging out with my buddies, doing anything outdoors. We ride around on side-by-sides…family time and friend time.

> Peanut butter and banana. Don’t eat ’em on the lake but they’re a great sammich.

Is that because of the whole bananas in boats thing?

> I’m not real superstitious but I don’t wanna take chances.

> It’s still in the truck, seatbelted in. It’s riding around with me right now.

> Brett Hite: “The StealthBlade is the antidote for bass that have seen endless parades of traditional bladed jigs. Throw it in clear water. Skip it under heavily-fished docks and laydowns. Cast it for big smallmouths. Pitch it anywhere you want, and present bass with a totally different sound and cadence than other bladed jigs.”

> …a clear polycarbonate blade produces a totally different sound and vibration, but like its predecessor, starts thumping intensely with the first half-turn of the reel handle.”I’d say the vibe of the StealthBlade feels a little tighter, hunts with a slightly higher frequency vibration.”

> …the blade’s specialized oval split-ring, which adds more stealth, less surface area and no protrusions to catch vegetation or other snags.

> “The fluorine nanocoating let us build the bait with a thinner wire-gauge hook that’s just as strong as the heavier hook on the original JackHammer. The gap on the StealthBlade hook is the same, but the shank is about a 1/4-inch shorter for a slightly more compact presentation. The wide gap means I can still use my same favorite jig trailers, but in a subtler, ‘finessy’ package. The bait won’t overpower the trailer or vice versa.”