August 8, 2016 by Jody White and Garrick Dixon
The top 10 pros in the 2016 Forrest Wood Cup presented by Walmart at Wheeler Lake caught bass just about every way you can catch them in the summer except for ledge fishing. From way up creeks to chasing schoolers, these are the baits they relied on.
1. John Cox earned the win way up a creek, and his primary bait the entire time was a Jackall Iobee Frog. He also added a few fish on a Yamamoto Senko.
How John Cox fishes a weightless Senko
2. Finishing runner-up, Michael Neal targeted schooling bass with a Lucky Craft Sammy as well as a Gunfish. Perhaps more important than the actual bait, Neal tipped his clear-colored topwaters with a feathered treble to better mimic the small baitfish in the area. Neal also threw a Carolina rig with a 6-inch Big Bite Baits Finesse Worm.
3. Todd Auten mixed creek bass and schoolers for third. He tossed a Zoom Fluke for schoolers. In the creeks he mostly fished a 1/2-ounce Z-Man ChatterBait with a Zoom UV Speed Craw (both black and blue), a 7/16-ounce Zorro Baits Booza Brush Bug (black and blue) with a Zoom Super Chunk (sapphire blue) and a prototype 1/2-ounce buzzbait from Zorro with a white Zoom Horny Toad.
4. Bryan Thrift says he relied on two primary baits: a Damiki D Pop 70 (spayu) and a 1/2-ounce Damiki Mamba Jig (brown).
5. Jeremy Lawyer used a gamut of baits including a Yellow Magic Popper custom painted by Fall Creek Lures, a 1/2-ounce jigging spoon (white), a Texas-rigged Reaction Innovations Smallie Beaver (magic craw red) and a LIVETARGET BaitBall Threadfin Shad TDD-70 deep-diving crankbait.
6. Mark Rose fished uncharacteristically shallow for sixth. He says he relied on an 8-inch Strike King Bull Worm Texas-rigged with a 5/16-ounce weight, a 3/8-ounce buzzbait with a toad trailer and a 1/8-ounce shaky head with a 6.5-inch Strike King Finesse Worm (morning dawn).
7. As usual, Jacob Wheeler was fishing shallow on the final day of the Forrest Wood Cup. He used an Accent Lures Game Changer Buzzbait (large blade) with black or white toads and a 9/16-ounce ENR Jig (magic craw) trailered with a Gene Larew Wheeler’s Punch Out Craw (Minnesota flash).
8. Walmart FLW Tour Rookie of the Year Chris Johnston caught his fish on an Evergreen SB 105 and a 4-inch Zoom Fluke.
9. Making back-to-back Forrest Wood Cup top 10s, Brandon Cobb used a Zoom Baby Brush Hog (tilapia) on a 5/16-ounce Texas rig, a 1/2-ounce Greenfish Tackle HD Skipping Jig with a Zoom Salty Pro Chunk (both green pumpkin) and Duel Hardcore 1 and 2 crankbaits (citrus shad).
10. Joseph Webster earned a top-10 finish with a Lucky Craft Sammy 100, a 1/4-ounce drop-shot with a 6-inch Roboworm Straight Tail Worm (morning dawn) and a Norman DD22.
