After distancing himself from the rest of the field on day one, Martin came into day two with a 4½-pound lead over his next closest competitor. But then the tournament leaderboard began to tighten. Heading into Saturday, Martin’s lead was down to roughly 2½ pounds. And coming into the finals, Martin’s margin was only a shade over 2 pounds. On Sunday, only Lucas ultimately had the numbers to threaten Martin but he too fell short in the end – by a mere 3 ounces.
“Justin is a phenomenal angler,” said Martin. “And he’s definitely going to win one of these one day.”
In the meantime though, Martin – the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup champion – gets to add another piece of hardware to his mantel to go along with his other impressive FLW victories. Including this event, Martin now boasts five FLW Tour titles (2011 Forrest Wood Cup Lake Ouachita, 2009 Lake Champlain, 2004 Lake Champlain, and 2000 Pascagoula River) as well an FLW Series victory in 2010 on Lake Okeechobee.
As he did all week, Martin concentrated on grass flats with a combination of three key baits.
“I fished grass all day,” he said. “I fished a Bruiser Baits ribbon-tail worm, a Bruiser Baits paddle-tail worm and a ChatterBait. I caught most of my fish on the worms during the first three days, but today, I caught four of my really good keeper on that ChatterBait.”
Martin said that he began the day in his main grass area where he landed four keepers. He then headed south down the Potomac to a few more isolated grass areas where he picked up four more keepers. But because the wind really picked up in the latter part of the afternoon, he decided to err on the side of caution and start heading back toward the marina.
“I fished really hard but all day long I felt that I was one bite away from what I needed to win,” he said. “When I turned around and came back north, I got back here a lot earlier than I had expected. And I didn’t get another bite all day. I was really worried I’d left my other spot too soon. I really thought I was going to regret that decision.”
But as it turned out, he had already won the event – albeit by the slimmest of margins.
“It was a nerve-wracking week. It was a stressful week. But I had a lot of fun,” said Martin, who took home a first-place check for $125,000. “And that’s what makes this win so special. Now, I just have to keep fishing hard and get ready for the next tournament.”
Lucas wins “Heartbreak Hotel” award
After beginning his FLW fishing career as a co-angler back in 2006, National Guard pro Justin Lucas of Guntersville, Ala., has undoubtedly grown by leaps and bounds as an angler since then. As a 26-year-old pro, Lucas now boasts four FLW Series co-angler titles and one EverStart Series co-angler victory. He’s also an accomplished tournament host on the FLW College Fishing circuit. But since turning pro three years ago, Lucas has been searching for the one title that has eluded him to date – an FLW Tour victory. And today, he thought he finally had it.
After rallying from a 90th-place finish on day one, Lucas out-fished the rest of the field over the next three days, streaking up the leaderboard to 20th place on day two and then to fifth place overall heading into the finals. And during the finals, Lucas whacked them again, bringing in a 16-pound, 9-ounce stringer to up his four-day total to 66 pounds, 3 ounces. But unfortunately for Lucas, he came up 3 ounces short of his dream scenario and had to settle for second place … again.
“It’s my best finish ever on the Tour but it’s just been a crazy week,” he said. “I made a really bad decision on day one and that cost me. I also lost a 4-pounder every day of this tournament and you just can’t do that. But it is what it is. I had a real opportunity to win this and knock this out of the ballpark. So today there is kind of a sour taste in my mouth just because I wanted to win this so badly.”
After finishing the EverStart event at Lake Guntersville in second place just a few short weeks ago, Lucas had to settle for second place again.
“But now I’m hungry,” he said. “Whatever it’s going to take to win, I’m going to get it done.”
Lucas said that he fished grass flats all day, keying on ¾-mile stretch off the main river that housed a combination of pre-spawn, spawning and post-spawn bass.
“I used a homemade swim jig and stayed in that one spot all day,” said Lucas. “Unfortunately I lost a huge 4 ½-pounder at the boat with about 45 minutes left. It was a real donkey and that cost me.”
Overall though, Lucas said it was yet another learning experience.
“Not winning has just made me that much hungrier,” he said. “But I’m happy with my performance and I can’t thank everyone enough. I just fished against nine of the best anglers on the tour and finished in second. So I really can’t complain.”
For his efforts, Lucas went home with nearly $35,000 in winnings.
Dudley rallies but comes up short
Using a total catch of 65 pounds, 7 ounces – including a nice 15-pound, 10-ounce bag in the finals – Castrol pro David Dudley of Lynchburg, Va., grabbed third place overall, just a month removed from his FLW Tour victory on Beaver Lake.
But despite his awesome run over the course of the last six weeks, Dudley was hardly satisfied.
“I’m happy with my decisions this week but I’m not happy with the results,” he said. “I want to win every tournament and finishing third just means you’re the second loser. But I did good. There ain’t much more I can say.”
Dudley said he started the day fishing wood and other hard cover in the morning and as the tide got lower, he migrated to grass areas. He said he targeted bass using a combination of Havoc Rocket Craws, Hawk Hogs and the occasional Havoc Pit Boss.
“I love fishing the Potomac River,” he said. “I grew up fishing here and it’s a special place for me.”
While he didn’t win the event and make it two for two on the FLW Tour, the 2011 FLW Tour Angler of the Year now finds himself atop the AOY standings with the season rapidly coming to a close. And that’s at least one accomplishment nobody else can boast of at this point.
For his efforts, Dudley also took home nearly $29,000 in winnings.
Moynagh nets fourth
Using a total catch of 64 pounds, 7 ounces, M&Ms pro Jim Moynagh of Carver, Minn., grabbed fourth place overall.
“Last year I finished in 109th place but I switched up my baits this year and obviously did a lot better,” said Moynagh. “I fished a grass flat, using an All-Terrain jig around the edges of the grass. Basically, I just got into the right areas this tournament.”
However, Moynagh’s story could have been quite different had he not had to battle through some horrible luck on day three. During Saturday’s competition, Moynagh suffered through a heartbreaking day after a livewell mixup forced him to abandon all but one fish from his morning limit. According to tournament officials, Moynagh’s co-angler partner inadvertently placed his own fish in Moynagh’s livewell which is a rules violation. As such, Moynagh had to throw back the majority of his catch and start over. Although Moynagh rallied to land another 14-pound, 11-ounce limit at the end of the day, which was good enough to propel him into seventh place overall heading into the finals, the setback didn’t help any in his bid to capture the Potomac River title.
However, for his valiant efforts, Moynagh still managed to take home nearly $25,000 in prize money.
Schrumpf finishes fifth
Fishing in his rookie season on the Tour, Colby Schrumpf of Highland, Ill., was simply hoping to cash a check. But in the end, he did much more than that. Using a total catch of 63 pounds, 12 ounces, Schrumpf out-dueled the likes of fishing icons Bryan Thrift, Clark Wendlandt, Dave Lefebre, Clifford Pirch and Ron Shuffield to finish the Potomac River event in fifth place overall.
“I had one area pretty much to myself and I was able to pick through it pretty good,” he said. “I was basically targeting shallow wood with a finesse worm. And with the tides changing all day, I was able to constantly pick up new fish and get a 14- or 15-pound bag out of that area every day.”
For his efforts, Schrumpf won more than $19,000.
Best of the rest
Rounding out the top-10 pro finalists:
6th: Chevy pro Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C., 62-8
7th: Clark Wendlandt of Leander, Texas, 61-11
8th: Kellogg’s pro Dave Lefebre of Erie, Pa., 61-10
9th: Clifford Pirch of Payson, Ariz., 61-10
10th: EverStart pro Ron Shuffield of Bismarck, Ark., 61-4
For a complete list of the day’s results, click here.
Bass-fishing fans take note
FLW Tour action resumes June 7-10 on Kentucky Lake in Murray, Ky.
2nd – Dennie Gilbert/Tom Wilkinson
3rd – Robert Perkins/Chris Bullock
4th – Tommy Farly/Chad Craven
5th – Jay Rigney/Kenny Beale
6th – Mike Chlomoudis/Francis Draper
7th – Robert Crisman/Melvin Jennings
8th – Eddie Glascock/Bill Burton
1st Big Fish – Jay Rigney/Kenny Beale
2nd Big Fish – Jason Houchins/Danny Houchins
2nd – Dennie Gilbert/Tom Wilkinson
3rd – Robert Perkins/Chris Bullock
4th – Tommy Farly/Chad Craven
5th – Jay Rigney/Kenny Beale
6th – Mike Chlomoudis/Francis Draper
7th – Robert Crisman/Melvin Jennings
8th – Eddie Glascock/Bill Burton
1st Big Fish – Jay Rigney/Kenny Beale
2nd Big Fish – Jason Houchins/Danny Houchins
CLICK HERE TO SEE RESULTS
CLICK HERE TO SEE CURRENT POINTS
Ken Duke is the Senior Editor of B.A.S.S. Publications. To get your daily dose of bass information, history and trivia, follow him on Twitter @thinkbass.
By Ken Duke
“They” say there’s nothing new under the sun, and “they” may be right. After watching Jeremy Starks and Britt Myers finish 1-2 at the Douglas Lake Elite Series tournament last week, it looked like we were watching a new technique being unveiled — long lining was having its coming out party.
Except that it wasn’t.
It turns out that anglers around the country have been using the method for years — decades even — to catch bass at depths that crankbaits couldn’t reach on a conventional cast and retrieve.
If you missed it, Starks, Myers and several other Elite anglers were getting their deep-diving cranks to 30, 35 and perhaps as deep as 45 feet by making a long cast, then keeping their reels in free-spool while the bait bobbed in the waves and they moved away, so that the motor is not moving the lure. After they had backed away 200 or even 300 yards, they’d start the retrieve. A single cast and retrieve was taking as long as five or even 10 minutes, limiting Starks to just 40 or 50 casts a day. It hardly mattered, though, since he was catching a bass on nearly every cast.
There are several important things to consider here.
First, it’s against the rules of most tournament organizations to use either your outboard or electric motor to move your bait. That’s trolling, and it’s a big no-no.
Second, there are lots of factors that limit the running depth of a crankbait — line size and composition, bait size and design, retrieve speed and trajectory just to name a few — but the most limiting component has always been retrieve distance. A long cast by anyone’s standards would be 70 yards, and no conventional crankbait is going to dive deeper than 25 feet or so on a cast of that length. But if you can stretch the length of the retrieve, you can get the bait deeper.
Enter long lining.
“I first tried it in 1989 or 1990,” says Elite Series pro and Texan Kelly Jordon. “I developed it on my own, but I’m certain there were other guys doing it before me. I was just looking for a way to get a crankbait deeper than you could on a regular cast, and back then a lot of Texas bass tournaments allowed you to troll with your electric motor.”
The nine-time Classic qualifier didn’t call the technique “long lining,” however.
“We called it ‘strolling’,” he said, “and it wouldn’t be legal in a B.A.S.S. tournament because we used the trolling motor to help move the bait. That’s when we came up with ‘stroll casting,’ which is the same as long lining.”
As Jordon tells it, long lining or stroll casting has come close to being exposed by the outdoors media on several occasions. Jordon and three teammates used it to win the Toyota Texas Bass Classic a few years ago, and it was a factor in the Elite tournament on Wheeler Lake in 2011.
It wasn’t until Starks and Myers, however, that long lining was used so prominently in a major win. “A lot of the guys who use it have been trying to keep it quiet for a long time,” Jordon says.
Jordon, who finished 17th at Douglas Lake, admits to having missed a long lining opportunity there. “I stopped looking for them at about 30 feet deep. It wasn’t until the end of practice that I realized I had missed it. At about 1:30 on the last practice day I tried it with a Lucky Craft D20 and was hitting bottom in about 39 feet of water when a 7 pounder hit. It was too late for me to put anything together, though.”
For his long lining or stroll casting, Jordon likes a 7-foot, 11-inch medium-heavy Micro Magic cranking rod from Duckett Fishing. He’d go with an even longer model, but many tournament circuits (including the Elite Series) prohibit rods over 8 feet. He likes the Abu Garcia Revo STX or Premier in a 6.4:1 gear ratio for his cranking reel, and has found these models suit his needs well, though he says further customization might give some anglers a longer cast.
“I’ve seen some custom reels with ceramic bearings that could cast over 100 yards,” Jordon says, “but if you make one little mistake with them, you’re looking at an epic backlash. With my gear, I can cast 75 yards or so, and long casts are critical because they save time.”
Jordon also emphasizes the need for extremely castable baits — especially crankbaits that have a weight-transfer system that allow for longer casts. His favorite deep-diving crankbait is the Lucky Craft Flat CB D20. It’s the bait he was using at Douglas to catch the big fish in practice. It reached 39 feet on that presentation, but Jordon knows he can get it even deeper if he needs to.
As for line, conventional wisdom says lighter lines will help crankbaits get deeper, and that was certainly true in the days of monofilament. There’s some debate, however, now that most anglers are using fluorocarbon for their cranking. Fluorocarbon sinks, though not likely fast enough to make a difference with this method.
Jordon likes 10- or 12-pound test Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon for his cranking. He says lines lighter than 10 will cost you too many baits, but heavier than 12 will cost you too many bites.
“I know my Lucky Craft D20 was getting down to 39 feet at Douglas,” Jordon says, “but I think you can go deeper. I’d never tried to go that deep before.”
Of course, the key to successful long lining or stroll casting is not just how deep you can make the bait go, but putting it near catchable bass. For that, you need to be good with your electronics. You have to find the bass, get lined up on them and be able to put your bait on target time after time. Casts can take five to 10 minutes each, so missing the mark — even by a few feet — results in a considerable waste of time and effort.
“When I started stroll casting,” Jordon says, “I’d mark the area I wanted to hit with a buoy. Now I just use my electronics — especially my GPS — but a buoy could be a big help for anglers who are just learning the technique or who aren’t as familiar with their electronics. Just be sure to put the buoy off to one side so you don’t snag it.”
Ultimately, the depth bass anglers can reach with a crankbait is determined by physics. Nevertheless, with long lining, high capacity spools, fluorocarbon lines and proper rod trajectory, “deep-diving” is taking on a whole new meaning.
