Top Baits: Bassmaster Elite Series Bull Shoals/Norfork
The Bassmaster Elite Series' third stop of the 2016 was a unique tournament for the organization and anglers as it featured competition on two bodies of water: the famed Bull Shoals Lake and the lesser known Norfork Lake. The two lakes are situated right in the heart of bass fishing country with Ranger Boats headquarters wedged right between the two and bass fishing history found in each direction. The tournament was predicted to be a heavy sight fishing event and did feature quite a bit of it, but the predominant patterns of the top-5 were void of any looking. Instead, anglers relied on shallow flipping and swimbaits on both of the tournament venues. Let's take a look at some of the top baits from the event.
1st Place - Randall Tharp
Tharp utilized a 3/8oz and 1/2oz 4x4 Randle Tharp Signature Series Jig in golden craw and green pumpkin for the majority of the event, but switched up to 5/8oz toward the end of the 3rd day on Bull Shoals. Tharp tipped his jig with a Zoom Super Chunk to mimic little bluegill the bass were being pestered by up shallow. Tharp fished his jig on Halo Rods and Lew's Reels spooled up with Gamma Fluorocarbon line.
2nd Place - Skeet Reese
Reese mixed it up during the event. At Bull Shoals, he flipped a Berkley Pit Boss with a 1/2oz tungsten bull weight in about a foot of water. He was utterly shocked how shallow he could pitch his bait and still get bit. His third day bag of 19lbs 2oz vaulted him up from 26th place all the way up to 3rd and put him in a position to possibly win the tournament on the final day. He started day 4 on Norfork by cranking a shallow running Lucky Craft Crankbait along the pea gravel banks, but eventually switched to the swimbaits. Reese did most of his damage on a shad colored 6" Basstrix Swimbait and also caught fish on a 7" Osprey Tournament Talon Swimbait.
3rd Place - Chris Zaldain
Zaldain pulled out a bunch of his west coast tricks this week at the dual lake tournament. He started it and ended it on Norfork tossing the 6" Megabass Magdraft Swimbait just slow rolling it along the bluffs and rocky shoreline where bass would come out from behind boulders or shade lines to absolute crush it. He alternated between two rods for the big baits: a Megabass Orochi XX F5-72XX Diablo Spec-R and unnamed model of the Megabass Levente Series Rods. He threw the swimbaits using 20lb Seaguar Tatsu Fluorocarbon.
When it came to Bull Shoals, Zaldain was having a blast pitching his drop shot in the same type of areas most competitors were opting for big jigs and heavy plastics. For that use, Zaldain elected to use a 6" Roboworm Straight Tail Worm in the Margarita Mutilator color. Time and time again, Zaldain proved the strength of his 15lb Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon as he hung bass up in branches, hauled them through bushes and boat flipped fish. He tied a very short leader with a 2/0 Roboworom Rebarb Hook.
4th Place - Matt Herren
Matt Herren used two baits to catch his fish at the northern Arkansas Bassmaster Elite Series event. The yin and the yang of his approach included a green pumpkin Reaction Innovations Pocket Rocket and a 1/2oz Santone Lures Jig.
5th Place - Bill Lowen
Bill Lowen focused his efforts on shallow water bass using a 3/8oz jig and a 4" black and blue flipping tube. He fished slowly and was likely catching spawning fish, although he was not sight fishing.
6th Place - Jacob Powroznik
Jacob Powroznik was one of the sight fishermen using his keen eyesight to make the final day cut of this two lake tournament. He relied primarily upon a wacky rigged V&M J-Mag finesse worm.
7th Place - Steve Kennedy
Steve Kennedy was another one of the anglers sight fishing and he used the old standy white jig to get a better look at his bait and insure he could see when a fish chomped down on it.
8th Place - Adrian Avena
Adrian Avena used a variety of lures during the tournament including finesse worms and swimbaits, however his most successful technique was flipping a chartreuse dipped watermelon colored Berkley Crazy Legs Chigger Craw into shallow brush. He rigged the soft plastic on a 3/0 straight shank flipping hook behind a 1/2oz tungsten weight. Avena's setup included a Abu Garcia Revo Premier Casting Reel and an Abu Garcia Villain Rod.
9th Place - Mike McClelland
McClelland was among the anglers fishing shallow water brush and rock to catch his fish at both Bull Shoals and Norfork. He flipped and pitched a Big Bites Fighting Frog in watermelon red using a lighter 1/4oz and 3/8oz tungsten weights to get a slower fall than many of his competitors presented. McClelland utilized his signature series Falcon Mike McClelland Swim Jig Rod - a 7'2" model - to make accurate pitches around thick brush and tight spaces.
10th Place - Brian Snowden
Brian Snowden had a very steady tournament finishing up in 10th place. He caught the majority of his fish flipping a green pumpkin Zoom Z-Hog soft plastic craw bait.
11th Place - Brandon Palaniuk
Brandon Palaniuk sight fished a bit here and there, but he also flipped a 3/8oz Eco Pro Tungsten Jared Lintner Heavyweight Flipping Jig in the green pumpkin color.
12th Place - Koby Kreiger
Known as an expert sight fisherman, Koby Kreiger road his superior eyesight to a top 12 finish at the Bull Shoals/Norfork event. To trick the spawning bass he, like Steve Kennedy, opted for a white bait - his, a Zoom Super Hog.
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