Bassmaster Elite Series Bull Shoals Top Baits

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.

Bassmaster Elite Series Winyah Bay Top Baits

1st Place - Britt Myers

Britt Myers caught the majority of his weight in the event using a white 1/2oz Z-Man Elite Chatterbait tipped with a Keitech Swing Impact Fat 3.8 in 426 Sexy Shad. However, his most important bait may have been a white Zoom Super Fluke rigged weightless on a 3/0 Gamakatsu EWG Worm hook which he tied on during the final day of the event in order to fill out his limit. When Myers arrived back to the weigh-in site, he only hoped he wouldn't drop out of the top 5, little did he know the tough day he experienced was not unique and his small limit was just enough to squeak by Brett Hite.

2nd Place - Brett Hite

Brett Hite introduced the world to a new vibrating jig combo comprised of a green pumpkin 3/8oz and 1/2oz Evergreen Jackhammer and a new Yamamoto soft plastic he designed.

3rd Place - Kelly Jordon

Kelly Jordon made a huge comeback on day 2 of the event and came within one fish of winning the tournament. He flipped a black/red Sweet Beaver with a 1/2oz tungsten weight and he also chucked a Z-Man Elite Chatterbait in a green pumpkin color paired with a Lake Fork Magic Shad in a similar color.

4th Place - Brent Chapman

Brent Chapman caught all his fish this week using a Tightlines UV Whisker Beaver in a green pumpkin/pbj color.

5th Place - Randy Howell

Howell notched a 5th place finish at the second stop of the Elite Series using an assortment of baits, but his top two choices were a weightless 5" Yamamoto Senko in a pink color and a Yamamoto Flappin Hog II in the watermelon/black/red color which he flipped using a 3/4oz tungsten sinker.

6th Place - Keith Combs

Keith Combs put up a solid 6th place finish in the event by flipping and pitching plastics in backwater areas. Combs tried a number of plastics, but he finally settled on a Zoom Brush Hog in the watermelon candy color which he rigged behind a 3/4oz tungsten sinker on 20lb Seaguar Flipping FC line.

Seaguar Flippin Lines

Seaguar, the inventor and world leader in fluorocarbon and premium fishing line, has expanded its portfolio with the launch of two new technique-specific fishing lines targeting heavy cover applications.

Seaguar Flippin’ Fluoro and Seaguar Flippin’ Braid are the brainchild of Denny Brauer, legendary flipping expert and BassMaster Classic Champion, according to Gerry Benedicto, Seaguar General Manager. “Denny’s interest in creating lines specifically for flipping applications really got the ball rolling about two years ago. His familiarity with Seaguar and his expertise in designing flipping rods, reels and lures helped us establish the framework for the right lines needed for this go-to technique.”

Brauer identified strength and sensitivity as the key characteristics required in the new Flippin’ lines. “This is about pulling big fish out of the nastiest vegetation you can find,” said Brauer. “You’re on a short line, and you need to feel the quick reaction strike and then literally horse the fish out of heavy cover.” He added, “Your line is one of the most important aspects of the presentation, and now Seaguar has made selecting the right line simple.”

	Line Qualities	Spool Size	Lb. Test
Flippin’ Fluoro	Best-in-Class Impact & Knot Strength Remarkable Abrasion Resistance Virtually no-stretch for extra sensitivity & better hook sets	100 yards	20, 25, 30
Flippin’ Braid	Round profile, 8 micro-weave strands in Lo-Vis black Exceptional Impact Strength & Abrasion Resistance No- stretch for extra sensitivity & better hook sets	100 yards	50, 65

Flipping is one of the most popular ways anglers fish for bass. Seaguar research shows that 9 out of 10 anglers use this technique when bass fishing, and 8 out of 10 have purchased rods and reels specifically for flipping. The launch of the line will be supported with the Flipping Encyclopedia Video Series. This collection of educational video shorts will feature Denny Brauer walking through the basics and benefits of the flipping technique, including when and why the presentation is critical, as well as explaining his equipment and lure choices based on the time of year. Brauer will also be featured in TV, print and electronic media to build awareness and trial for the new Flippin’ lines.

The Flippin’ lines are the second application- or species-specific products Seaguar has introduced recently. In 2014, Seaguar introduced STS, the first species-specific fluorocarbon leader material targeting Salmon, Trout and Steelhead. This product line was developed to meet the needs of anglers in the Pacific Northwest, the Great Lakes and the Northeast fisheries.