Top lures at Lay Lake

Brandon Palaniuk was poised to win the Whataburger Bassmaster Elite at Lay Lake, after leading for three days, all of his limits caught from the same area.
Photo: Craig Lamb

Meanwhile, a challenger was gaining ground. Will Davis Jr., the rookie who tapped into his deep knowledge of Lay Lake, would go against two formidable challengers whose shallow-water and spawning cycle expertise is tough to match.

Jason Christie, who caught the Phoenix Big Bass of the tournament (and season), served notice he would be on pace to win a ninth B.A.S.S. title, while Palaniuk was on par to score a seventh win.

In the end, the pride of Sylacauga, Ala., and the B.A.S.S. Nation (Davis’ path to the Elite Series), would win in just his fifth event. Davis stayed in the Top 10 all week, with limits weighing 15-14, 18-5, 14-7 and a final day push of 14-2 for a winning weight of 62 pounds, 12 ounces.

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Seth Feider (10th; 47-9)

Feider rotated through a swim jig, spinnerbait and casting jig.

A primary bait was a 3/8-ounce Outkast Tackle Heavy Cover Edition Pro Swim Jig, paired with a Z-Man Hellla CrawZ trailer.

Alternatively, he used a Bassman Compact Spinnerbait.

He also chose a 3/8-ounce Outkast Tackle Stealth Feider Tungsten Casting Jig.

Matt Herren (9th; 48-00)

Herren fished tailwater current with a fluke bait, using a swim jig and flipping rig in cover.

In current, Herren used a fluke-style bait rigged on a 5/0 Owner Offset Worm Hook.

Elsewhere, he used a new 3/8-ounce Dirty Jigs Compact Swim Jig, with a craw-style trailer.

Herren also used a Reaction Innovations Pocket Rocket 4.5, rigged on a 3/0 Owner 4x Jungle Flippin’ Hook, with a 1/4-ounce Elite Tungsten Weight.

Justin Hamner (8th; 51-8)

Hamner worked his strike zones with a jerkbait and soft-plastic frog.

For reaction strikes, he used a Yo-Zuri 3DB Jerkbait 110 Deep.

Hamner also used a 4-inch NetBait BF Toad Baitfuel Supercharged, with a 4/0 Spearpoint Offset Worm Hook.

Brandon Cobb (7th; 54-13)

A buzzbait and stick worm did the trick for Cobb.

He rigged a Zoom Fluke Stick on a 1/0 Decoy Worm Hook.

To cover water, he used a Greenfish Tackle Toad Toter Buzz, rigged with a Zoom Horny Toad trailer.

Patrick Walters (6th; 55-7)

Walters made a wacky rig with a Zoom Fluke Stick, rigged on a No. 1 VMC RedLine Series Weedless Wacky Neko Hook.

Alternatively, Walters used a prototype Rapala jerkbait to debut in July during the ICAST trade show.

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Jay Przekurat (5th; 55-13)

Przekurat’s primary lure was a 1/4-ounce Bass Tactics Bryan Gustafson’s Smeltinator Jig.

He rigged it with a Strike King 3X Baby Z-Too Jerkbait for a trailer.

Bryan New (4th; 56-3)

A jig, buzzbait and bladed jig enabled New to cover the entire water column of the strike zone for New, while more than two dozen rigs were in play during the competition.

New chose a 1/2 Greenfish Tackle All Purpose Jig, paired with a Zoom Big Chunky Salty Chunk trailer.

For reaction strikes, New used a 3/8-ounce Greenfish Tackle Toad Toter Buzz, with a Zoom Horny Toad trailer.

For working through cover, New used a 3/8-ounce Z-Man ChatterBait, with a 4-inch Zoom Boot Tail Fluke.

For covering water, he cranked a Spro Little John Baby DD 60 crankbait.

Jason Christie (3rd; 60-9)

Christie rotated between favored baits that have scored big for him in recent years.

He alternated between two different patterns of the BOOYAH Pad Crasher, choosing Sunburn for largemouth chasing juvenile bluegill.

He used Leopard Frog, with its shades of white in the belly, for the shad spawn.

Christie caught the current Phoenix Big Bass of the season weighing 9 pounds, 4 ounces, on this wacky-rigged 5-inch YUM Dinger, rigged on a 5/0 Lazer Trokar Wacky Worm Wide Gap Hook.