All captions: Craig Lamb
To finish 12th Walt Bowen chose a 7-inch Zoom Magnum Ultravibe Speed Worm, rigged to 5/0 hook and 3/16-ounce weight.
To finish 11th Michael Purvis chose two hard baits. He used a 3.5-inch Yellow Magic Japanese Popper for fan casting into afternoon feeding bass. Alternatively, he chose a 3/8-ounce Spro Aruku Shad. âIt enabled me to tick the tops of the hydrilla instead of getting it hung up in the grass.â
Michael Murphy finished 10th using a 3-inch Reins Ring Craw, rigged to a 3/0 Gamakatsu Heavy Cover Flipping Hook. A 1.5-ounce Reins Tungsten weight completed the rig.
Don Eady fished soft plastics using various size weights to finish ninth. He chose the 4.2-inch Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver and 4.25-inch Zoom Horny Toad. For a lightweight approach he used a 1/8-ounce weight. For flipping thick mats he fished the plastics with 1-, 1 3/4- or 2 ounce weights. A 4/0 Gamakatsu SuperLine Offset EWG Hook completed the rigs.
To finish eighth John McBride used these baits. He chose a 3/8-ounce Strike King Greg Hackney Hack Attack Jig, with Strike King Grub trailer. Alternatively, he used a Yamamoto Senko rigged to 4/0 Gamakatsu Hook and 1/4-ounce tungsten weight.
Freddy Palmer finished seventh using this simple setup. The choice was a 7-inch Zoom Magnum Ultravibe Speed worm. He rigged that to 4/0 Gamakatsu SuperLine Offset EWG Hook with 3/16-ounce tungsten Wicked Weights.
To finish sixth Alex Wetherell used this trio of lures. He chose a 1/2-ounce Z-Man Lures Chatterbait Elite Series rigged with 5-inch Lunker City Lures Swim Fish Swimbait. Alternatively, he fashioned a drop shot using a 2.75-inch Lunker City Grubster. A 1/0 Lunker City VGB Dropshot Hook and 1/4-ounce Lunker City Dropshot Weight completed the rig. For bed fishing he used a 9-inch Lunker City Mud Dog with 5/0 hook and 1/4-ounce weight.
To finish fifth a homemade swim jig was key for Garrett Paquette. For the 3/8-ounce bait he matched skirt color to resemble bluegill in the strike zone. Trailer choices were key.
To finish fourth, Jon Canada used a jig and Texas-rigged worm. The choices were a 3/8- or 1/2-ounce Dirty Jigs with Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper trailer. Another choice was a Reaction Innovations Pocket Rocket rigged to 5/0 Owner Offset Hooks and 1/8- or 3/16-ounce weights.
To finish third Drew Cook chose a duo of lures. For lily pads he used a 1/2-ounce Nichols Lures Sledgehammer Swim Jig with Big Bite Baits Dean Rojas Fighting Frog trailer. For bedding bass he chose a 6-inch Yamamoto Senko with 5/0 Strike King Hack Attack Heavy Cover Flipping Hook, with 1/2-ounce weight.
To finish second Brandon Lester used a punch rig. The choice was a 3.25-inch X Zone Lures Muscle Back Finesse Craw. He rigged it to a 4/0 Mustad 3X Grip Pin Max Flipping Hook and 1.5 ounce tungsten weight.
Bobby Laneâs key fish came on a swimming frog he designed. The choice was a black or watermelon red 4.25-inch Berkley PowerBait Rib Toad. âWhatâs so important is you get greater distance with it than any other swimming frog.â The skinny water fished by Lane required long casts to reach the fish.
