One Stick Ponies on The Bull

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Day One’s results at the Bassmaster Elite Series tournament on Bull Shoals reveals a list of 5-fish limits tighter in pounds and ounces than your grandma’s girdle.

    Several pros reported casting and cranking their way through 50 bass Thursday en route to assembling the heaviest 5-bass limit they could corral.  However, when the scales finally stopped spinning under sunny skies yesterday, only 4 pounds separated tenth from 50th place.

    So Day Two begins a wide-open horse race under rainy skies, but you can forget all that talk of the pros being so diverse.  Most guys are counting on using one rod, one reel, and one lure in this derby to be there at the finish line on Sunday.

 

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   Casey Ashley had a host of combos prepped for battle as rain began to fall around 6:35 a.m. However, the 28-year-old revealed a simplistic plan to tackle usage just before his name was called at morning blast off. “I’m just going chunkin’ and winding,” said Ashley.

    Then, from the grin that girls seem to love, came the more detailed truth. “Nah, I’m not really crankin’ that much like most guys, I’m throwing the same lure I throw dang near everywhere we go,” as he reached for an EXO rod and reel combo with a hand tied Shooter Jig attached to it. “It’s pretty much all I threw yesterday. I caught 30 bass in one hour on it.  So that’s probably about all I’m gonna’ throw today,” concluded the young 2-time Bassmaster Elite Series tournament winner.

    Tied to the dock next to Ashley was Gary Klein, who has more trips to the Bassmaster Classic to his credit than Casey has birthdays. An array of spinnerbaits and crankbaits were on display on Klein’s front deck, but he too plans to throw just one.

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    “I’m throwing one rod all day,” said the 29-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier. “I’m fishing an oversized crankbait all day in pretty shallow water,” said Klein, who caught a 5 pound 6 ounce Bull Shoals beast on his third cast yesterday morning using a Quantum Smoke 150 reel, spooled with 12-pound fluorocarbon line, tied to a Tennessee Shad colored Strike King Series 5 crankbait.

    Given the fact that so many fish are being caught, there’s no reason to experiment with different lures. It’s simply a matter of getting a big bite -- or better yet -- five big bites.

    And as Klein concluded, “You can only catch what’s there.” So you might as well just pick one horse and ride it.