A brand new Bassmaster Elite Series season has begun. Nearly 40,000 miles of interstate lie ahead for those who choose bass fishing as a full-time profession, and so do 11 bodies of water that never fish the same. So packing for this venture combines experience, practicality, and gut feelings.
Hence, it's hard to imagine what the top pros might pack for the six-month voyage if they could only have four lures for the Bassmaster Elite Series season. So we asked top pros Dave Wolak and Terry Scroggins to tell us what they'd take along. And while they cut their bassin' teeth in totally different angling cultures, you might be surprised to learn how similar their answers were.
Dave Wolak grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania, fishing weedy largemouth lakes and smallmouth bass waters throughout the Great Lakes region. Yet, in a day and age when Bubba's down-south power lures seem to be playing second fiddle to finesse worms, the first lure Wolak chose was a spinnerbait. A Colorado-bladed version with gold blades and a chartreuse and white skirt, to be exact. "There's a simple reason why I say that," said Wolak, "I can catch bass on a spinnerbait in 45-degree water or 90-degree water."
Here's a look at Wolak's next three picks:
- A black jig in a 3/8 oz. size with a Yum trailer.
- A shallow diving square-billed crankbait with chartreuse sides and a brown back.
- 6" green pumpkin Yum Houdini worm on a Shaky Head.
Central Florida's Terry "Big Show" Scroggins picked up where Dave Wolak left off - with a finesse worm. "This will sound crazy," said Scroggins, "But a Shaky Head, rigged with a Yum Houdini worm, is the bait that bails you out of trouble when you're in bad need of a bite."
And while Big Show is known for flipping his native Florida's heavy matted vegetation, just like Wolak, he too put a spinnerbait in his pick of four lures for the rest of the year. "People have shelved the spinnerbait way too much in recent years, but let me tell ya', I'll have a Booyah spinnerbait tied on at The Harris Chain, Lake Falcon, and Wheeler," proclaimed Scroggins.
To round out Scroggins's line-up, here are two more he won't be without:
- A YUM Big Show Craw -- of course. He says he'll pitch it to bushes in Texas, not just the grass mats of Florida, stating it won't hang up as much as a bulkier jig.
- A Zara Spook, he expects a topwater to dominate at Clarks Hill, GA, and Murray, SC.
So indeed, while their hometowns are 1,000 miles apart, Scroggins and Wolak have a lot in common. They've both jammed to Def Leppard, tow with a Toyota Tundra, and neither leave home without plenty of spinnerbaits and shaky head-rigged finesse worms.
