Photo: Steve Bowman - For the first two days of the Bass Pro Shops Central Open #1, Mike McClelland had success fishing in 45 to 50 feet of water and throwing a finesse swimbait to bass holding in standing timber 25 to 32 feet deep. On Day 3 he caught only spotted bass after switching to a stickbait to complete his limit. See the full lineup of lures the Top 12 used to bag the biggest limits last week in Missouri. All captions: Craig LambPhoto: Craig Lamb - Ted Vaughan The 12th-place finisher used a simple approach all week. Vaughn fished this Strike King Red Eye Shad, Chartreuse Sexy Shad. He fished the lipless crankbait in cloudy, brown water using a slow retrieve and rolling action with the rod.
Photo: Craig Lamb - Tyler Carriere The 11th-place finisher used some of the same lures he found success with in February at the Bassmaster Elite Series on Cherokee Lake in Tennessee. Photo: Craig Lamb - He used a 1/10-ounce Ned Rig, green pumpkin and this Damiki Rig with 3-inch Armor Shad in Pearl White. For big bass bites he used this Storm Wiggle Wart.Photo: Craig Lamb - Ernie Stumpf The 10th-place finisher rotated through soft plastic lures for catching his fish. For soft plastics he used a 3.8 Keitech Swimbait rigged on a 3/16-ounce jig and a 3.3 Keitech Swimbait on a 1/8-ounce jig.
Photo: Craig Lamb - Stumpf used a Carolina-rigged single tail grub. Another choice was a 5/16-ounce jighead rigged to a Strike King Menace Rage Twin Tail Menace Grub.Photo: Craig Lamb - Tom Statler The ninth-place finisher used two lures for covering the water column on Table Rock Lake. He chose an 11/16-ounce Gene Larew Lures Biffle HardHead with a green pumpkin Biffle Bug. Statler also used a 3/8-ounce homemade underspin with pearl white Zoom Super Fluke trailer. Photo: Craig Lamb - With the Biffle bait he focused on main lake and secondary points on inside edges. He worked the underspin over submerged treetops with the boat in water from 60-130 feet deep.
Photo: Craig Lamb - Rick Clunn The eighth-place finisher used two baits made by Luck-E-Strike. Largemouth and smallmouth shared his area, providing a bonus mix of opportunity. Making contact with isolated wood was key with the spinnerbait. Photo: Craig Lamb - Most of his keepers came on this white/chartreuse 3/4-ounce Trickster Spinnerbait featuring a No. 4 Long Drop blade and Ring Worm. Clunn also used this RC Stick Bait, Secret Night pattern. Photo: Craig Lamb - Sammy Burks The seventh-place finisher chose baits based on water clarity and mood of the bass. Burksâ objective was finding lures to catch bass he found in shallow and deep water.
Photo: Craig Lamb - Burksâ primary bait was a 3.8 Keitech Swimbait, Rainbow Shad. To that he rigged a 3/8-ounce Revenge Baits Hedz. For deep bites he used a white 7/8-ounce War Eagle Jigginâ Spoon. Photo: Craig Lamb - Randy Sullivan The sixth-place finisher used a classic Storm Wiggle Wart crankbait as his single bait of choice. âThe extra wide wobble and deflection worked really well,â he said. âI got hung up every other cast but making the lure contact the wood was key.â Photo: Craig Lamb - So was color. Initially he used a natural green color and then changed to more translucent patterns with improving water clarity. âI figured that out after the fish started hitting short.â The switch resulted in more bites.
Photo: Craig Lamb - Pete Wenners The fifth-place finisher chose four baits in Table Rock Lake popular patterns. For quality bass bites Wenners used a Megabass Ito Vision 110 jerkbait or Spro Mike McClelland McStick. Photo: Craig Lamb - To fill limits he chose a 3.8 Strike King Swimbait rigged to a 3/8-ounce underspin by White River Lures. Alternatively, he used a 2.8 Keitech Swimbait with a 1/4-ounce ball head jig. Wenners also caught keepers on a Spro McClelland RkCrawler 55 crankbait and a Storm Wiggle Wart.Photo: Craig Lamb - Roy Hawk The fourth-place finisher used hardbaits all week to catch his fish. Hawks focused on fish in shallow and deep areas.
Photo: Craig Lamb - Top choices were Duo Realis M6511A and M625A crankbaits. He fished the baits offshore in 10 feet of water and made parallel casts along shorelines. Alternatively, he used a Duo Realis Vibration Lipless crankbait, hopping it off the bottom to trigger reaction strikes. Photo: Craig Lamb - Drew Sloan Drew Sloan used a simple rig for his third-place finish at Table Rock. Photo: Craig Lamb - He used this 1/2-ounce vibrating, lipless crankbait in a shad pattern.
Photo: Craig Lamb - Josh Bertrand The runner-up focused on a finesse approach. Coincidentally, Bertrand used these same lures for a Top 10 finish in February at the Bassmaster Elite Series at Cherokee Lake in Tennessee. Photo: Craig Lamb - He made a drop shot rig using a 3-inch Emerald Shiner pattern Gulp! Minnow. To that he rigged a Berkley Fusion 19 Drop Shot Hook and 1/4-ounce weight. Bertrand also used 1/4-ounce ball head jigs with 3 1/2-inch swimbaits. Photo: Craig Lamb - Mike McClelland The champion caught bass feeding on small threadfin shad. The key was matching lure choices to live bait size. McClelland did that with a Cabelaâs 3.4 Fat Swimmer rigged to a 1/4-ounce underspin head.
Photo: Craig Lamb - When encountering smaller shad he switched to a 3 1/2-inch Cabelaâs Swim Minnow with 1/4-ounce ball head jig. For reaction bites he used a Spro Mike McClelland McStick 110 suspending minnow. Gray Ghost and Ayu were the color choices.
