Maybe after last week’s FLW Tour event presented by Costa Sunglasses more pros will finally start picking up the Castaic Jerky J/Scrounger combo and learning to fish it on the ledges. It’s the third tournament in three years that Jason Lambert has dominated with that bait, yet only a few other pros also used it.
Everyone else in the top 10 who fished deep used standard ledge tackle, while the shallow crowd mixed it up a bit.
1. The Castaic Jerky J fished on a homemade version of the Scrounger-type jighead was Jason Lambert’s primary weapon for catching more than 101 pounds of bass in four days. On day two, when he fished a shallow roadbed, he used an 8-inch Gene Larew TattleTail Worm on a jighead. Lambert also long-lined some with a 6th Sense Cloud 9 C25 Deep Diver.
2. Scott Martin fished ledges and a shallow shell bar south of New Johnsonville. When he encountered schoolers, he threw a LIVETARGET Blueback Herring Swimbait. His other baits were a 1/2-ounce bucktail jig and a new creature bait from Googan Baits called the Bandito, which he fished on a Carolina rig.
3. Josh Douglas worked deep and shallow on a ledge near Paris. For the deeper end, he fished a straight-tail worm on a drop-shot. On top, he cast a 3:16 Rising Son line-thru swimbait and a Carolina rig. Earlier in the week, he ignited the school by stroking a Strike King Shadalicious swimbait on an Outkast Tackle Goldeneye jighead.
4. Michael Neal’s offshore strategy included stops on deep and shallow structure, where he used a 7-inch Big Bite Baits Suicide Shad Swimbait in the blue gizzard color, which he rigged on a 1-ounce Ledgehead, and a Big Bite Baits Fighting Frog rigged on a swing-head jig.
5. Pennzoil Marine Angler of the Year leader Mark Rose used a whole slew of ledge baits: a Strike King Rage Bug on a swing-head jig, a couple of swimbaits, a Carolina rig, a worm and a Strike King 10XD.
6. Alabama’s Alex Davis camped out on one ledge near Paris Landing and used only two baits: a 3/4-ounce D&L Tackle Football Jig and a 1-ounce Hog Farmer Baits Hog Wobbler jighead with a Castaic Jerky J.
7. This week, Jeff “Gussy” Gustafson fished ledges near Paris Landing and the Big Sandy with a 3/4-ounce football jig, a 1/2-ounce bucktail jig and a Castaic Jerky J.
8. The only bait Cody Meyer used was an 8-inch Strike King Bullworm (plum apple) on a 3/8-ounce Owner Shakey Football Head.
9. John Cox fished a little of everything up shallow, and his primary bait was a 1/2-ounce Dirty Jigs Swim Jig in Alabama bream with a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Meaty Chunk trailer. He also used a PowerBait MaxScent The General Worm.
10. Junk-fisherman Matt Arey fished everything Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley had to offer with a pile of baits that included a Lunkerhunt Fetch swimbait, a Lunkerhunt Lunker Stick, three types of jigs, a big worm and a Rebel P70 Pop-R.