Top 10 Baits from Lake Mead
Fishing slow or fishing fast, it was all about shallow-water cover at Mead
Lake Mead fished tough at the Costa FLW Series Western Division opener presented by Ranger Boats. It only took 34 pounds, 12 ounces to win the three-day event, but the top 10 pros somehow figured out the tricky clear-water fishery.
1. Tim Klinger flipped a 1/2-ounce Beast Coast Tungsten flipping jig with a Super Pork Bubba Frog trailer and threw a War Eagle 3/4-ounce spinnerbait in plain white with a 2/0 trailer hook
2. Lane Olson caught his fish flipping a green pumpkin and black Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver and a couple different Yamamoto Double Tail Hula Grubs (clear with black fleck and green pumpkin/copper) on a 3/0 Mustad grip-pin hook. His setup included a G Loomis 853 7-1, medium-heavy rod and a Shimano Aldebaran reel with 15-pound-test Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon. He also employed a chartreuse and white spinnerbait to catch a couple of his early-tournament fish.
3. Benjamin Byrd relied primarily on a Megabass Ito Vision 110+1 in the Wakasagi color for his best fish, though he did toss around a Pepper Custom Baits 1/2-ounce jig in a craw color with a Missile Baits D Bomb trailer that caught some keepers as well.
4. Roy Hawk’s crankbait of choice was a Duo Realis M62 5A in a shad pattern, though he did mix in one with more of a crawfish profile. He also made a switch on day three and dragged around rock piles with a Pepper Custom Baits 1/2-ounce jig with a Yamamoto trailer.
5. David Valdivia tossed around crankbaits and jerkbaits on day three, but he did most of his damage on a Keitech Swing Impact FAT 4.3 swimbait on a 1/4-ounce ball-head that he rigged on a 7-4 custom-made Performance Tackle rod and a 6:1 gear ratio reel spooled with braid and a fluorocarbon leader. He also used a homemade jig that he built himself (because he was looking for something “more compact”) with a green pumpkin Riot Baits Fuzzy Beaver trailer. He threw that on a 7-2, medium-heavy Performance Tackle custom-made rod.
6. Brett Leber used a Strike King swim jig with a Strike King Rage Tail Craw trailer on days one and two. He switched to a 3/8- and 1/2-ounce Blade Runner under-spin with a 3.8 and 4.8 Keitech Swing Impact FAT on day three.
7. Rusty Salewske used a Rapala DT6 and Lucky Craft crankbait to cover water. He also flipped a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver.
8. Sean Coffey’s go-to was a Pepper Custom Baits spinnerbait in white and chartreuse with one gold blade and one silver willow blade and a Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper trailer. He also used a weightless Yamamoto Senko on a Trokar 3/0 worm hook.
9. Wade Curtiss used a 1/2-ounce homemade vibrating jig in a blue shad color this week, as well as a Ladies Man Custom Baits spinnerbait, also in a blue shad color. He also employed a 3.8 Keitech Swing Impact FAT on a 3/8-ounce ball head.
10. Reaction baits were the deal for Tyler Rempe this week. He cranked Strike King and Lucky Craft crankbaits in shad patterns and also mixed it up with a green pumpkin casting jig with a Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw or beaver-style trailer. Rempe added spinnerbaits (with no trailer or trailer hook), custom vibrating jigs and umbrella rigs to his arsenal as well.