Top 10 Baits from Neely Henry
What to use in the late summer for spotted bass and largemouths
With very little current being run through Neely Henry during the Toyota Series Southeastern Division event, offshore fishing was almost nil. Instead, most of the field had to survive fishing shallow shoreline cover like willow grass, docks, rip rap, laydowns and shade. Here is a look at the lures that helped score a top 10.
1. Tournament winner Mark McCaig used a lot of different lures en route to winning the Toyota Series Southeastern Division event on Neely Henry but the two lures that produced most of his keepers were a Texas-rigged Big Bite Baits Fighting Frog (green pumpkin gold) on a 5/16-ounce weight tied to 20-pound-test Seaguar AbrazX and a SPRO Bronzeye Poppin' Frog on 65-pound-test Seaguar Smackdown.
2. Runner up Kyle Glasgow made his top finish fishing grass with a Texas-rigged Berkley PowerBait Power Hawg topped with a 5/16-ounce weight and a Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer teamed with a Yamamoto Zako trailer.
3. Hunter Hayes' best two producers for the week were a 3/8-ounce Bull Sluice Dinner Minner buzzbait teamed with the swimbait that comes with the bait tied to 20-pound-test braided line. His back up was a ½-ounce chartreuse and white spinnerbait also fished on 20-pound braid.
4. Andrew Johnson spent the week far up the Coosa River fishing a white ½-ounce Z-Man ChatterBait Custom paired with a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper and a homemade 5/8-ounce jig with a Zoom Big Salty Chunk.
5. Josh Butler’s two best weapons over three days were a ¼-ounce black buzzbait with a gold blade with no trailer and a 3/8-ounce Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer teamed with a Yamamoto Zako trailer.
6. Derek Hicks spent his week fishing up at the Weiss Lake Dam, primarily throwing a 3/16-ounce War Eagle Shakey Head Jig teamed with a Zoom Trick Worm on a spinning reel with 20-pound-test Sunline braid tied to an 8-pound-test Sunline Super FC Sniper leader. He also pitched a 5/8-ounce homemade brown jig with a Zoom Super Chunk to occasional laydowns.
7. Neely Henry was all about frogs for Clabion Johns: He pitched a Texas-rigged Big Bite Baits Fighting Frog on a ¼-ounce weight in the grass and cast a SPRO Bronzeye Poppin' Frog (natural green) on top of the grass.
8. Cal Lane caught a majority of his fish throwing a River2Sea Whopper Plopper 130 on 50-pound braided line. He followed up missed bites with a 3/16-ounce shaky head made with a Zoom Trick Worm.
9. Local pro Terry Tucker pitched a Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw pegged with ¾- and 1 1/4-ounce weights and reeled a 3/8-ounce swim jig teamed with a Strike King Menace Grub around grass.
10. Scott Towry got his work done by flipping a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver with a 1-ounce weight tied to 65-pound-test braid in shallow grass and dragging a 5/16-ounce Mean Mouth Lures jig with a twin-tail trailer on 15-pound-test Seaguar on gravel bars.