Championship Baits: How the Field Fished Lake Garcia on Championship Sunday
We’ve already reported on the gear and patterns that Jordan Lee used on Lake Garcia to take home the first-ever MLF Bass Pro Tour trophy, but here’s what the 2nd through 10th place finishers used on Championship Sunday.
2. Edwin Evers
44 -3/28 fish
Evers had a two-pronged approach on Garcia: swimming a 3-inch Berkley Powerbait Chigger Bug and fishing a vibrating jig.
“I looked for spawning areas, lily pads and scattered hydrilla,” he said.
Evers had a late rally, but it was not enough to topple Jordan Lee.
3. Jared Lintner
33-9/19 fish
Lintner led for some of the day before falling back into third. He got there by sight fishing and punching mats.
“Right away I started seeing beds and would fan cast a stickworm,” he said. “I caught several doing that – I had one rigged weightless and one with a 1/8-ounce tungsten weight.
Lintner’s bigger fish came with a flipping stick in his hand, and he used a bait poured by fellow Bass Pro Tour pro Terry Scroggins.
“He gave me some last year, and it worked great here on Garcia and also helped me in the opening rounds,” said Lintner. He described it as a 3-inch craw in a black and blue with silver flake.
4. Anthony Gagliardi
24-5/15 fish
Gagliardi started the day punching mats with a Berkley Powerbait Pit Boss, caught some fish on a Powerbait MaxScent Jerk Shad, and then added most of his fish later to SCORETRACKER in the day with a wacky-rig.
“During the second period I caught a few on the Jerk Shad and then started getting most of my bites with a Green Pumpkin Berkley Powerbait Bottom Hopper Worm,” he said.
5. Alton Jones Jr
23-3/13 fish
Jones, Jr. found three bedded fish right away, and once lines in was called, caught two and lost the other. He believes that looking for more spawning fish was his downfall.
“I caught those two and was in the lead right away it kind of hung me up as I tried to find more,” Jones admitted. “Late in the day I picked up a swim jig with a Yum Pulse swimbait as a trailer and caught some fish to move me up from ninth to fifth place.”
The YUM! Dinger was his other top producer.
6. Randy Howell
22-2/14 fish
Howell did his damage with an unweighted 5-inch Yamamoto Senko and a paddle tail worm that he swam around vegetation.
“I hadn’t seen the lake before, and it was so foggy during the ride around that I just went straight to my comfort baits,” Howell said. “I was trying to cover water, and that’s when I started to get bites. I just couldn’t find an area with bigger fish.”
7. Michael Neal
21-8/11 fish
Neal caught quality fish but didn’t have the numbers needed to finish higher.
“I started flipping and punching a Big Bite Baits YoDaddy Craw (Black and Blue) with a 1 1/4-ounce weight into the matted grass and lily pads,” he said.
8. Jeff Sprague
18-9/14 fish
Sprague caught bass on a small swimbait, paddle tail worm, and topwater prop bait.
“I caught a good amount of fish and some non-scoreable bass, I just wasn’t around the right size of fish,” said Sprague.
9. Dustin Connell
14-12/7 fish
Dustin Connell made some big comebacks this week, but he couldn’t do it on the final day.
“I was swimming a jig with Googan Baits Krackin’ Craw on the back. I also caught some flipping their Bandito Bug,” Connell said.
10. Takahiro Omori
12-11/9 fish
Omori said he struggled to get bites and feels like he was just in the wrong area. His fish came on a variety of lipless crankbaits, and he caught his nine bass by ripping them through the grass.