Casey Ashley loves to throw topwater baits, and he’s tried this week, with no success. “I can’t get ‘em to go on it,” he said Friday. “They are buried in that cover.”
It’s a good bet that Ashley and every other finalist will do some experimenting with topwater lures on this cloudy final day. There was a growing body of evidence that a topwater bite was about to get right earlier in the week.
Jacob Powroznik was in 33rd place after two days. He had nothing to lose, so he committed to throwing a topwater lure, specifically, a Livingston Walk-N Pop, on Day 3. And he moved up to 17th place with 15-6.
“They’re getting right for it,” Powroznik said at Friday’s weigh-in. “It’s something that could really be good on Sunday. The water is drawing them out to the edge, where you can actually get to them and catch ‘em. You can put a lure over their heads instead of having to daub back in there to get them.
“With the water falling, and where the shad are going to start positioning themselves, if somebody could figure it out, they could really bust a big bag. The smallmouth are biting it, the spots are biting it, and the largemouth are biting it. I caught all three on it this morning. You just have to keep your head clear, put it in your hand and go.”
Ott Defoe hasn’t caught a bass on a topwater bait this week. He prefers to throw topwaters when the water is a little cooler than the mid 80s, like it is on Lake Texoma now. But he acknowledges that every other factor points to a topwater bite today.
“Falling water is always better for a topwater bite,” said Defoe, who begins the day in ninth place, 10-9 behind Ashley. “You have to understand everything that happens when the water falls. It’s typically clearing, and the clearing water is the biggest thing on most occasions. The water getting clearer makes a topwater bait more productive.”
At least starting off, it’s guaranteed that Gerald Swindle will be throwing topwater lures. He caught a 6-pounder Day 1 on a buzzbait, and had another big one swipe at on Day 3.
“Every morning I allow myself about an hour of warm-up,” Swindle said. “I’m just kind of loosening up my tendons, slinging that buzzbait around. I’m like a diesel. You’ve got to let me idle for a little bit. I had one jump over a (Zara) Spook (Friday morning). I went back in there with a flipping stick and caught him.
“I’m going to gamble for an hour in the morning and try to catch a big one with a buzzbait or a Spook or a Pop R. I’m going to go with topwater for an hour and try to make something happen.”
Finally, there may be something going on that will prompt these guys to put down their flipping sticks. And it might last longer than an hour today.