Date: March 29, 2024
Venue: Lake N, a small reservoir
Water: 58 degrees, stained
Weather: Clear, light breeze, high of 70
Pro: Brad Whatley, 43, Bivins, Texas. Whatley’s second-place finish in the 2018 Central Opens point standings earned him an Elite Series berth for 2019. Since then, he’s qualified for two Bassmaster Classics. Whatley missed three Elite derbies in 2022 due to a medical hardship (Crohn’s disease); following a successful medical procedure, he rejoined the tour for the last two tournaments of the season.
Boat: Phoenix 920 Elite II with 250-horsepower Mercury outboard, Minn Kota trolling motor and shallow-water anchors, and Humminbird and Garmin electronics.
DOTL Challenge: Put a Bassmaster Elite Series pro on a small lake he’s never seen before. Give him seven hours to locate and catch bass while we log his every move.
Brad Whatley is a hardcore Texas tournament hammer, a veteran power fisherman who has pocketed boatloads of cash via what those 20-something Elite Series whippersnappers refer to as “old school” bassin’ methods — flipping jigs, dragging Carolina rigs, chunking topwater plugs — and with 2024’s first two tournaments and the Classic all wrapped up, Whatley sees the writing on the wall … and he is mad! “Forward-facing sonar [FFS] has completely taken over professional bass tournament fishing, and in my opinion it will be the ruination of our sport!” Whatley asserts. “It’s destroying bass fishing’s heritage and history. I’ve spent over three decades refining my skills at locating and catching bass so I can compete on the professional level, and right now I might as well throw everything I’ve learned out the window because virtually every major tournament is being won by guys using FFS to target bass suspending around baitfish schools in open water. The fans don’t like it. Veteran pros don’t like it. And I bet grizzled old Bassmaster writers like you don’t like it, either!” Whatley believes FFS negates the need to know what he considers basic bass fishing skills. “Why bother learning how to skip a ChatterBait under a dock when you’re targeting bass that are 200 yards offshore? And speaking of ChatterBaits, FFS threatens to undermine the entire bass tackle industry. When you’re ’Scoping for suspending fish, you don’t need any bladed jigs, flipping jigs, spinnerbaits, crankbaits or topwaters; nor do you need 25 different rods and reels with different actions and retrieve ratios to properly present those lures. I mean, why even carry more than one tacklebox in your boat when you can win a four-day tournament with a handful of jighead minnows and a couple of jerkbaits?” That said, Whatley, like virtually every other Elite Series pro, has a FFS unit on the bow of his boat. “Yeah, I’ve got FFS; I use it, but I hate it. All the while I’m staring at those blips on the screen, I’m thinking how much I’d rather be flipping a jig to flooded bushes. The young guys grew up playing video games, so ’Scoping is second nature to them.” Wow! Whether or not you agree with Whatley’s views on FFS, you’re going to want to see what happens when he takes on a mystery lake on a chilly March morning!
• 6:48 a.m. It’s 38 degrees and cracking daylight when we arrive at Lake N. Whatley readies an arsenal of CastAway rods for the upcoming battle. “It’s been fairly cold in this region, especially at night, and I predict most of the bass here have not spawned yet. Therefore, many fish should be staging in deeper water adjacent to shallow, protected areas. It’s chilly now, but it’s supposed to warm up quickly; hopefully, this will bring some of those fat females up shallow.”
SEVEN HOURS LEFT
• 7:05 a.m. We launch the Phoenix. Whatley checks the water: It’s 58 degrees and stained. He idles toward Lake N’s earthen dam and lowers his trolling motor. Whatley’s FFS unit reveals multiple clouds of baitfish suspending in the water column. “Get your camera ready so you can shoot some exciting action shots of me staring into my video screen!” he says sarcastically.
• 7:21 a.m. Whatley is 150 yards offshore, snaking around while ’Scoping for suspended targets. He spots a telltale blip on his FFS and makes his first casts of the day with a ghost shad Bass Assassin Boss Shiner soft-plastic minnow on a 1/8-ounce jighead. He tracks the lure as it sinks near the blip. “This isn’t bass fishing; it’s video gaming.”
• 7:36 a.m. Whatley is still ’Scoping Lake N’s deep lower end for suspended bass. He spots a tower of fish clustered above some sunken brushpiles. “Those are crappie. FFS is decimating the crappie populations of some lakes because crappie, unlike bass, will bite regardless of conditions.”
• 7:49 a.m. Whatley is not seeing many big bass blips on FFS. “Deep, open water has traditionally been a sanctuary for big bass on highly pressured lakes, but FFS allows these once-elusive fish to be easily targeted. To me, this takes away much of the mystique of bass fishing, and it’s got to adversely impact the genetic potential of future bass spawns.” He reels in his jighead minnow. “OK, enough of my ranting. We’re heading for the bank!”
• 7:56 a.m. Whatley casts a 6-inch Bass Assassin Tapout finesse worm in the green pumpkin/silver flake color to a steep channel bank; it’s rigged wacky style on a No. 1 Decoy hook with a 3/32-ounce nail weight inserted in the head.
SIX HOURS LEFT
• 8:05 a.m. Whatley tries a ghost white Berkley Stunna 112 jerkbait on the channel bank.
• 8:12 a.m. Still jerking the Stunna near the steep shoreline.
• 8:24 a.m. Whatley cranks the Merc’ and makes a bone-chilling run to a large flat in Lake N’s shallow upper end. Here he casts a half-ounce green pumpkin Z-Man ChatterBait bladed jig with a matching Bass Assassin Elite Shiner trailer around scattered wood cover.
• 8:29 a.m. Whatley switches to a white version of the same lure/trailer and immediately gets a strike near the bank; the fish doesn’t hook up.
• 8:37 a.m. True to his power fishing roots, Whatley is covering water quickly with the ChatterBait, keying on laydowns, stumps and shoreline bushes along the expansive flat. “These big, shallow areas will warm up quickly and should get better as the sun gets higher.”
• 8:41 a.m. Whatley retrieves the ChatterBait across a sunken limb. A big bass boils on it but doesn’t connect. “Wow, that was a good fish!”
• 8:43 a.m. Whatley switches to a white 3/8-ounce Epic Baits swim jig with the same trailer as the ChatterBait’s. “This is a less aggressive lure than the bladed jig, so they may be more willing to eat it.” He retrieves it with constant pops of the rod tip.
• 8:49 a.m. Still covering water with the swim jig. I notice that Whatley frequently casts the lure so it lands on top of a stump or laydown, then pulls it off into the water with his rod. “In dead-calm conditions like this, that’s a far more stealthy presentation than hitting the water with a big splash.”
• 8:56 a.m. Whatley has reached the uppermost reaches of Lake N, still winding the swim jig.
FIVE HOURS LEFT
• 9:05 a.m. Whatley races back downlake to a rock point in a tributary and tries a red craw-colored Lucky Craft BDS1 squarebill crankbait.
• 9:11 a.m. The point transitions into a channel bank with several docks and boathouses, which Whatley targets with the white ChatterBait.
• 9:14 a.m. A bass nips at the ChatterBait near a dock piling; Whatley swings and misses. “Typical cold-front behavior.”
• 9:15 a.m. He pitches the finesse worm to the dock, but there’s no comeback strike.
• 9:22 a.m. There’s a southerly breeze blowing as Whatley cranks the ChatterBait along a chunk-rock bank. “Hopefully, this wind will get them activated.”
• 9:26 a.m. Whatley speed trolls toward a small island lined with laydowns and shallow brush. “This island has fairly deep water all around it. There should be some bass here.”
• 9:29 a.m. Whatley makes his initial casts to the island’s gnarly shoreline cover with the finesse worm.
• 9:34 a.m. He switches to the green pumpkin ChatterBait. Nothing here, however.
• 9:42 a.m. Whatley moves into a nearby cove and casts the finesse worm and ChatterBait around scattered stumps and laydowns.
• 9:44 a.m. Whatley switches to a 3/8-ounce Epic Baits buzzbait with a white generic “toad” trailer replacing the skirt. He retrieves the noisy lure slowly down a long laydown but hauls water. “I’ve caught big bass on buzzbaits during snowstorms, but I probably shouldn’t be throwing it in water this calm!”
• 9:50 a.m. Whatley exits the cove and begins retrieving the swim jig around a shallow flat. A bass bumps the lure, again without hooking up.
• 9:56 a.m. Whatley’s trolling motor is kicking up mud as he continues swim jigging the flat. “I dare to go where no LiveScoper has gone before!”
FOUR HOURS LEFT
• 10:05 a.m. Whatley rigs up a green pumpkin/blue Zoom Magnum Finesse worm on a 3/8-ounce shaky head to fish a steep bank. “I pour these standup heads myself and have won a ton of money on ’em over the years.”
• 10:11 a.m. Whatley has vacated the tributary arm and moved to a channel bank near Lake N’s boat ramp. Here he tries the shaky head worm.
• 10:14 a.m. He spots a 15-foot brushpile on his electronics and nudges the shaky head through the shrubbery. No takers here, however.
• 10:28 a.m. Whatley has moved offshore to search for more deep brushpiles. What’s his take on the day so far? “So far, it pretty much sucks! But seriously, it’s a typical March bluebird-sky day. The lake is still cold, and what few shallow bass I’ve encountered have been very tentative about biting. I probably need to slow down and fish fewer aggressive, moving baits. It is starting to warm up, however, and that should accelerate the bite.”
• 10:32 a.m. Whatley moves back near Lake N’s dam and checks his FFS. “Remember all that bait we saw suspended out here this morning? It’s disappeared. This is like the Dead Sea right now.”
• 10:40 a.m. Whatley runs a half-mile uplake to a series of main-lake boathouses. The wind has picked up, and Whatley probes each of them with the white ChatterBait and Tapout worm.
• 10:53 a.m. The boathouses fail to produce any bass, so Whatley moves to a nearby submerged rockpile and tries the squarebill crankbait.
• 10:58 a.m. He casts the Tapout worm to the rockpile. It settles to the bottom; he lifts his rod, detects some resistance and sets the hook. “Good fish!” he exclaims as the big bass bolts for deeper water. Whatley races to his boat’s console, works the fish closer and grabs his first fish of the day, a fine 4-1 largemouth. “What a chunk! I never felt a bite, just a heavy feeling when I went to pick up the worm. Slowing down really does pay off!”
THREE HOURS LEFT
• 11:05 a.m. Whatley is moving slowly around the rockpile, shaking and dragging the finesse worm. “I’ve learned not to panic if I’m not catching fish early in the day this time of year. I’ve cashed checks in a zillion tournaments where I never had my first bite until an hour before the weigh-in.”
• 11:12 a.m. Whatley dredges a shad pattern Rapala DT6 diving crankbait around the rockpile.
• 11:17 a.m. He hops the shaky head worm around the structure.
• 11:28 a.m. The rockpile fails to yield another bass, so Whatley moves uplake to another cluster of boathouses, where he slow rolls a 6-inch white back shad Megabass Magdraft swimbait. “I’d like to see that big ol’ 10-pounder swim out and eat this thing!” Same here!
• 11:36 a.m. Whatley continues uplake, casting the Magdraft around docks and isolated laydowns.
• 11:54 a.m. No love so far on this stretch of bank, so Whatley idles to the opposite shore and resumes fishing the Magdraft.
TWO HOURS LEFT
• 12:05 p.m. Whatley ties on a big Chad Shad glidebait, casts it to a submerged log and retrieves it with sharp turns of the reel handle so it darts enticingly. “I paid $200 for this bait; it’s an original example, handmade before Spro started producing them.”
• 12:09 p.m. Whatley hangs the Chad Shad in a stump and retrieves it. “Every time I fish this thing, I pray I don’t accidently throw it up in a tree and lose it.”
• 12:17 p.m. Whatley runs a short distance to a narrow cove replete with brush and laydowns and pulls two more rods from storage. One is rigged with a green pumpkin Missile Baits D Bomb creature bait Texas rigged with a quarter-ounce sinker. He flips it to a sunken brushpile.
• 12:20 p.m. Whatley picks up the second rod; it’s rigged with a generic green pumpkin/orange 5/8-ounce jig with a no-name green pumpkin chunk trailer. He flips the jig to dense shoreline cover.
• 12:31 p.m. Whatley is patiently picking apart every stick of wood he comes to with the creature and jig.
• 12:44 p.m. Having reached the back of the cove, Whatley tries the white ChatterBait around a dilapidated dock. Nothing here.
• 12:52 p.m. Whatley begins working his way out of the cove while casting the Tapout worm and ChatterBait to shoreline cover.
ONE HOUR LEFT
• 1:05 p.m. Whatley vacates the cove and blasts uplake to the big flat he fished earlier. “I want to see if some fish have moved up shallow now that it’s gotten warmer.” He starts off pitching the Tapout worm around shallow stumps.
• 1:11 p.m. Whatley moves into a shallow pocket and expertly skips the Tapout beneath flooded bushes.
• 1:16 p.m. Whatley pitches the jig to a big laydown. He checks his watch. “Am I starting to panic yet? Maybe a little!”
• 1:25 p.m. Continuing down the bank, Whatley flips the jig to another laydown, gets a tap, swings and misses. “Sucker bit my trailer off!” He replaces the appendage and resumes flipping.
• 1:31 p.m. Whatley again flips the jig to the laydown and bags his second keeper, 1 pound, 6 ounces. “I guarantee this is the same fish that bit a minute ago, and I bet it was on a bed.”
• 1:44 p.m. Whatley is back on the rockpile where he caught his 4-pounder. He’s once again dragging the Tapout worm around the structure.
• 1:58 p.m. With mere minutes remaining, Whatley races to some docks he fished earlier and tries the Tapout. A bass nips the faux crawler but doesn’t get stuck.
• 2:03 p.m. Down to his last cast, Whatley twitches the Tapout around a private boat ramp and snares his third keeper, 2 pounds, 4 ounces!
• 2:05 p.m. Time’s up! Whatley ends his day on Lake N with one nice “picture fish” and two last-minute keepers for a total of 7 pounds, 11 ounces.
THE DAY IN PERSPECTIVE
“The cold night and bluebird skies combined to make this a tough day for power fishing,” Whatley told Bassmaster. “I never caught a fish on a moving bait. If I were to fish here tomorrow under these same conditions, I’d skip all that ’Scoping, spend way less time throwing bladed jigs, swimbaits and crankbaits, and I’d concentrate on slow, saturation presentations with the finesse worm and jig.”
WHERE AND WHEN WHATLEY CAUGHT HIS BIGGEST BASS
(1) 4 pounds, 1 ounce; 6-inch Bass Assassin Tapout finesse worm (green pumpkin/silver flake) wacky rigged with No. 1 Decoy hook and 3/32-ounce nail weight; submerged rockpile; 10:58 a.m.
(2) 1 pound, 6 ounces; generic 5/8-ounce jig (green pumpkin/orange) with generic chunk trailer (green pumpkin); laydown on shallow flat; 1:31 p.m.
(3) 2 pounds, 4 ounces; same lure as No. 1; boat ramp; 2:03 p.m.
TOTAL: 7 POUNDS, 11 OUNCES
