Elite

Elites predict winning weights and lures

Get an early feel for this week's competition as Elite pros share their best guesses for the winning weights and lures.

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Photography by
Andy Crawford
The world’s top anglers have spent the past three days scouting for the Bassmaster Elite at Lake Tenkiller, so we asked some of the anglers to predict what lure will be used to win this event — and then asked for a prediction of the winning weight.
Conditions at Lake Tenkiller have pushed the Bassmaster Elite anglers hard, with heavy rains sending the waters sky high before water managers pulled the plug to draw the lake back down. More rain is forecasted, so the lake could rise yet again. Will that mean the deep bite prevails, or will the winning bass be tucked into flooded timber?
Brandon Palaniuk said the prevailing conditions this week should be falling water, and he said he believed that will pull a lot of fish out into deeper water. However, he said there’s also a shad spawn happening, bushes that are flooded and rocks and bluff walls.
Palaniuk said he thinks a Megabass Magdraft swimbait will be the ticket to the win because “it’s just a great way to cover water, and you can catch them all day long if you get in the right places.”
Palaniuk went with just under 16 pounds a day for the winning weight.
Bob Downey said the changing conditions have bass doing all kinds of things, which will force the winning angler to really pull out all the stops and be willing to change his approach every day.
Downey said a skirted jig is the perfect lure for this kind of event. “I just think you can do a lot with it,” he said. ” It can be a number of things. It can be a flipping jig, it can be a swim jig around floating dock, you can fish it around 45-degree banks.”
Downey said he believes it will take alost 15 3/4 pounds a day to take the blue trophy home this week.
Jamie Hartman said he thinks the water is so high in the bushes that bass orienting to that cover are spread out too much, which means the deeper water is the most stable bite.
So Hartman thinks this is shaping up to be another forward facing sonar event, which means his winning bait pick is a minnow.
That said, he’s thinks it will take 16 1/4 pounds a day to win on Tenkiller.
Logan Parks said the lake has risen almost 7 feet since practice began, although the water was dropping on the off day. He also thinks those changing conditions give the anglers proficient with live scope an advantage — but does that mean a minnow-style bait will be the winning choice?
Parks chose a jig as the winning lure because it’s so versatile — and it could produce some key fish. “I think the guy who wins will mix things up. I think it’s going to be a little bit of scoping and power fishing to take the win. Whoever wins is going to have to be very versatile and do a lot of things, and I think he’s going to get lucky and catch some shallow fish, too.”
Parks went big for the winning weight, predicting it will take 17 1/4 pounds a day to claim the Tenkiller victory.
Kenta Kimura also believes the eventual winner of this event will take a lot of different approaches to fishing the changing water conditions.
However, Kimura said it’s hard to bet against a minnow-style bait. “That (bait) has been winning everywhere,” he said. And he thinks anglers focusing shallow will have to share water more than those out deep. “If you’re talking shallow populations (of fish), I’ve seen three boats in every pocket. Compared to that, I’ll say fish will get scared and move out. Or (Jason) Christie will win it on a spinnerbait.”
Kimura is betting it will take solid bags to win. He picked 17 pounds a day.
Bryan New predicted versatility will be the key to crackng this week’s puzzle.
His winning baits are a minnow, a jig and a flipping bait. “There’s a lot of things constantly changing,” he said. “There’s several different things going, as well. You’ve got largemount, spots and smallmouth. You’ve got a little bit of a shad spawn in the morning — I think that’s where the jig’s gonna come into play. Of course, you have and always will have wherever you go, a scoping deal. So you’ve got to have a minnow for that. And the water’s high, and there’s a lot of bushes here; there’s definitely going to be a flipping thing. I think you’re going to have to do a mixture of all three of those things to win this tournamnet.
New predicts the eventual winner will bring almost 17 pounds a day to the scales.
Caleb Sumrall believes Tenkiller will be another live scope event, but he didn’t think a minnow-style bait would be the winning lure.
Instead, he chose a jig. “I just think it’s the most versatile bait you can throw,” Sumrall said. “We’re in Oklahoma, and they eat jigs.”
Sumrall said he didn’t have a great practice, and it showed in his winning weight predition of less than 15 1/2 pounds a day.
Tyler Rivet said he’s fishing history — at least the history of his Bassmaster Elite Series victory on Lake Okeechobee in 2023.
Rivet said he’s hoping a tube jig on a sac-a-lait (or crappie) bite will help him win his second blue trophy. “I won Okeechobee looking for sac-a-lait and I caught a few sac-a-alait this week, so hopefullly it’s a good sign.”
Rivet had the lowest predicted winning weight at less than 14 1/2 pounds a day.
Gerald Swindle said he thinks the most stable bite this week is out deep, which means …
… a minnow-style bait will likely be responsible for the win.
He also leaned toward a lighter winning weight, predicting the victor will put 15 1/4 pounds a day on the scales.
I found Bill Lowen rooting around in his truck, and he didn’t hesitate to pick a bait — and it’s not a surprise to anyone familiar with his fishing style.
Surprise! Lowen thinks a jig could take the win. He said he a lot of fish are up shallow — and, although those fish are most affected by the changing water levels, those are the bites on which he’ll be focusing. “To me, we’re in Oklahoma,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how hot it gets, there’s water in the bushes, and that’s typically where the fish are. I think a guy who can stay with the better quality fish up shallow has a really good shot at pulling this off.”
All that said, Lowen wasn’t bullish on the wining weights, picking just less than 15 pounds a day.

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