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Best of 2023: Opens EQ top lures

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Photography by
Andy Crawford
Captions by
Craig Lamb
The Bassmaster Opens EQ season kicked of in Alabama. Prespawn was underway in early March at the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Lake Eufaula, prompting the anglers to intercept staging largemouth as they began migrating toward primary and secondary points. Crankbaits did the trick for the top anglers.
Justin Barnes found the winning formula, although his strategy was put on hold by a Thursday weather cancelation. He won the two-day event with 48 pounds, 9 ounces of largemouth, focusing on brushpiles used by the bass as staging areas. 
Barnes covered varied strike zones with deep-diving crankbaits, a spinnerbait and deep-structure jig.
The lineup featured this Z-Man 1/2-ounce CrossEyeZ Football Jig, with a Strike King Rage Bug.
The Strike King Pro Model 10XD and 6XD crankbaits were primary lures. Barnes also relied on a Berkley Dredger 205 Crankbait (not pictured). 
For slower presentations, he opted for an Accent Fishing Products 3/4-ounce spinnerbait with a Big Bite Baits Pro Swimmer for a trailer.
Toledo Bend Reservoir showed out for the St. Croix Bassmaster Open in early April. More than 5,000 pounds of bass hit the scales over the three-day event. Twenty-four bags over 20-pounds were weighed and multiple 9-pounders were caught. 
That didn’t mean it was easy on anglers. The weather conditions changed every day of the event. The water rose in practice and then fell midway through the tournament. It was Ben Milliken who navigated the unpredictability of Toledo Bend the best, landing bags of 29-8, 26-15 and 21-7, for a winning weight of 77 pounds, 14 ounces. 
In just his second attempt, Milliken secured his first victory in Opens competition. His three-day winning weight of 77-14 was one of the best in Bassmaster Open history. With gizzard shad pushing up on shallow points, Milliken was able to fish his strengths and catch consistent quality.
Milliken used three main baits to take home the victory.
He utilized a Carolina rig with a 6th Sense Hogwalla in green pumpkin juice. Milliken also used a 3/4-ounce 6th Sense tungsten weight and a 3/0 6th Sense EWG hook. 
He also used a 9-inch 6th Sense Draw glide bait in natural shad colors.
This line-through swimbait is the new 6th Sense Hangover. Milliken used a 6 1/2-inch, slow-sinking version on Toledo Bend.
Heading into early May, the Roanoke River impoundment was relatively unknown by much of the field at the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Buggs Island. Rapidly rising water at the end of practice and colder-than-normal temperatures made figuring out the bass bite even more challenging. 
Even with the conditions stunting the shad spawn and the rest of the bass spawn, the field of 224 anglers brought 327 total limits to the scales. With the water flooding the numerous bushes and gum trees that line the banks on Buggs Island, shallow-water anglers held the advantage.
With more than 20 years of experience on Buggs Island, North Carolina pro Powell Kemp knew exactly where to go when the water rose to 3 feet above full pool and put together bags of 19-8, 16-12 and 12-9 to take home the victory with a total of 48-13.
All that experience on Buggs Island pointed Kemp in the right direction. He targeted shallow cover to get the victory
To get a reaction strike, he tossed around a 1/2-ounce Lunker Lure Hawg Caller spinnerbait in blue glimmer with willow leaf blades.
He also pitched a Texas-rigged Zoom Brush Hog in green pumpkin/blue to flooded cover. He rigged it on a 5/0 Gamakatsu hook with a 3/8-ounce tungsten weight.
The spawning cycle transitioned toward postspawn as largemouth migrated to the offshore bars and ledges at the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Wheeler Lake in mid-May. 
Making it to Championship Saturday took a one-two punch of capitalizing on an early gizzard shad spawn, and then shifting game plans to the transition areas between shallow and deeper water. 
The ledges got notoriously crowded, and Adam Rassmussen waited his turn until having an area to himself, weighing 21 pounds, 11 ounces on Championship Saturday, for a winning weight of 54-15.
Rusmussen rotated through a drop shot and soft plastic baits. 
Rasmussen made a drop shot with a 6-inch Roboworm, fished on a 1/0 VMC RedLine Series Worm Hook, with a 1/4-ounce VMC Drop Shot Weight.
He also used a CrushCity Clean Up Craw, with a 3/4-ounce VMC Swinging Ruby Jig.
Rasmussen also used a 1/2-ounce Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammer, with a CrushCity Freeloader trailer.
Late postspawn conditions prevailed at the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Lake Eufaula in Oklahoma. In a tournament where large groups of anglers gathered in several areas, Joey Nania was an exception, choosing instead to separate himself by fishing to his strengths in less-pressured areas and then executing on every bite.
Starting the tournament in 25th place with 14 pounds, 5 ounces, Nania rocketed up the leaderboard with 22-3 on Day 2, then added 16-1 on Championship Saturday for a winning weight of 52-8. Nania also achieved a rarity in the Opens Series, winning his second title in two years. He clinched the opportunity to compete in a second Bassmaster Classic, this time in March 2024. 
A unique twist created by Nania to a textbook finesse rig was a key to his win. 
Nania used a single rig that he said has accounted for about 75% of his catches this season. He called it a Ned-Miki rig, the Z-Man version of a Damiki rig. Nania came up with the idea and name for the Ned-Miki rig, which is a substitute for the drop-shot rig, designed specifically for targeting individual bass using forward-facing sonar using vertical presentations. It’s also productive for suspended bass when allowing the rig to glide and pendulum while worked back to the boat. 
That rig was this 3/16-ounce Z-Man Finesse EyeZ Jig Head, with a Z-Man StreakZ 3.75. Key to the rig is the buoyancy of ElaZtech that maintains a natural horizontal posture, like a live shad. 
Postspawn conditions made fishing a little tougher than normal during the 2023 St. Croix Bassmaster Open at St. Lawrence River. Even so, big bags of smallmouth hit the scales as well as some quality largemouth.
While plenty of anglers stayed closer and accumulated important Opens EQ points, almost the entire Top 10 made the long run to the mouth of the river in search of better-than-average quality. Cory Johnston and Jody White battled for the top spot all tournament, and in the end, White secured 23-10 on the final day to overtake Johnston and win his first Open. 
White used three smallmouth techniques to land the victory and a winning weight of 71 pounds, 15 ounces. 
He caught many of his smallmouth on a 3.3 or 3.8 Keitech Swing Impact Fat swimbait threaded onto a 3/8-ounce Queen Tackle tungsten ball head.
White also caught smallmouth with a 3/4-ounce Carolina Rig, complete with a 3/0 Gamakatsu Hybrid worm hook, with a green pumpkin Zoom Speed Craw.
A drop shot was a big player as well. He used a green pumpkin or brown back colored Berkley MaxScent Flat Worm with a No. 2 Gamakatsu split shot/drop-shot hook and a 3/8-ounce weight.
A hint of early fall in east Tennessee signaled the beginning of a transition at the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Watts Bar. Cooler overnight temperatures opened a prime window of opportunity for a topwater bite. 
Cash in early and move on to other options. The anglers were playing the game in heavy vegetation throughout the lake, or capitalizing on the lake’s classic Tennessee River ledges for bigger bass. 
Tyler Williams took the latter option, scoring the win with daily limits of 14-15, 14-6 and 11-15 for a cumulative weight of 41 pounds, 4 ounces. Williams targeted isolated current-washed bottom cover, aiming casts at those ambush points with a staple lure for Tennessee River ledge fishing, a heavy jig bumped along the bottom. 
Williams fished offshore ledges with this jig. His choice was this 3/4-ounce Greenfish Tackle Little Rubber Jig, with a Yamamoto Flappin’ Hog. 
Docks with brushpiles emerged as the prevailing pattern at the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Lake of the Ozarks. The largemouth population was transitioning to docks in tributaries, using them as ambush points for shad beginning to migrate into the creeks. 
Docks run from end to end of the 54,000-acre Missouri impoundment, and Kyle Patrick discovered docks on top of flatter banks near deeper water held a winning pattern. Here’s the winning catch coming aboard for the live telecast on FS1. 
Patrick weighed limits of 19-15, 15-6 and 18-6 for a winning total of 53-11. The New York state angler won $44,134 and an automatic berth in the 2024 Bassmaster Classic, to be held in March at Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees. 
Patrick focused on brushpiles used by the largemouth as ambush points and staging areas as the shad (and bass) began migrating.
A top choice was this 3/4-ounce Greenfish Tackle Crawball, with a Missile Baits Chunky D. 
He made a drop-shot rig with a Missile Baits Magic Worm, rigged on a 1/0 Owner Cover Shot HD, alternating between 1/2- and 3/8-ounce sizes. 
The final St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Harris Chain of Lakes was tumultuous to say the least. Dirty water and falling water temperatures made practice tough for competitors. Then, severe storms forced the cancellation of the first competition day, and the event evolved into a two-day shootout. 
With less than ideal conditions, competitors found getting a bite much tougher, much less finding the big bass the Harris Chain is known for. Kentucky’s Matt Messer weighed the biggest bag of the tournament at 24 pounds, 6 ounces and rallied late on Day 2 to claim his first career Opens victory, outlasting Louisiana’s Blake Sylvester. 
Messer used two baits to win his first Open. A top presentation was flipping a black/blue Berkley MaxScent Creature Hawg rigged on a 3/4-ounce weight which he kept pegged to the bait. He also generated several big bites with a 1/4-ounce Boogerman buzzbait.

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