His hometown Lincoln County High School Falcons wear blue and white. His home state Tennessee Volunteers wear orange. But when Brandon Lester is in Florida, he knows “golden shiner” is the winning color.
His victory last week at the Bassmaster Southern Open on Florida’s Kissimmee Chain proves it. And you can bet he’ll be slinging the same shade this week at the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite on the St. Johns River.
“I’ll put it to you this way, I had my buddy Jeff Shelton make me several golden shiner colored skirts to make sure I was ready for three weeks of competition in Florida. That skirt color has caught me several bass over the years in Florida, but last week it was just absolutely magical,” smiles Lester.
Turns out, according to Florida fisheries biologists, golden shiners make up a small percentage of local largemouth bass’ diet, but they sure do love ‘em. Sort of like us, we seldom get a shot at filet mignon, but when we do, we hammer it.
“Golden shiners are hands down the best live bait for catching giant Florida largemouth,” says Allen Martin, regional freshwater fisheries biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
“They’re bite-sized for big bass, and they don’t have a lot of spines on their fins for bass to contend with, so you can bet if a big largemouth sees a golden shiner, he’s going after it,” he adds.
Biologist Martin will get no debate from Brandon Lester.
When in Florida, feed ‘em lures that resemble a golden shiner, and there’s a good chance they’ll pounce on it like Lincoln County Falcons hunting down free pizza on a Friday night.