
All Captions: Craig Lamb


The Cajun Baby put on a show on Day 3 after catching a limit weighing 18 pounds, 4 ounces to close out the win. Cliff Crochet got it done with a Luck-E-Strike 4.5 inch Ringmaster, black with blue flake. Crochet rigged the creature bait to a 6/0 Strike King Hack Attack Heavy Cover Flipping Hook and 1 1/2-ounce weight.


âI was fishing an area with so much habitat that I couldnât cover it all with plastic baits,â said Greg Hackney, the runner-up with 42-4. âMost of the fish I caught were suspended, so it made sense to use a crankbait.â


Third-place finisher Cody Bird caught 42-2 on this square bill crankbait. âInitially I had a lot of trouble keeping it from getting hung up in the hydrilla and other vegetation,â said the Texan. What to do?


David Cavell caught 39-15 with lures perfect for fishing heavy cover. For covering water he used a plastic frog. Vertical presentations required switching to a plastic creature bait for flipping around laydowns.




To finish fifth with 39-14, Toby Hartsell used two soft plastic baits made by Strike King Lures. Those were a 4.5-inch Rage Craw and Coffee Tube, both June Bug. For both baits he used 3/16-ounce weights and 4/0 hooks. âI flipped cypress trees all week,â he said of his lone pattern.

Derek Hudnall caught 39-9 to finish sixth place on multiple different colors of the Missile Baits D Bomb. âI kept four rods on the deck, using different size weights depending on the thickness of the cover.â


Flipping heavy cover kept Fred Roumbanis in the lead on the first two days. He settled for seventh place and 39-7 after the area went dry on Day 3.


Travis Kelehan caught 37-4 and finished eighth on the strength of three baits. Those were a spinnerbait, jig and creature bait.




Billy Billeaud caught 37-1 to finish ninth at the Atchafalaya Basin. He used these three lures to make the Top 12. âI had to lighten up the weights and slow down the presentation as the tournament progressed,â he said.




âI targeted cypress trees exclusively,â said Brandon Lee, the 10th place finisher with 35-15. âI used a spinnerbait early and then after the sun came up switched to a soft plastic rig.â



âI caught all my fish on one bait, punching through hyacinth with mixed grass,â said Chris Babin, the eleventh-place finisher with 34-2. Relying on a combination of two types of vegetation was a common theme of the week. So was using heavy baits to punch through the surface and reach the strike zone.


Square bill crankbaits are designed to cause reaction strikes by deflecting off objects like logs, trees and rock, noted Cliff Pace, the 2013 Bassmaster Classic champion. He finished 12th at the Atchafalaya Basin using a bait of his own design.

