
All captions: Craig Lamb


Jason Putman went old school topwater to finish 12th. Triggering a reaction bite with a chugger-style topwater was key. âIâve fished this bait for more than a decade and it really works.â


John Garrett fished his second Championship Saturday in as many weeks. This time the Bethel University student athlete finished 11th. Garrett had reason to complain about sore arms.


It was all about the jerkbaits for Kyle Kempers. He finished 10th using these handfuls of jerkbaits.



Josh Douglas fished his second Championship Saturday of the season, this time to finish ninth. He did that using a swimbait of his design and a drop shot rig.



Steve York finished eighth using a drop shot rig, jerkbaits and a noisy topwater.




Michigan pro Chad Pipkens brought his offshore smallmouth fishing skills to Oneida Lake to finish seventh. He did that using a topwater and drop shot rig.



JT Kenney rotated through three lures to finish sixth.




Patrick Walkers, a member of the University of South Carolina bass fishing team, used two lures to finish fifth.



Alex Wetherell relied on a rotation of coverage lures to finish fourth. Choices included these jerkbaits and a selection of soft plastics.



Glynn Goodwin alternated between a pair of soft plastic rigs to finish third.



Wesley Strader imitates how the bass bit his jerkbait for a second-place finish.



Winner Stanley Sypeck kept it simple all week, fishing a single lure. Going against the grain he ignored the smallmouth bite. Instead, he dialed into the largemouth to catch a limit each day.
