Weapons of choice
John Crews put together 3 stellar days en route to his best finish in 3 years. A lackluster day 2, however, prevented him from seriously contending for the crown.
He split his time between shallow and deep-water haunts, where he did his damage with a crankbait and a flipping stick, respectively.
“I was just flipping flooded mesquite trees and I caught them from 3 feet (deep) down to 10 feet,” he said. “The offshore stuff was in about 14 to 16 feet of water.
“I spent about 60 or 70 percent of my practice time offshore and I found three places that I caught fish off of out of all those hours of idling around.”
> Cranking gear: 7’8″ medium-heavy Pinnacle Perfecta cranking rod, Pinnacle Optimus LTE casting reel (7.3:1 ratio), 12-pound Vicious Pro Elite fluorocarbon line, Spro Little John DD (root beer/chartreuse).
> Flipping gear: 7’6″ medium-heavy Pinnacle Perfecta flipping stick, same reel (7.3:1 ratio), 25-pound Vicious Pro Elite fluorocarbon, 1/4- or 5/16-ounce unnamed tungsten weight, 3/0 Gamakatsu Heavy Cover worm hook, Missile Baits Missile Craw (green-pumpkin/red or superbug).
> He flipped the green-pumpkin/red bait under bright skies and superbug when the sun was obscured by clouds.
> He caught two weigh-in fish on a Missile Baits Tomahawk worm (melon cinnamon purple).
Main factor in his success – “Figuring out on the first day that they were really eating the Missile Craw. I didn’t need to go around and shake off a hundred fish.”
Performance edge – “I’d have to say my Bass Cat boat. (On day 4) I had all the confidence in the world to fly 20 miles down the lake and then all the way back in the last hour and 45 minutes.”
