Nichols Lures Impulse
Andrew Upshaw: Old School Squeak
Tournament proving grounds – At 31, Forrest Wood Cup
qualifier Andrew Upshaw might be young, but he has an old-
school appreciation for the sport and for buzzbaits. You’d
expect nothing less from an angler whose first-ever bass out-
ing at the age of 16 was on Sam Rayburn Reservoir with the
legendary Tommy Martin. Their best five weighed nearly 29
pounds. After that, he was hooked.
And it was also at Sam Rayburn in October 2014 that
Upshaw had his favorite buzzbait memory as a pro. It was a
Costa FLW Series tournament, and high winds forced him to
abandon the pattern he found in practice and “just go fish-
ing.” He wound up targeting turns and points in vegetation
with a black 3/8-ounce Nichols Impulse buzzbait. He used
the lure not only to catch fish, but also to locate them. If he
missed a strike, he followed up with a prop bait and ended
the day with 19 pounds, 15 ounces and the lead.
“The fish were not aggressive,” Upshaw recalls, “so I went
with a smaller buzzbait to entice them to bite. On a cloudy,
APRIL 2018 I FLWFISHING.COM
nasty day in the fall, that can be a great way to get a lot of
bites from quality fish.”
Gearing up – Upshaw’s tools of the trade for buzzbait
fishing include a 7-foot-3, medium-heavy Lew’s Custom
Speed Stick Series Mag Hammer, a Team Lew’s Custom Pro
Speed Spool SLP Series casting reel (7.5:1) and 30-pound-test
Seaguar Smackdown braid. The relatively light braid increas-
es casting distance for the young pro.
Dialing in – One concession that Upshaw makes to the old
school of buzzbait fishing is his preference for lures that
squeak. And like the buzzbait fans of generations ago, he’ll
hang a new buzzbait outside his truck while driving to the
lake. After 15 or 20 miles of churning at high speed, the blade
shaft starts to wear, leading to an enhanced squeaking sound
that he believes draws strikes.
Thrift, Dudley, Atkins and Upshaw know that the
buzzbait never stopped catching bass – including plenty of
big ones. It just fell out of fashion for a while.
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