Bass Fishing Apr 2018 | Page 81

sections of vegetation and reed lines are simply gone, torn away by the storm.

For most pros, the damage was a negative. The lack of vegetation to flip was the obvious sore point, but the lack of barrier reeds also allowed persistent winds throughout the winter and even during the event to churn up most of the lake.

Because of wind and lack of vegetation in many of the traditionally best areas of the lake, only two areas produced the best fishing throughout the event: Harney Pond and South Bay. Both managed to retain relatively clear water, and pros flocked to them. More than 30 anglers could be seen fishing either locale at any given time the first two days, and eight of the top 10 anglers ended up making the cut in those areas.

Frederick could also be considered in the Harney Pond crew, but not exactly. While most were tucked up near the Harney Pond Canal,

Frederick focused his time out near the Spoil Islands, where Hurricane Irma had actually carved out an area of reeds roughly 100 yards wide. The open swath was pretty well protected from the wind, and Frederick had it mostly to himself. What made it even more special

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were its seemingly unending patches of pencil reeds, pads and debris left behind, as those would be the key to his winning pattern.

the pattern

Frederick’ s home waters are the lakes that comprise the Harris Chain, but Florida bass tend to act similarly regardless of the fishery. That’ s especially true when it comes time to spawn.

“ The females like to bed right next to pieces of cover,” Frederick says.“ Through years of fishing for them, I’ ve gotten to know exactly how they like to set up on cover, which helps when you can’ t see them [ the beds ] like you couldn’ t see them during this tournament.”

Frederick’ s pattern boiled down to bed-fishing for bass he couldn’ t see. Here, he relied on his years of knowledge to make educated guesses as to where a big girl might be located.

“ I was hitting any pieces of cover I could see, focusing on any point or anything unique on the edges of whatever cover it was,” Frederick says.“ That’ s usually where they’ ll set up.”

Because of the wind, Frederick would anchor his boat with his Power-Poles and then methodically – sometimes taking a couple minutes to bring in a cast – work a piece of cover before lifting his poles and drifting in range of another piece of cover. Then he’ d pole down and repeat the process.

He used a one-two punch for lures starting with a soft-plastic stick bait and dragging it along to feel the roots of the cover, knowing bass will expose the roots of vegetation when creating their beds. If he felt roots, he figured

there was a bed there. If there were no takers on his Texas rig, he’ d toss in a vibrating jig and slowly reel it along the bottom until he got it into the presumed bed, where he’ d pop it off the bottom in hopes of garnering a reaction strike.

WINNING CO-ANGLER

Jeffrey mathews Maitland, Fla.

Winning Weight: 42-01( 10 fish)

Winning program:

Jeffrey Mathews drew pros Christopher Brasher and Andrew Upshaw, who both happened to be fishing the Harney Pond area.

On day one, he sacked up 15 pounds, 12 ounces behind Brasher by throwing a 1 / 2-ounce green pumpkin Z-Man / Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer in“ fairly open water,” where his pro believed the fish were staging.

The plan was the same on day two, only Mathews’ ChatterBait broke, forcing him to use a homemade version borrowed from a friend.

“ It had a different skirt that was bream-colored, and I think that made the difference,” says Mathews, who brought in 26 pounds, 5 ounces to win the co-angler crown and $ 20,000.

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