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green waters, had turned into an aquar-
ium. Bradley Hallman won the event
sight-fishing down to depths of 6 feet,
something previously unheard of in
Grand. It’s not that sight-fishing on
Grand was anything new, but the outer
limits of where the technique could be
applied had been extended generously.
In the last two decades, various new
baitfishes have infiltrated waterways,
changing the ways bass pursue their
prey as well. In the mid-1990s, well-
known smallmouth experts such as
Steve Clapper, Joe Balog and Mark
Zona tapped the goby invasion of the
Great Lakes, putting a lot of tourna-
ment cash in their pockets with goby
imitations.
In the East, blueback herring added
another fishing dimension to lakes in
the Carolinas. Apparently, the blueback
herring is a rather tasty morsel to a
bass, but the blueback is also a pelagic
species, roaming the lakes at will.
Consequently, bass in herring lakes
have become more “nomadic” and
open-water oriented.
Two of South Carolina’s best bass
pros, Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity
and Casey Ashley of Donalds, grew up
fishing herring lakes. They know the
intricacies of the herring-bass relation-
ship better than most. Maybe that
explains why Gagliardi possesses a
Forrest Wood Cup title from Lake
Murray and Ashley won a Bassmaster
Classic title at Lake Hartwell. Herring-
influenced bass played a role in both of
those wins.
Asian carp are also altering the way
anglers pursue bass. While the rampant
spread of carp into waterways is cer-
tainly considered an environmental
threat, Ray Hanselman of Del Rio,
Texas, used the prolific carp to his
advantage to win the Costa FLW Series
Championship on the Ohio River by
throwing an umbrella rig that featured
a baby carp imitation. Hanselman
wanted the trailing swimmer on his rig
to be big, lazy and cumbersome – like a
beleaguered carp that could not quite
keep up with the rest of the school.
Whether it’s vegetation, mussels or
new species of fishes, these “invaders”
are not going away. Chances are, there
will be new ones in the future, and they
will likely impact the way bass relate to
the habitat and feed in their ever-
changing environment, creating new
fishing “secrets” that we don’t even
know about yet.
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