photo by Andy hAGEdon
INFLUENTIAL FACTORS
Fishing on the Red River was tough when the college crew came to town, but top finishers uncovered several key factors that led to the better catches. current – Not surprisingly, several teams noted the importance of main-river current to activate bass. For instance, the University of Nebraska’ s Jackson Ebbers and Charlie Deshazer( fifth place) looked for flat areas with good current exposure. barge traffic – Current wasn’ t the only way to keep fish stirred up, however. Adrian College’ s Chase Serafin says that he and Cody Batterson( seventh place) leveraged a barge’ s wake, which pushed bait past certain spots and stimulated feeding. They actually hopped ahead of the barge – similar to running the tide in a tidal fishery – and fished this scenario on multiple spots along the vessel’ s course.
Also, Cody Huff and Garrett Enders of Bethel University( second place) found that some of their fish were relating to willow tree roots extending from undercut banks. Running their Z-Man ChatterBaits as close as possible to the bank was essential to getting bites.
photo by dAVId A. bRoWn photo by Andy hAGEdon close work – Several teams discovered that fishing cover meticulously was key. Northwestern State University’ s Hunter Malmay and Robert Jones( sixth place) boldly attacked each log, laydown or tree by hitting all the angles. Using what Malmay called a“ front-middle-and-back” approach, they were able to fish behind others and pick off unreached bass. natural presentations – Adrian College’ s Jack Hippe III and Nick Czajka( fourth place) discovered that getting bit required getting their Zoom Magnum Trick Worms close to cover, but they found that the river did a better job of managing the presentation than they did. They downsized to 3 / 16-ounce weights and minimized rod-imparted action, which allowed their baits to flow naturally in current with fewer snags. time of day – Tournament winners Freeman and Soileau grabbed the first-round lead after taking advantage of an early bite. By 10:30 on day one, they had their limit and weight for the day. Conversely, teams that were flipping cover needed the high sun to push fish into shaded spots. Case in point, Malmay and Jones stated that each day early bites were bonus bites, as they needed the sunlight to position their fish better on the cover.
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