photo by ShAnE duRRAnCE |
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Monster . He was hoping for one kicker , but the change yielded the two keepers that sealed their victory .
McKie described the best retrieve as one with minimal action . Discipline and patience to maintain a glacial pace were important .
“ We were dragging them along really slow and trying to count each shell or rock on the bottom ,” McKie says . “ We were dragging our shaky heads so slowly over those shells that it chipped the paint off of them .
“ We weren ’ t making really long casts , especially when it was windy , because the wind and the current would put a big bow in our line ,” he adds . “ If I tried to set the hook on a long cast I would have a lot of slack
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in my line , and I ’ d end up with a bad hookset . I got close enough to the spot where I didn ’ t have to make that long of a cast to hit the key area .”
the area
While many of their competitors focused on ledges , Champy and McKie did most of their damage on a more subtle spot . Essential elements included ambush structure , bait schools marked on sonar and proximity to deep water that drew in more fish over time .
“ It was a really small hump with a steep drop into the river channel , and on the upstream side it had a small dip that you could see on the map ,” McKie
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says . “ Also , on the side closest to the bank it had another little dip , and then it came up into the flat .”
The winners ’ key spot rose to about 9 feet on top and dropped 30 feet on the river channel side . McKie says the adjacent depth definitely bolstered their spot ’ s attraction to bass , but he surmises that the location offered another key benefit .
“ The TVA was pulling , like , 88,000 cubic feet per second on that last day , and that spot was right on a big bend in the river channel ,” he notes . “ The current was not nearly as strong there as it was in one of the straightaways . I think right there it gives the fish a break in the current .
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That might have been a reason they were there .”
McKie and Champy took advantage of the lighter day-one winds and started out working from the spot ’ s shoreward side , casting into the wind . Bringing their baits against the softened current produced fish , but changing their approach seemed to produce the best results .
“ We left and came back on day one , and we started fishing from the river channel , sitting in 30 feet and throwing on top of the spot and bringing the baits toward the drop ,” McKie adds . “ That ’ s the same way we worked it each time . It seemed to work better than getting right on top of the spot and spooking the fish .”
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anglers |
fIshIng team |
WeIght |
fIsh |
1 . CHAD CHAMPY & KYLER MCKIE |
NORTH AUGUSTA |
57-10 |
14 |
2 . AVERY BROWN & HUNTER REDMAN |
GEORGE ROGERS CLARK |
57-06 |
15 |
3 . WILL SMITH & COLBY CHAPMAN |
GORDON LEE |
53-01 |
14 |
4 . BLAKE COBB & LUKE MCHAN |
FANNIN COUNTY |
49-04 |
15 |
5 . ALEX TIMM & EASTON FOTHERGILL |
GRAND RAPIDS |
48-11 |
15 |
6 . HUNTER MUNCRIEF & LANDEN MCCARY |
WEST SABINE |
48-09 |
14 |
7 . GARRETT BARTLETT & HENRY BRYAN |
SEYMOUR |
41-13 |
13 |
8 . THOMAS MATHIS & CODY GREGORY |
OBION COUNTY CENTRAL |
41-12 |
15 |
9 . ETHAN HAYES & JAMES HARPER BURKEEN |
MCCRACKEN COUNTY |
39-11 |
12 |
10 . ADDISON YATES & GARRETT MCWILLIAMS |
BASS TACTIX |
33-05 |
11 |