Bass Fishing Jan 2017 | Page 39

Bradley Hallman – The Norman, Okla., pro won the first FLW Tour event of his career last season at the opener on Lake Okeechobee. He flipped and punched tangled reed heads for the win and is an expert with a heavy rod in hand. TWO EXPERTS Peter Thliveros – A veteran pro, Thliveros calls Florida home and has decades of experience punching dense vegetation in the Sunshine State and elsewhere. THE BrEaKDoWn 1. BAIT CHOICES HALLMAN’S PICKS Hallman generally goes with a smaller plas- tic, such as a Strike King Rage Bug, craw or beaver-style bait because it penetrates thick cover easier than a bigger crea- ture such as a full-sized Zoom Brush Hog. He thinks bait such as a Rage Bug or NetBait Paca Craw, which have active appendages, work best when fish are aggressive. A subtler Gambler BB Cricket or Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver gets the nod when fishing pres- sure or something else puts the fish in a funk. Strike King Rage Bug NetBait Paca Craw Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver january 2017 I fLWfISHInG.com Gambler BB Cricket 35