MOST OF THE TOP 10 FISHED SHALLOW
Buddy Gross might have won the Costa FLW Series event on Seminole fishing out in deeper hydrilla , but the majority of the rest of the top 10 focused on grass flats and sandbars in the 2- to 6-foot-deep zone where bass were moving up and spawning . Sight-fishing was difficult due to high winds , so many of the top finishers fished ChatterBaits , lipless crankbaits , Carolina rigs and lightly weighted soft plastics on the flats and bars . see shad and fish arches on my Lowrance , suspended in those drains .”
Gross then circled back to his waypoints , backed his boat far out into the channel and cast a swimbait up into the grass-lined drains .
“ I wanted to see if I could get those suspended fish to bite a swimbait ,” he says . “ And they certainly did . Those little ditches had timber right down the middle of them , which is where some of the bigger fish were suspended .”
During the tournament , Gross alternated his three swimbait / jerkbait configurations , often slow-rolling the bigger baits ( Zoom Swimmer and Mag Fluke ) off the deepest clumps and through the timber . He used the smaller bait to fish the back ends of the cuts where the grass was more shallow .
keys to victory
Sticking to his strengths and a fortuitous warm winter , which kept a lot of green hydrilla intact , helped propel Gross to victory .
“ I tried to go up shallow and fool around with catching bass off beds in practice , but it ’ s just not my thing ,” Gross says . “ I feel more comfortable fishing deep vegetation , so I kept hunting that kind of bite . That cold front [ immediately before the tournament ] may have helped me a bit , too , keeping those fish backed off and feeding on shad a few more days before running up on beds .”
The healthy condition of the hydrilla helped Gross keep his baits clean while running through the grass .
“ A lot of times I can ’ t fish swimbaits in grass this early in the year because it ’ s still dormant and clingy , gumming up the bait and keeping it from running right ,” Gross says . “ But that deep hydrilla was still what I call ‘ crispy green ,’ letting me snap my bait out of it cleanly . I would count the bait down until it just touched the grass , and then I ’ d start reeling it over the top , popping it to keep it rolling clean without it gumming up and wasting a cast .”
Buddy Gross ’ s cheering section included his daughter , Bella , his wife , LeAnn , and his mother , Elouise Gross .
CO-ANGLER CHAMPION
Name : Dwayne Fricks Hometown : Starr , S . C . Winning Weight : 33-03 ( 14 fish ) Winning Program : Fricks ’ primary lure all three days at Lake Seminole was a Zoom Super Fluke ( pearl white ) fished weightless over bedding flats . He rigged the Fluke on a 5 / 0 Gamakatsu hook tied to 15-pound-test Berkley Trilene line .
“ The Super Fluke is just a big confidence bait for me , so that ’ s what I used all three days ,” Fricks says . “ I ’ d just cast it out , work it real slow and even just dead-stick it at times .”
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