PHOTO BY PATTERSON LEETH
PHOTO BY PATTERSON LEETH
One Lure , One Rod , $ 300,000
Atkins won the 2017 Forrest Wood Cup on Lake Murray with a threeday total of 59 pounds , 4 ounces . He caught all 15 of the bass he weighed in with a single lure : an ima Little Stik 135 pencil popper in chrome .
Big pencil popper-style topwaters have emerged as top producers on herring lakes due to their extreme castability and loud , thrashing surface noise that “ draws up ” or “ calls up ” bass . Whether the pencil popper imitates a single herring really well or just creates so much commotion on the surface that bass believe they ’ re missing out on schooling activity is up for debate . Either way , one thing Atkins proved unequivocally is when that bite is on , it only takes one lure to score big .
Atkins tied the Little Stik directly to 30-pound-test Berkley Trilene braid , opting not to tie in any kind of monofilament or fluorocarbon shock leader . Instead , he fished the lure on a 7-foot , 5-inch composite rod that features a deep parabolic bend to allow the fish to eat the lure and turn down with it with less risk of pulling the lure away too soon . An Abu Garcia Revo reel with a high-speed 7.1:1 retrieve ratio was critical for reeling in long casts quickly to get the bait back out to schooling fish before they swam back down .
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