Bass Fishing Oct 2017 | Page 72

8 SCOTT MARTIN | 41 LBS , 4 OZ By David A. Brown 70 photo by chRIS bURGaN C ommitted to the offshore bite, Scott Martin fished from mid- lake to the Saluda Dam and focused his efforts on main-lake points and secondary points with brush piles in 10 to 15 feet and cane piles in 20 to 30 feet. He also found a couple of open-water areas that produced a schooling bite every day. “I fished the same area all three days and, for the most part, the same 10 to 15 places. I would just rotate them throughout the day,” Martin says. “I needed a few more places to really do good because you start educating those fish. After day two, the element of surprise, as far as your lures, is gone, and they get used to what’s going on.” Martin threw a LIVETARGET Yearling Walking Bait in calm conditions and for accurate casts to schooling fish. When the fish snubbed the topwater, he threw a pearl Yamamoto D-Shad on a 5/0 Trokar straight-shank hook. “Once the schoolers went down, I threw a LIVETARGET [Blueback] Herring swimbait because it was like they were looking around for another bait,” Martin says. “A lot of times, for the first 30 to 40 seconds after they stopped schooling, that wolf pack would still be hunting around for herring.” FLWFISHING.COM I OCTOBER 2017