13 14
CORY JOHNSTON
18 LB 5 OZ (8) AUSTIN FELIX
17 LB 4 OZ (10)
By Colin Moore
“T
PHOTO BY MATT PACE
ypical summer fishing in the South” was the
descriptive phrase Johnston used to summarize his
experience in the 2018 Cup, and it wasn’t meant to be
complimentary.
The Canadian pro struggled to get anything going at
Lake Ouachita and settled for a 13th-place finish with
eight fish. Like most others, Johnston had problems deal-
ing with unaggressive shallow fish that would swim
toward a topwater, but then fail to commit.
“Definitely, the hardest part wasn’t seeing good fish,
but getting them to bite,” notes Johnston. “For the most
part they just weren’t that interested.”
Johnston fished a dark-colored River2Sea Whopper
Plopper 110 or a lightly weighted Zoom Horny Toad in
various colors. He focused on small feeder creeks in
Ouachita’s north and middle sections, starting at the
mouths and fishing back.
“If I could do one thing over it would be to stay in one
area where I got five good bites and caught three keep-
ers, instead of moving around so much,” he says.
Fall 2018 I FlWFISHING.COm
By Kyle Wood
I
PHOTO BY JODY WHITE
n just his third year as a pro, Felix made his third Cup
appearance and racked up another solid performance.
The Minnesota pro is no stranger to fishing deep with
his electronics or flipping grass – both possible patterns
at Ouachita – but decided that running the bank was the
best way to go.
“I ran transition areas on the bank where I saw fish
cruising in practice or where I had a blowup,” says Felix. “I
wouldn’t just put the trolling motor down and go. I had
certain 100-yard stretches that were best, and I’d jump
from one to the next. Most of the areas were changes in
rock on the bank, like shelf rock to chunk rock or chunk
to pea gravel.”
His shallow bait selection consisted of a buzzbait, prop
bait and walking topwater.
When needed, his secondary pattern of running brush
piles with a 1/4-ounce Dirty Jigs Matt Stefan Guppy Head
and a 2.8-inch Keitech Swing Impact FAT produced some
fish that helped fill his limit.
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