17 18
CODY MEYER
15 LB 14 OZ (10) CHAD FOSTER
15 LB 9 OZ (10)
By Curtis Niedermier
B
PHOTO BY MATT PACE
ased on pre-tournament research, Meyer knew the
potential of the brush pile bite at Ouachita. He just
never convinced himself to dedicate all his time to it and
figures he might’ve missed some opportunities as a
result.
In practice, Meyer marked about 50 piles. From the
few he sampled he caught only small spotted bass. Lack
of big bites, combined with the allure of grass and
schooling bass, plus 3- to 4-pounders cruising the bank,
led him to fish a combination of patterns, rather than
focusing on the brush.
In two competition days, he never caught a fish off the
bank and caught only one from grass and one from his
schooling areas each day. The rest of his two limits
(including a daily 3-pounder) came while fishing a drop-
shot and big worm in brush.
“My bigger fish came out of brush piles, and most of
my keepers came out of brush piles,” says Meyer. “But I
didn’t do it a whole lot. Looking back, I should’ve done it a
whole lot more.”
Fall 2018 I FlWFISHING.COm
By Justin Onslow
T
PHOTO BY KYLE WOOD
hird-grade teacher Chad Foster earned his first Cup
appearance this season and capitalized to the tune of
a top-20 finish. He could thank some flexibility on his part
and a deep bite that provided multiple limits, though very
few big fish.
Foster started day one fishing shallow, but after a few
hours without a keeper, he moved out deep and targeted
upward of 50 brush piles per day. Usually he found that
after catching one fish he would have to move on to
another pile due to heavy pressure that kept bass on high
alert. Despite trying his hand again at shallow cruisers on
day two, Foster quickly turned back to the deep bite.
A drop-shot rigged with a Roboworm Straight Tail
Worm in morning dawn and a 2 3/4-inch swimbait on a
3/8-ounce Outkast Golden Eye Swimmer Head were piv-
otal to Foster’s success. Most of the brush piles he target-
ed were in 17 to 27 feet of water, and fishing slow and
methodically was the ticket to his top-20 finish.
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