Michael Neal was like a sharpshooter , holding back his topwater while waiting to fire at any schooling fish that busted the surface . photo by Rob NEWELL
Michael “ Real Deal ” Neal relied exclusively on schooling fish to bank his second top-10 finish in the Forrest Wood Cup .
While some pros that were chasing schoolers hopped from point to point , Neal milked one spot that he found in pre-practice the entire time .
“ I honestly thought this tournament was going to be won offshore , and to my knowledge nobody caught them out there . In pre-practice , I looked deep – ‘ electronics deep ’ and ‘ cranking deep ’ [ where it ’ s too shallow for electronics ] – and never did find them ,” says Neal . “ On the lower end , there ’ s really not more than six or eight good-looking places on a contour map to have offshore fish , and I was looking at one of them and saw them come up schooling on it .”
The spot was just a shallow pea gravel point that tapered off to about 25 feet deep before dropping down out of fishing range . Nearly every point on the lower end of the lake had schooling fish on it , but Neal ’ s spot had more and bigger fish on it than anywhere else and held them from pre-practice through the last cast of the tournament .
While others made repeated casts to schooling fish , Neal took a different approach , electing to wait them out with topwater in hand , ready to throw to any busting fish within reach . In pursuit of stealth , Neal used his Power- Poles the majority of the time , only occasionally kicking on his trolling motor to make a move and running only his HydroWave and livewell .
Neal says that back home on Chickamauga , schooling fish can usually be tempted to take a walking topwater when they aren ’ t actively breaking , but after trying that and about everything else , he reverted to the waiting game during the tournament . The one exception was his use of a Carolina rig to try and artificially induce schooling action .
“ It would fire them up ,” says Neal of the rig . “ They sat in about three places , and they would start in one place and move over to where I was sitting . You could take that Carolina rig and get a bite , and the rest of the fish would start moving . So if you could catch one and get it in quickly and take it off , about the time you would pick up your topwater rod a fish would bust .”
If he could hit that busting bass with a topwater , Neal could very likely put a keeper in the boat . Naturally he lost some and missed some , but the fish were there for yet another tremendous finish from the “ Real Deal .”
NEAL ’ S KEYS TO SUCCESS
Neal ’ s approach certainly was unique , but the real key was adding a feathered treble to his topwater after day one . The first day , Neal weighed 10 pounds , 2 ounces for 18th . On day two , he weighed 15-12 and rocketed up to second place . On days three and four , he boxed 12-0 and 12-12 , respectively .
Early August found Wheeler Lake brimming with tiny shad , which left many pros struggling for bites . On Neal ’ s spot , small shad swimming together in clouds the size of a boat were sometimes visible . With so much small bait in the water , it was hard for a lure to compete . Some pros pulled out crappie jigs and popping corks , but Neal opted to add a feather to a mostly clear topwater .
“ I started using a feather on my hook the second day , and it made a difference in the number of bites I got in those schools ,” Neal says . “ I don ’ t know what it is about that feather , but it works on schooling fish .”
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