Joseph Webster relied heavily on schooling fish for his 10th-place finish at the Forrest Wood Cup. Though he located several points with schooling activity, other anglers in the top 20 had found them too, and Webster eventually dedicated most of his time to fishing a single point on the lower end of the lake near First Creek and Second Creek.
The Bass Federation National Championship winner started out in the morning with a Lucky Craft Sammy 100 in the ghost threadfin shad color. Once the action died down around noon each day he switched to a drop-shot rig or a popping cork and fly rig, similar to what many saltwater anglers fish on the flats.
The popping cork and fly setup was something Webster used when he was younger for schooling striped bass, and he decided to try it going into the final two days. It accounted for nearly 20 keepers each day.
As the schooling action slowed, Webster rigged a 6-inch morning dawn Roboworm Straight Tail Worm on a drop-shot rig. This was his approach when the fish moved to deeper water on the end of the point, and it produced several keepers during the event.
Webster had two other areas that contributed to his catch, particularly on the second day, which proved to be his most challenging day as the schooling bite was shorter and there was less activity.
“ At around noon I knew I had to do something since I only had three fish for less than 3 pounds,” he recalls.“ I wanted to go for the win, but I knew if I didn’ t get a limit and stay in the cut, I wouldn’ t have a chance to even fish another day.”
The Mississippi angler adjusted and fished the drop-shot on a bridge piling closer to the launch site to catch a limit of spotted bass weighing 6 pounds, 13 ounces, which got him into the third day.
His other secondary area was a series of gravel bars and humps that he plied with a citrus shad Norman DD22 crankbait during the first day. With his boat positioned in 15 feet of water, Webster cast to gravel bars between 10 and 12 feet deep. He was able to catch key keepers on the first day from this location.
Photo by PattErSon LEEth
Webster saved his tournament on day two with a quick limit from a bridge that got him in the cut.
Webster believes preparation prior to this tournament was the reason for his high finish. He lives just over an hour from Wheeler Lake, and during the prepractice period he spent three days per week on the lake looking for deep fish. He spent considerable time looking for schools of offshore bass, but realized that was not going to be the key at the Cup because there simply weren’ t large groups of bass out deep.
WEBSTER’ S KEYS TO SUCCESS
The TBF champ found several points on the lower end of the lake during pre-practice where he caught some schooling fish on jerkbaits. This gave him a starting point for the official practice period and eventually became the area where he spent the majority of the four days of the tournament.
To maximize his success on the point he was fishing, Webster shut off his electronics and positioned his boat on the shallow top of the point, using his Power-Poles to anchor in 4 to 5 feet of water. He then cast out to deeper water where the bass were suspending. As the bass corralled the shad and pushed them to shallow water, Webster was waiting. This also allowed him to make shorter casts to reach the schooling fish and reduced the likelihood of spooking them as they came to him.
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