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( continued from next page ) row . The area was a 30- to 40-yardlong gravel bar where fish schooled all day . Instead of running around checking multiple spots , Neal simply Power-Poled down and waited for the fish to school around him . As crazy as sitting in one spot for four days sounds , the result was a runnerup finish for Neal .
Become the Shad
Many times Neal would stand idle without fishing and wait for fish to surface before even making a cast . He said the key to catching the schooling fish was to land the topwater right on the very spot where a fish was chasing a shad to the surface . Chris Johnston , who finished eighth chasing schoolers , said the same thing about his schooling pattern .
“ It ’ s like a schooling fish gets dialed in on one shad , and only wants to chase that shad until it gets it ,” Johnston says . “ And the only chance you have to catch that fish is to land right on top of the fish while it ’ s in hot pursuit , causing the fish to mistake your lure for the shad it was chasing . It ’ s like you have to become that very shad the bass is chasing .”
Feather Weather
Speaking of Neal and Johnston , both said putting a feather on the tail hook of their topwater walking baits was extremely critical . Both gave examples of fish that would just strike at the feather , providing them each a few extra fish per day . Neal said adding a feather was the difference in his catches on day one ( 10-2 ) and day two ( 15-12 ).
“ I was not using a feather on my topwaters the first day ,” Neal says . “ While waiting to blast off on day two , I sat down and put feathered hooks on my topwaters , and it seemed to make a big difference right off the bat the second day .”
Bottom Was a Bust
One of the big surprises from Wheeler was the complete lack of a deep ledge bite . Two pros who put in an extensive amount of time looking for ledge fish were offshore ace Mark Rose and TBF champion Joseph Webster . Webster alone put in some 45 days of pre-practice , scouring Wheeler ’ s deeper haunts . During the event , neither could connect with a solid ledge bite . In fact , Webster had to resort to schooling fish , and Rose went shallow with a buzzbait to score top 10s . Webster did catch some deep cranking fish on the first day , but his deep bite fizzled after that . Rose plucked a few keepers from deeper brush piles but could never dial in a solid ledge program , either . Similarly , many competitors mentioned not being able to get bit on the bottom because so many of Wheeler ’ s fish were suspended .
Spoon Boon
When BFL All-American champion Jeremy Lawyer of Sarcoxie , Mo ., revealed that several of his better bass during the event came on a 1 / 2-ounce hammered jigging spoon – helping him finish in fifth place – it raised some eyebrows .
Lawyer targeted schooling fish on the surface with a topwater popper , but when the fish went down , he wanted to trigger a reaction bite off the bottom – and that ’ s where the spoon came into play . Lawyer would cast the spoon out , let it sink to the bottom and then rip it up , let it fall back and rip it again . His spoon trick worked in triggering some reaction bites from bigger fish under the school .
Pop Secret
Few fishing techniques surprise me anymore , but when I saw local favorite Brandon Perkins , Webster and Neal each thrashing the water with a saltwater-style popping cork teamed with some kind of little floating fly behind it , I had to dig out my binocs for a closer look .
When I asked about the popping cork at weigh-in I just got big grins . Fair enough . I know when pros want a little more time for an unconventional technique to shine . To my knowledge , their popping cork rigs did not pay off with many fish during the event . Apparently it had worked pretty well at some point during pre-tournament practice rounds .
And so it went . As noted , when compared to the volume of historical information on other tournament lakes in summer , the book on Wheeler Lake in August is pretty paltry . But the anglers who fish in the Forrest Wood Cup are good enough to write their own scripts , and make history in the process .
OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2016 I FLWFISHING . COM 119