PHOTO BY PHOENIX MOORE
By Mitchell Forde
THE BEST OF THE REST OF REDCREST
n hindsight , it almost seems inevitable that Dustin Connell would prevail on Lay Lake . But while the final results make it look like he cruised to victory , a handful of anglers appeared positioned to nab the championship trophy at various points during RED- CREST . Look no further than the Knockout Round for proof , when eight competitors finished within 10-2 of Connell ’ s total , just about all of them occupying the top spot on SCORETRACKER ® at some point during the day .
While chasing suspended spotted bass with forward-facing sonar proved to be the dominant pattern , it was far from the only way to contend . Current , spawning fish and traditional , shallow power techniques all contributed to Top-10 finishes . Here ’ s a rundown of how the rest of the Championship Round field got there .
Alton Jones Jr . — 52-2 ( 19 )
While Connell became the first ever two-time
REDCREST champion , Jones earned the bittersweet distinction of being the first multi-time runner-up , finishing second for the second year in a row . After finding practice challenging and trying to start the event shallow before eventually committing to using forward-facing sonar offshore , he was happy with the result .
Jones used a 5-inch Deps Sakamata Shad for aggressive fish and a 4-inch Geecrack Revival Shad for those that needed more coaxing , rigging both on 1 / 8-ounce Owner Range Roller jigheads . Patrolling a different area than everyone else , slightly farther up the lake and on the other side of the main channel , he seemed to figure out the fish a bit better every day .
“ They changed a little bit every day based on the current ,” he said . “ The first day , they were tucked closer to the bank and became more spread out later in the event . You had to keep scanning around to find them , and it also seemed like they were grouped by size . If you were catching smaller fish , you had to move around a little to find groups of better quality fish .”
Ron Nelson — 39-9 ( 12 )
Aside from brief stints on the first morning and final afternoon , Nelson spent the entire event dissecting the turbulent tailrace below Logan Martin Dam . His sweet spot ( when he could get to it , as Ryan Salzman and a few local anglers also fished there ) was right next to the concrete wall separating the spillway from the generators .
Rotating between various Z-Man Evergreen JackHammer ChatterBaits and Keitech Swing Impact FAT swimbaits , Nelson got bites in flurries , with afternoons being the most productive . In addition to largemouth and spotted bass , he caught just about every other species that lives in Lay : drum , striped bass , white bass , catfish and more .
“ I ’ d cast up there with the JackHammer and fish it erratically to get the most aggressive fish first ,” Nelson said . “ I ’ d make some casts up close to the wall and then slide parallel and pitch to the eddies with the swimbait , because the fish were stacked top to bottom . I was using a Strike King Squadron Swimbait Head because it has a stouter hook , and you could give them the meat with 20-pound Sunline FC Sniper fluorocarbon .”
Takahiro Omori — 36-11 ( 13 )
Omori took a simple approach to the changing fishery . He spent virtually the entire event with just two rods on his front deck , both casting setups with vibrating jigs . His bait of choice was a 3 / 8-ounce JackHammer ChatterBait with a 5-inch Z-Man DieZel MinnowZ trailer , either in white or a gaudy chartreuse .
Putting on a casting clinic , Omori fished his vibrating jigs around whatever bank-related cover he could find in pockets of Waxahatchee Creek .
“ I was beating the bank and fishing shallow cover in 1 to 5 feet of water ,” Omori said . “ It was all for prespawn and spawning largemouth , and I caught them on stumps , laydowns , grass and docks . The key was fishing my instincts and experience .”
Jesse Wiggins — 32-8 ( 12 ) Another angler who found his comfort zone , Wiggins caught Lay Lake ’ s spotted bass the same way he does around the spawn on his native Smith Lake . Wiggins started each morning fish-
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