SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Table Rock Lake proved to be a great venue for Bass Pro Shops REDCREST Presented by Mercury & Lowrance, offering plenty of variety. Anglers found success fishing in clean and dirty water, with forward-facing sonar and without it, and Jacob Wheeler ultimately secured his first REDCREST title after several close calls.
Here’s a deeper look at how the top anglers caught them at the championship.
1. Jacob Wheeler – 51-11 (21)
Wheeler finally achieved one of the few titles that had eluded him as he took the REDCREST win. He stayed on the lower end of the lake, primarily around Long Creek, targeting bass in all three stages of the spawn. While many anglers gravitated to spawning pockets, he opted to stay away from them.
“There was a lot of local tournament pressure, and our guys fishing and everyone would run straight into pockets, so I tried to stay away from them,” he said. “I focused my time and energy on long, drawn-out points on channel swings because there was less pressure. You could also catch prespawn fish, spawning fish, and post-spawners all in the same track because the areas were replenishing.”
He utilized a variety of different baits throughout the week, with a green pumpkin Rapala CrushCity Salted Ned Roll rigged on both a shaky head and a VMC Tungsten Ned head working well for spawning smallmouth. Wheeler also mixed in a 4.25-inch CrushCity Freeloader and 4.5-inch CrushCity Mooch Minnow on 3/16- and 1/8-ounce jigheads during his forward-facing sonar time and worked quickly down rocky banks with a Z-Man Evergreen JackHammer ChatterBait with a Freeloader on the back in either green pumpkin magic or sungill.
2. Takahiro Omori – 38-8 (15)
If Takahiro Omori is going to do well, it likely means that there’s a ChatterBait bite somewhere on the lake, and that’s what he found this week in the far reaches of the James River. He stayed consistent all three days, catching 15 bass twice and 16 another day for similar weights each day, and he might have made it a closer race with more time on the final day.
“I was targeting chunk rock and some wood way up the river,” he said. “I was focusing on spawning pockets that had a secondary point or channel swing. All my fish were in 5 feet of water or less.”
To catch his fish, Omori relied on a white 3/8-ounce Z-Man Evergreen Jack Hammer ChatterBait with a 5-inch pearl-colored Z-Man DieZel MinnowZ on the back. His rod of choice was his signature series 7-foot, medium-heavy Daiwa Tatula Elite. He paired it with a 9.1:1 Daiwa Zillion and spooled it with 16-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon.
3. Zack Birge – 32-15 (12)
Continuing his run of excellence this season, Zack Birge posted a great showing after leading the Qualifying Round with 102-6 after two days of fishing. He had a multifaceted approach, using finesse with his electronics and old-school power-fishing the rest of the time.
“During my forward-facing sonar time, I was fishing a little 3-inch minnow and focusing on schooling fish, brushpiles and some spawning fish,” he said. “After that, I caught some on a popper, but almost all of those fish without sonar were on a 3/8-ounce Z-Man Evergreen JackHammer ChatterBait in clearwater shad with a 4.5-inch Rapala CrushCity Mooch Minnow on the back.”
He primarily focused on areas in the White River and targeted spawning areas.
“I was fishing the main river and looking for short, small pockets that I could go in and out of quickly,” he said. “The bank was fairly steep, but the shorter pockets allowed me to fish them really quickly without having to go around a bunch of docks to get to the back of longer pockets.”
He fished his minnow on a 7-foot medium Alpha Angler Wrench spinning rod and used 10-pound Yo-Zuri SuperBraid with a leader of 8-pound Yo-Zuri T7 fluorocarbon. His ChatterBait was fished on an Alpha Angler Mag Rebound cranking rod, and he used 16-pound Yo-Zuri T7.
4. Brent Ehrler – 25-7 (12)
Making the final day after winning a tiebreaker for 10th place in the Qualifying Round, it was all up from there for Brent Ehrler, who has competed in all seven REDCREST events to date. He used a forward-facing sonar approach for schooling fish in the mornings, then switched to spawners afterward.
“I was focusing on schooling fish with a minnow and topwater wake bait in the morning,” he said. “My minnow was a 3.5-inch Yamamoto Hinge Minnow in sexy shad on a 3/16-ounce Buckeye Lures G-Stroll head. After that, it was all about spawning fish with a green pumpkin 5-inch Yamamoto Senko on a wacky rig, Neko rig and on a shaky head.”
Ehrler caught all three species, but his area was dominated by largemouth and spotted bass, and he felt that most of them were on beds.
“I caught a handful that I actually saw on beds with my eyes, but I was more efficient just going down the bank and casting to dark spots and light spots and covering more water,” he added.
5. Drew Gill – 28-1 (12)
Drew Gill jumped out to an early lead with an event-best 70-7 on the first day and spent much of the second day scouting additional areas. His most productive approach was targeting spawning smallmouth mid-lake with forward-facing sonar.
“The primary deal was using my ‘Scope period to throw a minnow at spawning smallmouth, but I also caught a few with a drop-shot with a Roboworm and a few more on the Big Bite Baits Nekorama on a Neko rig,” he said. “I fished a Big Bite Baits Spotlight Minnow in the 4.25- and 4.8-inch sizes in a myriad of colors with a real light, 1/8-ounce jighead, and shaking it really fast to get those fish to react. The spawning smallmouth were on isolated patches of rocks or stumps.”
When fishing without LiveScope, a 5-inch Yamamoto Senko in sungill was his top producer, but he stayed in most of the same areas.
“I was catching mostly spawners but also caught a few around brush,” he said. “I also caught some largemouth that were postspawn and guarding fry around pole timber and chunk rocks along the bank with a wacky-rigged Senko.”
6. Alton Jones Jr. – 24-14 (9)
Alton Jones Jr. had another great REDCREST showing, and he did it with a mix of forward-facing sonar fish and going shallow with a line-through swimbait to target spawning bass along the bank.
“My ‘Scope period was all about the minnow, and I used two sizes of jigheads – a 1/8 and 1/4 ounce – with a 3.5-inch Yamamoto Hinge Minnow,” he said. “When I wasn’t using ‘Scope, I think every single fish that weighed was caught on the new Geecrack Crackdown swimbait in white that will be out soon. It has a double line through system, so you can fish it with a single hook on top or a treble hook on the bottom, but I caught all my fish this week with it rigged with the treble.”
He weighed a nice variety of smallmouth, spotted and largemouth bass that were spawning in similar areas in the White River.
“I wanted a semi-steep pocket that had a deep side to it with an outside swing,” he said. “I was just looking for banks that had a good chunk of rock on it, since they were spawning in the cracks of those rocks.”
7. Mark Daniels Jr. – 23-14 (10)
Although he turned on his forward-facing sonar for one period each day, almost all the fish Mark Daniels Jr. weighed were caught without it, using an Ozark staple – cranking a crawfish-imitating crankbait.
“I was fishing steeper stuff, rock transitions in the James River,” he said. “It was all about the Bill Lewis MR-6 and SB-57 in strawberry craw and Rayburn red. I fished the SB-57 squarebill when I was fishing flatter stuff or when I came across some timber, laydowns, or bushes.”
He did weigh a handful of fish late on the final day with a drop-shot, but the water clarity in his areas was perfect for a crankbait bite.
“I caught a few with ‘Scope in the last hour, but I was mainly fishing that purplish water they call ‘turnover water’ around here,” he added. “That was the key for me.”
8. Spencer Shuffield – 20-9 (8)
Arkansas’ Spencer Shuffield had one of the better days of the event on the second day, when he caught 52–15 to jump from 19th to third place heading into the final day. Much of that success was from a strong forward-facing sonar period, but throughout the week, he had solid plans with and without it.
“I had several schools located in 10 to 15 feet of water and was catching them on isolated objects out on flats,” he said. “I caught them all on a 3-inch Z-Man Scented Jerk ShadZ in a bunch of different colors – it didn’t seem to matter – with a 3/16-ounce VMC Redline Tungsten swimbait head. I was using 15-pound Yo-Zuri Super9 braid in white and used 12-pound Yo-Zuri T7 fluorocarbon for my leader.”
Once he shut off his ‘Scope, Shuffield targeted 45-degree banks and threw at light colored areas along the bank where he suspected a spawning bass to be. His bait of choice was a 1/5-ounce Z-Man Pro ShroomZ Ned head and Z-Man TRD CrawZ in Canada craw.
9. Jeff Sprague – 17-3 (7)
Jeff Sprague mixed it up, targeting clean water down the lake the first day before running to stained water in the James River the second and final days. His primary tool in both was a Lake Fork Lures squarebill in the 1.5 size, which will be released later this year.
“I was mainly fishing for spawning fish this week and targeting a little bit steeper banks that had bigger rocks with cracks in them,” he said. “I could get those fish to respond by dragging that crankbait through there, almost like a worm. They would get territorial and come up and respond to it.”
He fished it on a signature series Lake Fork Lures 7-foot, 3-inch medium-heavy crankbait rod, and he used the same approach throughout the lake.
“The first day, I was down in the clear water but ran up to the stained water in the James the final two days,” he said. “I burned up all my fish to get to the final day, but I was just happy to do enough to make a Top 10.”
10. Dustin Connell – 12-8 (5)
Dustin Connell wasn’t able to win his fourth REDCREST title, but this marked his sixth Top 10 finish in the championship event. This week on Table Rock, it was thanks to spawning fish, as he primarily scored largemouth and spotted bass from the mid-section of the lake.
“I intended on catching more smallmouth and spots on the Rapala CrushCity Mooch Minnow with forward-facing sonar after my practice, but that didn’t really work out during the tournament,” he said. “I ended up catching most of my fish with a green pumpkin CrushCity Salted Ned Roll on a 3/16-ounce VMC Tungsten Ned jighead and a CrushCity Janitor worm, also in green pumpkin, on a 3/16-ounce VMC Stand-Up Shaky Head. I had a few spawning pockets with clean water, and you could find those bedding fish around any piece of wood you could find.”
Another producer for him was a beefed-up drop-shot rig with the same Janitor worm.
“I was fishing it with a baitcaster and 20-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon and pitching it around big trees in the water,” he said. “Those were primarily largemouth, and they don’t typically see a drop-shot in thicker cover, and I had the gear to get them out of there.”