EARLY, Texas — For the second event in a row, the Bass Pro Tour field took on two Texas lakes at Suzuki Marine Stage 4 Presented by Plano, as O.H. Ivie and Brownwood took center stage. The two lakes are separated by around 60 miles and are set up slightly differently, but many of the same themes carried over with bass in all stages of the spawn. The primary constant was Jacob Wheeler, who won the Qualifying Round on O.H. Ivie, then took the trophy on Brownwood with 12 bass for 42 pounds, 13 ounces.
Here’s a deeper look at how the top anglers caught ’em in Texas.
1. Jacob Wheeler – 42-13 (12)
Notching his 11th Bass Pro Tour win, the ever-amazing Wheeler dominated at both lakes. Despite skipping the Knockout Round on Brownwood, he led most of the final day en route to the win.
On Ivie, Wheeler caught fish on two primary baits: a Rapala CrushCity Bronco Bug in green pumpkin blue, and a hollow-body popping frog.
“I was fishing the Bronco Bug in bushes that were in 5 to 7 feet of water where the fish were spawning,” he said. “The second day was an awesome frog bite in the morning, and then I caught a few on the Bronco Bug later in the day.”
When Wheeler began fishing during the Championship Round on Lake Brownwood, he went to work with a 1/2-ounce Z-Man Evergreen Jack Hammer ChatterBait with a 4.25-inch Rapala CrushCity Freeloader on the back, both in white and shad-imitating hues. He also caught a few key fish on a black CrushCity Janitor worm on a drop-shot.
“The key was just locking that ChatterBait in my hand and staying persistent and making multiple casts to the same places around the docks,” he said. “I felt like the first casts would draw them out, and then on the third cast, I’d catch them. I was also looking for places that had a lot of wind, where I think some of the guys were looking for places to get out of the wind. There was a little bit of a shad spawn in the morning, and I think the wind helped to prolong it a little longer.”
2. Justin Lucas – 32-7 (10)
Justin Lucas dominated during the Knockout Round on Brownwood and kept pace with Wheeler for much of the final day before his bite sputtered. Even getting to the second lake was an accomplishment, as he squeaked into the Knockout Round in 24th place after two days on Ivie. He caught seven scorable bass a day there, which was just enough.
“I didn’t catch a bunch of fish or big ones, but they were scoreable, and I caught everything on a green pumpkin Berkley Power Hawg and Berkley Swamp Lord frog in MF Bluegill,” he said. “I was targeting shallow bushes and staying close to the bank and was just lucky to get by and make the Knockout Round.”
When he arrived at Brownwood, he took advantage of the shad spawn around the docks with a white 1/2-ounce Berkley swim jig with a Berkley Powerbait Chigger Bug on the back. The second day, he also caught several key fish on a dice-style bait.
“I started right by the dam where we launched the first day and caught a bunch of fish; but right away, they weren’t scoreable,” he said. “I moved over to the closest big dock, and that’s when it all started, and I was able to catch what I caught. During the final day, I focused on rocky bluff banks.”
3. Drew Gill – 21-5 (7)
Illinois pro Drew Gill added his third BPT Top 10 of the season and mixed it up with several baits. As usual, he relied heavily on his forward-facing sonar, but he also added several key fish throughout the event without his electronics.
“At Ivie, I was mainly fishing for deeper spawners with ‘Scope and looking for cleaner areas around brush in 6 to 8 feet of water,” he said. “They were harder to find, but they were very catchable when you found them. I was catching them on a Big Bite Baits Nekorama in green pumpkin on a Neko rig with a 1/16-ounce weight and a 1/0 Roboworm Rebarb hook.”
Shifting gears to Brownwood, Gill caught some fish the first day without forward-facing sonar on a swim jig and a crankbait. A big second period with forward-facing sonar sealed his spot in the Championship Round, where he (and everyone else) found the bite slower.
“I got on a deal with the same Neko rig as well as the urchin for spawning fish,” he said. “I was mainly looking for channel swing docks and looking for stumps and rocks where they were spawning.”
4. Wesley Strader – 18-0 (7)
Although the two lakes were fishing differently, Wesley Strader did the same thing at both, riding a vibrating jig bite to secure his great finish.
“I did the same thing at both lakes, fishing a 3/8-ounce Z-Man Evergreen Jack Hammer ChatterBait in clearwater shad on Ivie, and I went with a chartreuse and white at Brownwood,” he said. “I was throwing it with a paddle tail swimbait on the back of it on Ivie and then went with a Zoom Z-Craw Jr. in pearl white on Brownwood.”
When at Ivie, Strader focused on hard spots and went with docks on Brownwood.
“I was targeting a hard spot in the bushes, between the bushes on an old roadbed, and I caught pretty much everything I caught on Ivie there,” he said. “On Brownwood, with the water down, I was focusing on the main channel and halfway back into the creeks on deeper docks and rock.”
5. Mitchell Robinson – 16-4 (5)
Mitchell Robinson earned his first Bass Pro Tour Top 10, and on both lakes, he was on quality over quantity. He weighed just eight bass in two days on Ivie, but two were in the 7-pound class, and he added another 7-12 on Brownwood.
“On Ivie, I started each morning fishing a little deeper area where it dropped off from the bushes into 15 feet of water,” he said. “I was ‘Scoping in the morning with a Neko rig and caught a 7-pounder each day. Then after that, I was fishing the thicker bushes with a brush hog-style bait with a 1/2-ounce weight and thicker fluorocarbon.”
His Neko rig bait of choice was a 4.8-inch Duo Realis Wriggle Crawler Worm in green pumpkin, rigged with a 1/16-ounce nail weight on a No. 2 Gamakatsu G-Finesse Stinger hook. That bait also played at Brownwood, where he added fish with a 3/8-ounce Z-Man Evergreen Jack Hammer ChatterBait with a Duo Realis Versa Pintail on the back.
“On Brownwood, I did most of my damage in the morning with the ChatterBait and then would go down the bank during the ‘Scope period around docks and going down the bank with a Neko and that same worm on a shaky head,” he said.
6. Michael Neal – 11-14 (5)
Tennessee’s Michael Neal is off to another strong start to the season and now sits in fifth place in the points, but this was his first Championship Round appearance of the season. He mixed it up, fishing heavy cover on Ivie and then primarily using a crankbait on Brownwood.
“On Ivie, I was mainly focusing on bushes, trees and sticks with a 5-inch Yamamoto Senko in the Real Deal Gill color on a wacky rig with a size 1 Gamakatsu G-Finesse Stinger hook,” he said. “Then on Brownwood, the first day, I was catching them all around shallow rocks on points where there was a shad spawn going on with a SPRO Baby Fat John in the cell mate color. The final day, it was a hodgepodge with fish on a ChatterBait and spinnerbait.”
7. Alton Jones Jr. – 7-8 (3)
Like most of the field, Alton Jones Jr. spent his time on O.H. Ivie targeting shallow brush. He caught enough there to advance to Brownwood, where he shifted to rocks and docks.
“On Ivie, I was fishing brush that was anywhere between 3 to 10 feet deep and fishing for spawners that I couldn’t see and also with ‘Scope during my forward-facing period,” he said. “I caught all of them on a 5-inch Geecrack SAF Stick in green pumpkin purple and AJ’s Juice.”
When moving to Brownwood, Jones caught the bulk of his fish on a soon-to-be-released Geecrack harnessed swimbait as well as some on a vibrating jig.
“I was getting behind the docks and fishing the rocks behind the docks,” he said. “I didn’t catch many off the docks themselves all week. I pretty much lived and died with the swimbait – and I died with it on the final day.”
8. Zack Birge – 6-12 (3)
Coming off two national wins in a row, Zack Birge was able to keep the momentum going in Texas. On both of the lakes, he fished the same baits – a 3/8-ounce vibrating jig with a Missile Baits Spunk Shad on the back and a 5/16-ounce swim jig, all in white and natural shad patterns.
“On Ivie, I was mainly just getting into the sticks and looking for cleaner water and casting to every little vein and opening in the trees where I could make a clean cast,” he said. “On Brownwood, I’d never seen the place, so I had a little bit of everything rigged up, but ended up catching them on the ChatterBait by making casts between big boulders on the bank, making casts up between the rocks. And I also caught some on docks on steeper banks.”
He fished his swimjig on an Alpha Angler Zilla rod with a high-speed reel and 40-pound Yo-Zuri SuperBraid. For the ChatterBait, he went with an Alpha Angler Mag-Rebound rod, high-speed reel, and 20-pound Yo-Zuri T7 fluorocarbon.
9. Brent Ehrler – 4-11 (2)
California’s Brent Ehrler notched yet another Top 10 BPT finish, and he did it with a variety of different approaches. He primarily flipped and threw a ChatterBait on Ivie and caught fish with a crankbait and swimbait on Brownwood.
“I caught most everything flipping and pitching a 6-inch Yamamoto Senko but also caught some with a Z-Man Evergreen Jack Hammer ChatterBait and a few with a heavier drop-shot rig as well on Ivie,” he said.
When the event switched to Brownwood, Ehrler got things started right away with a 7-14 that he caught three minutes into the Knockout Round on a Lucky Craft 1.5 squarebill in chartreuse shad. That bait, along with a 5.8-inch Big Bite Baits Pro Swimmer in sight flash on a 1/8-ounce Buckeye Freestyle swimbait jighead, did most of his damage on Brownwood.
“I was mainly focusing on transition banks that were a little bit steeper,” he said. “You had a flat in between and then the bluff, and I would start on the points and fish until it flattened out, but all of the fish were close to pockets.”
10. Adrian Avena – 2-7 (1)
Adrian Avena secured his first Top 10 of the season by flipping on Ivie and moving quickly on Brownwood with reaction baits.
“On Ivie, I was targeting spawners on isolated stuff that were a little bit off the bank,” he said. “I caught most of them flipping with a power drop-shot with a new 6-inch Berkley Lab Series finesse worm. I went with heavier lines there and used 30-pound Berkley X5 braid with a 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon leader.”
After switching to Brownwood, he ran the shad spawn in the morning and mixed in some other baits throughout the day.
“I started at the lower end fishing docks with cleaner water and caught them on a bladed jig with a Berkley PowerStinger on the back for the shad spawn in the morning,” he said. “After that, I caught some on a Berkley CullShad swimbait, some flipping to shallow spawners, and also got one on a floating worm the final day.”