TOP 10 BAITS & PATTERNS: How the best of Heavy Hitters caught ‘em on Caney Creek and Bussey Brake

MONROE-WEST MONROE, La. – MLF’s premiere big-fish event – General Tire Heavy Hitters Presented by Bass Pro Shops – didn’t disappoint. Caney Creek Reservoir and Bussey Brake in northern Louisiana showed that they hold plenty of quality bass, with Bryan Thrift’s 9-pound, 6-ouncer taking home $100,000 for the big-bass award in the Championship Round.

The 10 anglers who made it to the final day on Bussey Brake used a broad mix of baits and capitalized on spawning bass, the shad spawn and bedding bluegill. Here’s a full rundown of the top baits and patterns from Caney Creek and Bussey Brake.

1. Alton Jones Jr. – 81-15 (19)

In one of the most dominant showings in Bass Pro Tour history, Jones romped over the field by nearly 60 pounds, totaling 81-15 on 19 fish. He did it by flipping a 3.8-inch Geecrack Bellows Gill in white and using a ½-ounce white spinnerbait with a Geecrack Bellows Shad as a trailer.

“When it was calm, I was flipping deep willows where the shad were spawning and keying in on the thicker bushes,” he said. “When the wind picked up, the willows shook too much and the bass didn’t like that. So, I ran over to a cypress tree stretch where I had some bites in practice and they were sturdy enough where they wouldn’t move.”

Jones credits the spinnerbait trailer for his success in shallow water.

“The bulk of that trailer allowed me to reel the bait slower and keep it in the strike zone longer,” he said.

Most will remember this event and Jones on Bussey Brake, but he kicked off the first day of the event with a bang on Caney Creek. His 33-14 led Group A after the first day and he did it with a mix of different tactics, but sight fishing provided his best quality fish.

“I was using the same Bellows Gill, but in sunburnt gill as well as the Bellows Shad 3.8 in AJ’s juice,” he said.

2. Dakota Ebare – 22-15 (5)  

Even though he didn’t win the event, it was another profitable outing for Ebare. He collected $50,000 for his second-place finish and added another $25,000 for the biggest bass for Group A’s Qualifying Round. That 9-6 was one of two nines he caught on Caney Creek.

His 9-6 bit a wacky-rigged 5-inch Strike King Ocho in green pumpkin, but he also mixed in crankbaits and jigs on his way to advance to Bussey Brake. On the final day, he again went with the Ocho, but this time Texas-rigged a black-and-blue version with a 3/16-ounce weight and 4/0 Owner Jungle Flipping Hook.

“All but one came pitching around shallow cover,” Ebare said. “I figured out they were on hard targets like cypress trees and not bushes. My first bite came by pitching around a cypress tree. Then, I went and fished some bushes and didn’t catch any. Then, I started catching them again when I went back to fishing cypress trees.”

3. Andy Morgan – 15-0 (4)

Morgan kicked off the event on Caney Creek with a 38-12 haul that led his group. He did that by fishing his strengths, namely flipping and punching lily pads with a Zoom Z-Craw, ½-ounce weight and 5/0 hook – he relied mostly green pumpkin and black-and-blue for his baits.

“The first day was great because the fish were fresh, but it was a slow day the second day,” he said. “That bite is super fragile when you have a storm coming through and the lake isn’t big enough to sustain the pressure.”

At Bussey Brake, he used the same setup but went with a white Z-Craw as he happened upon a shad spawn.

“I saw some birds out ahead of us; it wasn’t a great shad spawn, but just enough to have some bass up around the bushes,” he said. “That was it. That was the ball game. If I had keyed on that bite a little earlier, I could have done better, but there was no way I would have caught Junior.”

4. Randy Howell – 13-9 (3)

After last year’s trip to Louisiana, where Howell set a Bass Pro Tour record with a 12-14, he couldn’t wait to return. He had another great showing, including winning the Knockout Round on Caney Creek.

“I had a few primary patterns, an offshore area, sight fishing, and a shad spawn deal,” Howell said. “Offshore, I was fishing a Livingston Lures Howeller Plus in yellow craw around brush piles. I also caught a few on a swimbait out there.”

For bed fishing, it was a Yamamoto Flappin’ Hog in green pumpkin red with a 3/8-ounce Bass Pro Shops XPS tungsten weight and a 4/0 ProX Extra Wide Gap Hook. This rig accounted for the 6-4 that earned him $50,000 during the Knockout Round. He also scored fish on a wacky-rigged 5-inch Yamamoto Senko in green pumpkin purple green with a size 1/0 ProX hook.

Howell didn’t practice for Bussey Brake, so he went right back to where he caught the 12-14 last year and used the same bait; a 5-inch Yamamoto Senko in blue/black laminate that he fished around hardwood trees mixed with smaller bushes in 5 to 7 feet of water.

“Right away, I caught a 7-pounder and then two more decent ones,” he said. “There was a shad spawn going on in there, but we missed most of it by the time we started. I lost one on a white swim, but that was it for the day.”

5. Josh Bertrand – 11-2 (2)

To kick off the event, Bertrand discovered a solid pattern targeting bluegill beds with a drop-shot. His rig consisted of a 1/0 drop-shot hook, ¼-ounce XPS Tungsten weight and a pink 6-inch finesse worm.

“I focused on the in-between stuff, depths between 5 to 8 feet with a mix of grass and hard bottom,” Bertrand said. “There were bluegill beds on them and it was a matter of pulling up and catching them when the bass were active. You had to be patient with it and have good timing.”

Coming into the final day, Bertrand expected to flip and pitch, which he did all day.

“That was the plan and all I did, targeting willows in 6 to 7 feet of water,” he said. “I used a green pumpkin with green flake Berkley Pit Boss on a 3/8-ounce XPS Tungsten weight and 4/0 Berkley Fusion19 Flipping Hook.”

6. Bradley Roy – 10-11 (2)     

The winner of Stage One last year, which concluded on Bussey Brake, Roy couldn’t wait for a chance to get back. During the first two rounds on Caney Creek, he mixed it up with sight fishing and targeting offshore grass.

“I caught most of them in grass offshore with a green pumpkin ½-ounce ChatterBait with a minnow trailer,” he said. “I would cast a wacky-rigged Senko or creature on beds I found in shallower water.”

On Bussey, it was all flipping with a black-and-blue creature bait and Roy had to adapt his areas compared to last year.

“The water was higher this year, so I had to fish different areas,” he said. “I tried to focus on stuff around a depth change.”

7. Bryan Thrift – 9-6 (1)      

Thrift breezed through the qualifying rounds on Caney Creek and easily won Group A, advancing to Bussey Brake. On Caney, he fished a Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer and used a swimming worm.

“The deal at Caney was isolated grass patches,” he said. “The ChatterBait was the clearwater shad color, and I added a 5-inch Damiki Armor Shad on the back.”

While he only caught one on Bussey, it was a $100,000 fish as his 9-6 was enough to earn the Berkley Big Bass prize.

“I tried to do a bunch of different things on Bussey but ended up catching the big one flipping, which is something I don’t like to do,” Thrift said. “The big one ate a Damiki Knockout creature bait with a ¾-ounce weight and a punch skirt.”

8. Edwin Evers – 7-3 (2)

On Caney Creek, Evers targeted outside grass in the 4- to 6-foot range with a drop-shot. A 6-inch hand-poured worm in pink and purple hues was his top producer during the event, but another bait clued him in during practice.

“I found all those fish by cranking a Berkley SquareBull 3.5, but it got tougher to generate bites when the tournament started,” Evers said. “I was using a drop-shot with a 3/16-ounce weight and focusing on outside grass in 4 to 6 feet of water. Some were spawning and some were just moving around and I could see those on my Lowrance ActiveTarget.”

At Bussey, Evers went to thicker cover, focusing on bushes and flipping a Berkley Powerbait Fatty Bottom Hopper Worm in red bug and South African special. He rigged the worm on a 5/0 hook and utilized a 3/8-ounce tungsten weight.

9. Brent Ehrler – 3-10 (1)

Ehrler won the round on Caney Creek and skipped the Knockout Round thanks to a green pumpkin 5-inch Yamamoto Senko, fished both on a wacky and Neko rig.

“The key there was sparse grass in that 5-foot range,” he said. “I fished the Senko on a 1/0 Gamakatsu G-Finesse Stinger Weedless Wacky Hook. For the Neko rig, I used a 3/32-ounce Ark Tungsten nail weight.”

On the final day, Ehrler stuck with a flipping and pitching approach for bushes and trees less than 5 feet deep. His 3-10 came with a Yamamoto Flappin’ Hog rigged on a 4/0 Gamakatsu Aaron Martens G-Finesse Heavy Cover Hook and 3/8-ounce Ark Tungsten Weight.

10. Ryan Salzman – 3-2 (1)

Alabama’s Salzman mixed it up with a ½-ounce Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer in black and blue with a Yamamoto Zako trailer and a hair jig to make the final day.

“I was fishing the ChatterBait over eel grass that was between 2- and 4-foot of water on Caney,” he said. “I also went out deep on a roadbed in 15 feet of water and caught them on a 5/8-ounce white True Bass Shuttlecock Hair Jig.”

Salzman’s lone fish on Bussey came flipping bushes with a tramp stamp colored Reaction Innovations Kinky Beaver with a ¾-ounce weight.