Top 10 Baits from Lake Lanier
Whether pros ventured to the clear water below Brown’s Bridge or stayed in the stained waters of the rivers, almost all the top-10 anglers at the FLW Tour event presented Ranger on Lake Lanier utilized similar techniques and even similar lures.
1. Bradley Hallman changed patterns on a daily basis, from tossing a Megabass Vision 110 +1 jerkbait on points to swimming a swimbait on a ½-ounce head along marina walls to skipping a Zoom Trick Worm on a shaky head under shallow docks and walkways to tossing a spinnerbait up the river on the final day.
2. Zack Birge crawled a Tennessee Shad-colored YUM Pulse Swimbait on a ¼-ounce jig along six key points between Brown’s Bridge and about where the two rivers meet.
3. Joseph Webster never ventured far from takeoff, hitting little rock piles with a drop-shot, shaky head and a Norman Deep Little N.
4. Local Jason Johnson fished “painfully slow” with a weightless green pumpkin or natural shad-colored Zoom Fluke Stick to catch suspended fish and the same Fluke Stick on a ½-ounce Carolina rig along isolated areas spotted bass like to stage on before spawning.
5. Braxton Setzer targeted fish hanging on the sides of long-running points by tossing a Ned Rig with a Nichols Clent's Toadstool Jig Head up on top, or vertically fishing the same Ned rig or a wacky-rigged Yamamoto Senko to ones he saw on his graph.
6. Cody Meyer ditched brush and opted to target rock structures with a 3.75-inch Strike King Rage Swimmer on a ¼-ounce Owner ball-head jig. He also vertically fished a Strike King KVD Fat Baby Finesse Worm in green pumpkin blue on a shaky head or a drop-shot with a 4 ½-inch Strike King KVD Dream Shot on a ¼-ounce Strike King tungsten weight.
7. Jeff Gustafson made consecutive top 10s by pitching a new Jackall Ned Rig worm called the Dew Worm on a 1/5-ounce head ahead of the boat or vertically dropping down a nail-weighted 5-inch Northland Tackle Dipstick.
8. David Williams sacked up a quick limit of spots every morning tossing a MegaBass Vision 110 jerkbait along riprap walls and pitching a Queen Tackle Hammerhead jig with a Zoom Z-Craw trailer under walkways. He then targeted largemouths with homemade spinnerbaits in the backs of pockets.
9. Jordan Osborne made his first top 10 crawling a Hasu or Electric Shad-colored Keitech 3.3 Swing Impact FAT on a ¼-ounce ball-head jig along rocky structures.
10. Austin Felix utilized a Keitech 3.3 Swing Impact FAT on a ¼-ounce head multiple ways, swimming it for schoolers in the morning and then crawling it along bottom on structures 30-40 feet deep.