Gallery: Top 10 Baits from Amistad

Ray Hanselman says he caught a fish with each of the 20 rods he had rigged, but the baits that produced the bulk of his catch were a Top Shelf swimbait, a Bill Norman DD22 deep-diving crankbait in a baby carp-imitating color and a Wahoo Lures Wing Ding. The Wing Ding produced the most keepers, but the swimbait duped Hanselman’s biggest fish. Photo by Jesse Schultz. Angler: Ray Hanselman.

February 16, 2015 • Curtis Niedermier and Jesse Schultz • Archives

1. Ray Hanselman says he caught a fish with each of the 20 rods he had rigged, but the baits that produced the bulk of his catch were a Top Shelf swimbait, a Bill Norman DD22 deep-diving crankbait in a baby carp-imitating color and a Wahoo Lures Wing Ding. The Wing Ding produced the most keepers, but the swimbait duped Hanselman’s biggest fish.

Click here for video of Hanselman explaining his tournament.

2. Brian Ankrum staked his tournament on a drop-shot rig comprised of the following: 20-pound-test PowerPro Super Slick 8 Braid main line, 8-pound-test Seaguar fluorocarbon leader, No. 2 Gamakatsu drop-shot hook, Zoom Finesse Worm and 3/8-ounce weight.

3. Denny Brauer put his signature Ardent rods and Ardent Apex reels to work to drag a 3/4-ounce Strike King Denny Brauer Structure Jig with a Strike King Rage Chunk trailer and a Carolina-rigged Strike King Rage Lizard. Green pumpkin was his primary color.

4. Brendan Kennell used an umbrella rig and a drop-shot Roboworm in the Aaron’s magic color with a 3/8-ounce weight to catch suspended fish near the mouths of creeks on the main lake.

5. Russell Cecil fished very slowly in deep water, dragging a Big Bite Baits 8-inch finesse worm on a 1/2-ounce Buckeye Lures Magnum Spot Remover jighead and a Carolina-rigged Big Bite Baits creature or Jerk Minnow. Occasionally he worked in a Buckeye Lures football jig.

6. Wade Hudgens’ go-to bait was a 3/4-ounce Black Angel football jig in the Tar Creek craw color with a NetBait Paca Chunk trailer in the Toledo Bend special color.

7. Stephen Johnston caught a few fish on a Strike King 1.0 square-bill crankbait, but he did most of his damage with a Texas-rigged watermelon seed-colored V&M Chopstick worm.

8. Joe Don Setina caught one keeper on a Strike King 8XD, one on a 7-inch Yamamoto Senko and the rest on an umbrella rig. He changed up the swimbaits on his rig, at times using Reaction Innovations Little Dippers, Reaction Innovations Skinny Dippers and a Keitech swimbait in the electric shad color.

9. Gene J. Eisenmann used a technique known as “scrubbing” in which he slowly reeled a 3-inch shad-colored Keitech Fat Swing Impact swimbait on a 1/16-ounce jighead and 8-pound-test line along the bottom in 30 feet of water.

10. Albert Collins went up the Devils River with a 6th Sense Custom Lure Co. jerkbait and an umbrella rig. He mixed and matched swimbaits on the umbrella rig, choosing the 6th Sense Core-X Swimbait, Mr. Twister Magnum SwimSation or Missile Baits Shockwave.