Brown Rallies for Seminole Win
Spawning bass and a key stretch of grass lead to victory
When the Rayovac FLW Series event on Lake Seminole started on Thursday, hot, slick conditions prevailed. The air temperatures pushed into the 90’s, water temperatures hovered between 80 and 85 degrees – summertime was on.
Post-spawn patterns like deep worming in the timber, fishing bream beds, punching mats and cranking ledges were what occupied most anglers’ minds because, after all, the bass spawn on Seminole was long over with.
Or was it?
Certainly bass were not still spawning on May 21st on the southeastern impoundment.
That’s what Clint Brown wanted his competition to think – as a local angler he knew better. In fact, on day one of the Evinrude-presented event, Brown sight-fished a limit of bass weighing 18 pounds, 7 ounces to pave the way for his first career Rayovac victory and a $40,000 payday.
“There were just a handful of bass still on beds,” Brown reveals. “A few local guys knew about it, but most of the field had committed to summertime patterns already. I figured if I could find enough left on beds, I could make it work for at least part of the tournament.”
Indeed, Brown sight-fished his day-one limit and three of his day-two limit to get ahead of the curve and start the final day in second place.
“I just went fishing today,” he says. “I was out of bed fish so I started running a lot of water I know in the Flint River.”
Ironically, it was an obscure stretch of bank that sealed the deal for Brown on the final day.
“Every day when I would run the river, I would pay close attention to where boats were fishing,” he explains. “I kept seeing this one stretch of outside grass that never had a boat on it all week. I never practiced on it, but I had fished it before.
“This morning I decided to start on that stretch,” he continues. “I saw shad flipping in the grass so I started with a topwater. That didn’t work, so I went back down it with a swim jig and caught four pretty quick. That got my day started on the right foot. I junked around the rest of day to finish my limit. At the end of the day I stopped on that same outside grass line where I started and caught two big ones on a buzzbait that culled me way up.”
Brown’s final day rally of 18-3 was enough to take the victory with a three-day total of 52 pounds, 11 ounces.
All week Brown used a variety of lures to catch his fish. His swim jig was a 3/8-ounce Dirty Jigs swim jig in a shad color tipped with a white NetBait Paca Craw trailer and tied to 65-pound PowerPro braid. The buzzbait was a ½-ounce Bass Pro Shops buzzbait tied to 50-pound test PowerPro. His sight-fishing bait was a Okeechobee craw-colored Bruiser Baits Intruder on a ¼-ounce weight and 65-pound test braid. Additionally, Brown scored two nice bass during the week, including a 6-pounder, on a Spro Popping Frog fished around bream beds, also on 65-pound braid.
“I use 65-pound test braid on almost everything,” he says. “Lake Seminole bass have the biggest, sharpest teeth I’ve ever seen on bass. Too many times they’ve cut my line, so I go big with braid almost all the time now.”
By the end of weigh-in, Brown himself was somewhat surprised with his win.
“I have fished two or three of these events before and I thought I was really going to catch them,” Brown says. “And I never came close to my expectations. I fished one here several years ago where I really thought I was going to jack them up and I didn’t even make the cut. This time I didn’t really think I was on anything that great. So I just went out, relaxed and went fishing, doing something a little different each day. This is really a pleasant surprise and it feels good to finally win here at home.”
Top 10 pros:
1st: Clint Brown, Bainbridge, Ga., 52-11. $40,000
2nd: Ken Ellis, Bowman, S.C., 49-5, $15,500
3rd: Tim Reneau, Del Rio, Texas, 42-13, $12,000
4th: Scott Wiley, Bay Minette, Ala., 41-0, $10,000
5th: John Hunter, Shelbyville, Ky., 40-9, $9,000
6th: Rodger Beaver, Dawson, Ga., 39-6, $8,000
7th: Clayton Batts, Macon, Ga., 38-9, $7,000
8th: John Bitter, Maitland, Fla., 37-6, $6000
9th: Bradley Enfinger, Colquitt, Ga., 37-0, $5,000
10th: Sven Hilland, Sanford, Fla., 36-3 $4,000
Holder Wins AOY
As the leaders faltered, Brian Holder of Gastonia, N.C., banked a 32nd place finish on Seminole to earn the Stike King Angler of the Year award with a total of 682 points. Not only did he earn priority entry into the Walmart FLW Tour, he took home a prize package worth $2,000 that includes his 2016 deposits for the Rayovac FLW Series.
Each of the top 10 in the standings also earned priority entry into the FLW Tour.
Top 10 pros in AOY points:
1st: Brian Holder, Gastonia, N.C., 682 points
2nd: Trevor Fitzgerald, Belleview, Fla., 681 points
3rd: Tommy Dickerson, Orange, Texas, 662 points
4th: Chad Prough, Chipley, Fla., 660 points
5th: Mark Daniels Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., 658 points
6th: Rob Digh, Denver, N.C., 655 points
7th: Tim Frederick, Leesburg, Fla., 655 points
8th: Joe Holland, Jefferson, Maine, 654 points
9th: Buddy Gross, Chattanooga, Tenn., 651 points
10th: Scott Canterbury, Springville, Ala., 649 points