RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — The Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Plains Division event on Lake Dardanelle had some very good fishing, and, with the opportunities the lake provided and the rules for the event, a variety of patterns worked. Some top anglers did several things, and a number of anglers did well with straightforward approaches.
Here’s what worked best for the top sticks of the tournament.
1. Hemby runs two solid patterns
Earning the win, Drake Hemby fished shallow grass without ‘Scope and then used his sonar to target near-shore and offshore fish and objects.
Up shallow, Hemby used a 3/8-ounce Boogerman Buzzbait in white, which accounted for his kicker on Day 1. He also threw a 3/8-ounce Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait JackHammer in golden shiner, and when he had his electronics lit up, he used a Hideup Coike Fullcast with an Owner Stinger treble and a 3/32-ounce weight. He threw everything on 20-pound Seaguar InvizX.
2. Strong ‘Scope hours carry Sutton
Like Hemby, recent McKendree University graduate Evan Sutton had a depth of collegiate experience on Dardanelle. That paid off in how he ran his forward-facing sonar sessions every day.
“I was really just ‘Scoping stumps and brush piles – that was my main thing,” Sutton said. “I caught almost all my fish in my three-hour [forward-facing sonar] period”
His best baits were a 5/16-ounce D&L Advantage Casting Jig with a Zoom Z-Craw Jr. and a 19mm Hag’s Prickly Pear with a 1/32-ounce weight. When he was scrapping it up on the bank, he used a ChatterBait, a frog and a jig.
3. Porto does all his damage in one spot
One of a number of successful locals in the field, Drew Porto bucked the trend of Dardanelle and was able to nearly win the event off one hole.
“It was a spot I didn’t know about; I found it the first day and I really didn’t know what it was,” he said. “There was a little stick up, and I pitched a Coike in there and caught a 5-pounder. A big school of them came up off the bottom. The gizzards were on it. It was a little bitty shell spot and loaded with them.”
Fishing for the same school every day, Porto had to change up each day, so a variety of baits got the call. On Day 1, he mostly used a 19mm Hag’s Prickly Pear in red dirt renegade and a shaky head with a Zoom Magnum Trick Worm in cranberry. On Day 2, he relied on a 7-inch KGB Chad Shad and an Evergreen Shower Blows 125. The last day, his best bait was a 6th Sense Movement 80X. He threw the whole gamut on Dobyns rods.
4. Local skills put Dixon in the mix
Generally speaking, locals excel on river systems, and though Dardanelle is a bit of a hybrid, it wasn’t a surprise to see Wayne Dixon (and other locals) in the mix.
Fishing shallow all week, Dixon did well in the pads early in the event, but had to flip reeds and wood on the final day.
“I had a real good time except for Saturday – they dropped the water out 10 inches, and I was fishing real shallow water,” he said. “That killed me.”
His best baits were a 3/8-ounce Prototype Lures Guerilla Buzz in black and white, which he trailered with a Strike King Menace Grub, and a Prototype Lures Smasher Frog in blackie. On the final day, he flipped a JP Customs WD Bug in goggle eye. He used Denali rods across the board.
5. Jig carries Thompson all week
Jarred Thompson put together a great finish at home in his very first Toyota Series event.
His best bait was a 1/2-ounce jig that he made himself, which he trailered with a Zoom Super Chunk. He also caught a 4-pounder on a buzzbait and a ChatterBait.
“Basically, I was running grass mats and coontail on the river, just flipping and pinching,” he said. “It was pretty fun. I’m a local there, so I’ve got all my little specific spots, and I just bounced around where I usually get better bites. This week my key bites came off the jig.”
Thompson was in his element, and it worked out for him.
“I never took the cover off of my LiveScope,” he said. “I always wanted to fish one, and I went and did what I wanted to do.”
6. Offshore school buoys Baughman
Earning his third Top 10 with MLF, Hunter Baughman cobbled together a few patterns and had one good offshore school that played for him.
“I wanted to river fish, and the current did some funky stuff; I didn’t think it would be right,” he said. “I stayed on the lower end and looked for offshore stuff. I found a school of fish the last day of practice, and thought they had a lot of potential, and they did.”
When he wasn’t able to get on that school, he flipped, frogged and ran brush and hard spots.
For baits, Baughman went with a 19mm off-brand Coike with a 1/8-ounce weight and a Brazalo Custom Lures 501 Jig in melon candy with a watermelon candy Zoom UltraVibe Speed Craw. He used Ark Invoker Tour sticks and Ark Gravity 5 reels.
7. Brush game goes well for Higby
Mat Higby knocked out a great finish at Dardanelle and a strong final day was a big key.
His best baits were a 3/8-ounce Beast Coast Lil’ Magnum in stealth melon juice and stealth craw with a Strike King Rage Craw trailer and a Manimal Baits Wild Craw in Higby hooch.
“The first day, I was catching them off stumps and brush, which I’d been doing the last couple weeks,” Higby explained. “I was catching them on a Coike and a jig. Day 2, I started my ‘Scope period later, and let the schools set up, so I threw a frog in the morning and flipped up two 3-pounders and had my 13 pounds in the morning. I didn’t get a bite in my ‘Scope period.”
Day 3, Higby went out with some serious ground to make up.
“I was in 24th place, so I had to swing for the fence,” he said. “I went back and threw my frog in the morning and flipped up one on the Wild Craw. Then, I ran away from that spot and turned on my ‘Scope at 9:22, and that’s where I did all my damage at. I caught everything on that jig out of singular brush piles that were away from things, that people wouldn’t find, and after my ‘Scope period, I culled twice dragging the jig in brush and shell.”
8. Berlinsky mixes mats and schools
Earning his second MLF Top 10 of the year, Tripp Berlinsky ran two very divergent patterns, fishing a mat and several schools.
In the vegetation, Berlinski flipped a little and used a Berkley Swamp Lord. Offshore, he turned to a Rapala PXR Mavrik 110 and a Rapala CrushCity Janitor with a 1/16-ounce weight and a 1/0 VMC RedLine Series Drop Shot hook.
“I had one mat up the river I would go to every day – it was just milfoil and duckweed,” Berlinsky shared. “I was getting blown up on a frog, and I lost one or two flipping, too. I was just never able to catch them, I got two the first day, but they just kept missing my frog the rest of the time. With the jerkbait and the Neko, I had two schools I was targeting, just trying to pick them off in singles.”
9. Roumbanis does a little of everything
Fishing his home pond, Jackson Roumbanis knocked out a Top 10 on little practice and with a mess of techniques.
His best baits were a Frog Factory Sonic Boom and a KGB Legend. He threw the frog on 50-pound Cortland MasterBraid, and he used an 8-foot, heavy Phenix M1 with 20-pound line for the glide.
“Right off the bat, I started next to the waterfall throwing a glide in the current,” he said. “I’d ‘Scope for a few hours with a big worm and a drop-shot, and then go up the river and throw a frog. I was trying a little bit of everything, I didn’t practice, so I just went out and tried to make something happen.”
10. Tucker also keys on gizzard shad
Finishing 10th, Matt Tucker also rode a bite that revolved around schooling and spawning gizzard shad.
“I was on a gizzard shad deal,” he said. “It was offshore shell beds with a little bit of brush around it. I ran a couple of community holes, but if there weren’t gizzards there, you couldn’t catch ‘em.”
His baits of choice were suited to the occasion: a 5-inch Bacca Burrito in Tactical gizzard and a 19 mm Game Changer Bait Depth Charge with a 3/32-ounce Primal Tackle OFO Head hook.