Chasing some Texas giants.
The MLF Bass Pro Tour recently brought the field to Texas for a unique two-lake challenge at arguably one of the hottest lakes in bass fishing right now, O.H. Ivie, and about 60 miles away, Lake Brownwood. There probably hasn’t been a more talked about lake in the past few years than O.H. Ivie, one that has produced some absolute MONSTERS in recent history… we’re talking consistent double digit bass weighing 13, 14, even 15 and 16 pounds came in the past couple years. This year alone, three fish weighing over 13 pounds have been caught on O.H. Ivie. And Brownwood ain’t nothing to laugh at… anglers regularly land bass over 8 pounds.
All that to say, I was kind of expecting some bigger bass during this tournament. Don’t get me wrong, there were a plenty of 7-pound bass, and Wesley Strader and Jacob Walker each boated an 8+, but I was hoping for a double digit haul.
The thing about Ivie is that it is absolutely flooded with heavy cover… the lake’s water level has significantly risen in the past decade or so, and it flooded shoreline trees and bushes in a way that is pretty damn overwhelming. You can be fishing really heavy cover… bushes, trees, stumps… in really deep water, a different look for many of us, especially where I fish up in the north.
But with bass in multiple stages of the spawn, as well as a shad spawn in some places, anglers had some options. Here’s what the top 10 anglers used to cash a check in the Lone Star State.
10. Adrian Avena (2-7)
Avena secured his top-10 finish by mixing up his techniques across the two fisheries, and like many others in the Top 10, he leaned on a flipping bite early and then switched over to reaction baits for Brownwood. On Ivie, he used a power drop-shot featuring a new 6-inch Berkley Lab Series finesse worm (not out yet). And then on Brownwood, he used a vibrating jig during the morning shad spawn as well as a Berkley CullShad swimbait and a floating worm.
Shop the Berkley CullShad at Tackle Warehouse – $12.99
9. Brent Ehrler (4-11)
Ehrler found success with a mixed bag of flipping, vibrating jigs, and crankbaits, specifically targeting steeper transition banks near shallow pockets. He pitched around a 6-inch Yamamoto Senko, threw a Z-Man Evergreen Jack Hammer ChatterBait, a Lucky Craft 1.5 squarebill and a 5.8-inch Big Bite Baits Pro Swimmer swimbait in Sight Flash.
Shop the Big Bite Baits Pro Swimmer at Tackle Warehouse – $4.99
8. Zack Birge (6-12)
Birge kept the momentum rolling after his win in Stage 3 with another Top 10 finish. Keeping things simple, Birge utilized the same pattern on both lakes, opting for a 3/8-ounce ChatterBait with a Missile Baits Spunk Shad trailer (one of my personal favorite trailers) in white and natural shad patterns. He also threw a 5/16-ounce swim jig in white/shad patterns… easy peasy.
Shop the Missile Baits Spunk Shad at Tackle Warehouse – $6.19
7. Alton Jones Jr. (7-8)
The Texas native had it dialed in on Ivie and Brownwood, where he fished around a combo of shallow heavy cover and docks on the two lakes. Using a Geecrack stick worm in his signature color, AJ’s Juice, Jones Jr. fished around brush piles with LiveScope. On Brownwood, he utilized an unreleased big swimbait from Geecrack (stay tuned) as well as a vibrating jig to fish boat docks and rock piles.
Shop the Geecrack SAF Stick at Tackle Warehouse – $9.99
6. Michael Neal (11-14)
It was the tale of two approaches for Michael Neal, who tossed around a wacky rig on Ivie, and then transitioned to a crankbait on Brownwood. A 5-inch Yamamoto Senko in the Real Deal Gill color was fished around heavy shallow cover, and a SPRO Baby Fat John in the cell mate color was used around shallow rock points. He also used a Chatterbait and a spinnerbait during the Championship Round.
Shop the SPRO John Crews Baby Fat John at Tackle Warehouse – $16.99
5. Mitchell Robinson (16-4)
The 20-year-old rookie notched in his first career Top 10 finish in the Lone Star State, and he didn’t do it with a ton of fish, he did it by catching BIGS. Granted, everyone on the water wants to catch big bass, but Robinson fished a little deeper with a Duo Realis Wriggle Crawler worm on a Neko rig, and it helped boat a pair of 7+ pounders. He used the same bait around boat docks on Brownwood, while mixing in a Chatterbait and a flipping bait.
Shop the Duo Realis Wriggle Crawler at Tackle Warehouse – $8.99
4. Wesley Strader (18-0)
Strader kept it simple and committed fully to a vibrating jig bite. By simply swapping his colors and trailers, he made the same core presentation work across both fisheries. On Ivie, it was a 3/8-ounce Z-Man Evergreen Jack Hammer ChatterBait in clearwater shad, paired with a paddle tail swimbait trailer, whereas on Brownwood, the recipe was a 3/8-ounce Z-Man Evergreen Jack Hammer ChatterBait in chartreuse and white, paired with a white Zoom Z-Craw Jr. trailer.
Shop the Z-Man Chatterbait Jackhammer at Tackle Warehouse – $19.99
3. Drew Gill (21-5)
Gill continued to be a force on the BPT with another top 10 finish. He utilized his forward-facing sonar heavily to find deep spawners early in the tournament, but on Brownwood, he got it done fishing channel swing docks and stumps. His Neko rig with a Big Bite Baits Nekorama worm was the deal for most of the tournament, be also mixed in a swim jig, a crankbait, and an urchin-style bait for key bites.
Shop the Big Bite Nekorama at Tackle Warehouse – $5.99
2. Justin Lucas (32-7)
After barely sneaking out of O.H. Ivie, Lucas found his groove on Brownwood. He used a Berkley swim jig to capitalize on a major shad spawn around large docks and rocky bluffs to quickly stack up his weight. He also used a dice bait for a few bites. On Ivie, he followed suit with a Berkley Power Hawg in green pumpkin, and a Berkley Swamp Lord for topwater.
Shop the Berkley Swamp Lord at Tackle Warehouse – $10.99
1. Jacob Wheeler (42-13 )
Wheeler proved once again why he is unquestionably the best bass angler in the world, securing his 11th MLF Bass Pro Tour win. He started out strong on Ivie flipping a bait from his signature soft plastic line, the Rapala Crush City Bronco Bug (my personal favorite flipping bait), as well as working a hollow-body popping frog used during the early morning. He punched an automatic ticket to the Championship, and then on Brownwood, he was working docks with a Chatterbait and a drop shot.
Shop the Rapala Crush City Bronco Bug at Tackle Warehouse – $7.49
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