Dropshotting Is Easy With Good Electronics

By Tom Branch, Jr.

Drop-Shotting has been proclaimed as one of the hottest “new” techniques around, but it has been around since the mid 1970s. Drop-Shotting has been revived in the last 5 years by Japanese anglers, who started using this technique to catch the bass in their clear, highly pressured lakes, but saltwater anglers, and pan fisherman have been using this technique for many years to catch finicky fish suspended off the bottom.

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Scroggins Leads With 22lbs.

Until the first day of competition at the Bassmaster Elite Series event at Alabama’s Wheeler Lake, Terry Scroggins wasn’t fond of the picturesque body of water. The versatile veteran from Palatka, Fla., has previously struggled on the Alabama fishery, but he broke through Thursday, boating a limit weighing 22 pounds, 3 ounces, to lead the 107-angler field in the Southern Challenge presented by Advance Auto Parts, the seventh Elite Series event of the 2008 season.

With a victory, Scroggins would earn $100,000 and earn considerable points in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings. With four events remaining after Wheeler in the “Trail to the Trophy” and a $250,000 top prize at stake, Elite pros are focused on the all-important rankings. Fishing fans can catch all of the action from Wheeler on The Bassmasters, which airs Saturday, June 14, on ESPN2 at 9 a.m. ET. Additionally, live, streaming video of the daily weigh-ins, photo galleries and analysis can be accessed at http://www.Bassmaster.com. Trailing Scroggins were Todd Faircloth of Jasper, Texas, in second with 20 pounds, 9 ounces, Dave Wolak of Wake Forest, N.C., (19-4), Kotaro Kiriyama of Moody, Ala., (19-0) and Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich. (18-8). Not only had Scroggins struggled on Wheeler in the past, his poor practice period gave him no indication that he would succeed in the event. But the 40-year-old caught more than 40 keeper-sized bass and found a pattern that he believes will hold up. “I always struggle on Wheeler. And I mean I really struggle,” said Scroggins, who has earned more than $1 million in BASS tournaments. “But today I started to figure it out. The fish are starting to move out and it seemed like every 15th cast or so, I would catch a big one.” The five-time BASS winner rotated a few baits but felt most confident with a Booyah football jig, which produced the majority of weight. While boat traffic is a major problem for many of the competitors fishing the Decatur Flats, a popular area for tournament anglers, Scroggins has his general area mainly to himself. “I had no idea I would be able to catch more than 20 pounds,” said Scroggins, who is 24th in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings. “It was just an awesome day.” Faircloth, who was second in the Angler of the Year standings heading into the tournament, trailing only Arkansas’ Mike McClelland, also had no indication that his day would go well after practice. He caught his limit early Thursday morning and culled throughout the day. He is keying on grass in the Decatur Flats. If his finish holds, Faircloth stands to gain significant ground on McClelland, who is in 40th place after Day 1 at Wheeler. In the co-angler division, Steven Wisdom of Birmingham, Ala., took the Day 1 lead with 15 pounds, 9 ounces. Co-anglers are vying for a top prize of $25,000 in a three-day competition. Trailing Wisdom was Jimmy Dudley of White, Ga., and Brian Hickey of Cadiz, Ky., who were tied with 14 pounds, 2 ounces. With 1,063 miles of shoreline, Wheeler is the largest of three Alabama lakes that connect with the Tennessee River. It has been the host of nine BASS events, including the 1974 Bassmaster Classic. Daily weigh-ins and launches at the Southern Challenge are taking place at Ingalls Harbor, 701 Market St. NW, Decatur, Ala. Launches Friday-Sunday begin at 6 a.m. CT and weigh-ins begin at 3 p.m. Activities at the Southern Challenge include a musical performance by artist Chadd Bradford at noon Saturday and Sunday. There will be a Berkley Beginner fishing class at 1:30 p.m. and a “Boat Performance with Skeeter” class daily at 2 p.m. both days, as well as Skeeter boat demo rides from noon to 2 p.m.

Willet/Buso Flip For the Win

The third event of the Mid States Tournament Association (MSTA) season saw 106 anglers (53 boaters and 53 co-anglers) turn out to brave the heat and high skies. And they were duly rewarded because fishing at Smithville is really good right now.

Although we are not seeing the big bags that were so common last year, we are seeing a lot of 5 fish limits being brought to the scales. We had a 23 lb. plus bag brought in at the second MSTA event but other than that, the weights have really been way below normal compared to last year. The nice thing is the reports of all of the 14-½ fish being caught; look for those fish to be keepers in the very near future. The next MSTA event will be held July 13th, call Smithville Marine to get signed up for this next event.

First place went to the team of Wes Willet and his non-boater partner Matt Buso, although this team only brought 4 fish to the scales, Matt’s 4.48 non-boater big bass sealed the victory for the team. Their total weight of 13.76 lbs. Earned Wes $1,300.00 for first place and another $500.00 courtesy of the Smithville Marine bonus bucks program since he fished out of his Stratos boat that he purchased from Smithville Marine.

Matt won $425.00 for first place on the non-boater side. With the lake being just over a foot and a half high this team concentrated their efforts in the flooded grass through out the lake. They caught fish in both the clean and dirty water catching their fish on Senko’s and craws flipped to the edges of the grass. This team reported catching over 25 fish on the day with several just shy of the 15” length limit.

Second place went to Steve Stroud and Will Abernathy with a five fish limit that weighed 12.60 lbs. This team also caught fish on Senko’s, but they caught all of their fish on hard wood laydowns. Steve won $765.00 on the boater side and Will took home $335.00 on the non-boater side.

Third place went to Chris Self and John Beus with 4 fish that weighed 12.38 lbs. Chris reported losing a 3 lb. Plus fish in the last 5 minutes of the tournament that cost them the win. Chris and John also concentrated on fishing the flooded grass, or the “Slop” as Chris calls it. They caught flipping Big Bite Yo-Mammas on Falcon Cara T-7 rods, Chris reported that using the Falcon T-7 gave him the extra sensitivity needed for connecting on the light biting fish. Chris took home $635.00 on the boater side and John won $265.00 on the non-boater side.

Tom Carlin who finished just out of the money in 12th place still won $250.00 courtesy of the Smithville Marine bonus bucks program. Tom was the highest finisher to run a non-Stratos boat purchased from Smithville Marine.

Mike Payne took home boater big bass money of $520.00 for his 4.54 lb. Bass.

Matt Buso won non-boater big with a 4.48 lb. Fish - $260.00.

A pre-tournament meeting was held Saturday evening before the tournament to pair boaters and non-boaters. Several nice prizes were drawn to those that attended the pre-tournament meeting, as is the case at every meeting. Shane Voyles was the lucky winner of a Hummingbird 767 valued at $500.00 courtesy of Hummingbird and Smithville Marine, a custom rod from the Rod Shop was given out courtesy of The Rod Shop, a $100.00 cash certificate courtesy of Allstates Insurance and several other nice prizes courtesy of Smithville Marine were given away. Several different models of Stratos boats were at the Lake on Sunday and those that took advantage of test drives took home some nice prizes as well, courtesy of Smithville Marine and Stratos Boats.

Smithville Marine, Stratos boats and Evinrude Motors are the title sponsors of the 2008 MSTA circuit. Anglers can cash in with extra incentives at each tournament via the Smithville Marine bonus bucks program and the Stratos 2X Program. Smithville Marine has been serving the Midwest for over 25 years, don’t miss out on your chance to cash in at the next tournament! Visit SmithvilleMarine.com call
816-532-4000 for more information.