Episode 419 – March 4, 2024
Bass Edge breaks down recent tournament happenings on the national tournament scene at the MLF/BPT on Santee Cooper, BASS/Elite Series on Toledo Bend, and other major regional events across the country. Rich Lindgren, AKA @HellaBass and Kurt banter about these events and provide listeners their takeaways.
MLF/Bass Pro Tour angler, Justin Lucas, joins Kurt in the Feature Angler Spotlight and listeners learn how Justin broke his personal best 5 fish catch by having 37lbs 3oz for his best 5 fish at the MLF/Bass Pro Tour event on Santee Cooper Reservoir. Using your forward-facing sonar shallow is not something you hear about much on the tours, but that’s exactly what Justin did to concur this amazing catch. Including every fish counts MLF/BPT format, during the Knockout Round competition Justin weighed 6 fish for over 42lbs, Amazing!
Catch any episode of Bass Edge Radio available on Bass Edge’s YouTube channel, as well as popular audio platforms like Apple Podcast on iTunes, Spotify, PodBean, Google Play and many others.
Visit our website, bassedge.com for more information!
Links to Social Channel
YouTube Channel: @JustinLucasFishing
▶Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justinlucasbass
▶Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JustinLucasFishing
Make sure to LIKE, SUBSCRIBE & follow BASS EDGE on our Social Media Channels!
▶ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BassEdgeRadio/
▶ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bassedgeradio/
👀 Check Out Our Merch:
▶ https://bassedge.com/product-category…
Many Thanks to Our Sponsors:
▶https://keelguard.com/ – Use Code BASSEDGE for some savings!
▶https://basscat.com/
▶https://power-pole.com/
#bassedgeradio #bassfishing #kurtdove #basscatboats #megawarekeelguard #powerpole #podcast #proangler
You’re listening to the edge everything fast fishing coming to you worldwide from Mega K guard Studios what is going on bass Edge Nation welcome back this is the March one edition of bass Edge radio man we are taping this we got a lot of things to talk about but we’re going to tape
We’re taping this on a late Thursday evening after day one of the Elite Series at Fork but man so many tournament topics to cover we’re we’re really excited about this episode of B said radio I think you’re going to learn a lot things that have been going on in
The past I hope you enjoyed last episode with Drew Gill what what a great show um if you haven’t heard it go back listen to Drew doing a lot of teaching we’re doing a lot of breakdown of forward- facing sonar if that interests you it’s a great program uh talking a lot about
You know just skills and techniques you need to utilize to uh be better at that particular um you know new technology here in the biz but uh man excited to have the man back here he comes Hass in the house what’s up rich Ling I’m good
Man how you been doing good to be back to hang out with the the bass Edge crew is there do you have you need a name you need like a a like you know like the mfers or the yeah yeah yeah we got bass Edge Nation we got the nation okay bass
Ed Nation there you go do that I’m ready to be back with the Vass Edge Nation we are here hey man I got I gotta let you know I I jumped into the uh Hass Fantasy fishing uh over so uh that was very cool
I had a good showing at uh at Toledo Ben just just so you know I was like 120ish in your in your rankings which man you got a lot of people jumping in on that how many subscribers do you have in the Fantasy fishing there on bassmaster.com
Beat Hass yeah there’s like 800 and some definitely the largest private group uh on the Fantasy fishing so yeah congratulations on that man that that’s uh very very cool uh before we get too deep into this episode we got lots to talk about I got to give thanks as
Always to megaware megaware just makes some fantastic products if you haven’t seen all the products they make go to megaware uh mean one one of my favorite products Rich have you ever seen these megaware products they’re really cool I love the flex step it gets me in and out
Of my boat so easy when I’m working on tackle that is the key it’s not really you know the the getting in and out of the trailer from from boat you can utilize it for that and it works great but um there’s so many manufacturers
When you get out of the boat and you remember you still got a diet do or a sandwich in your cooler and you don’t want to crawl the way back in you can step on the step and still reach the cooler absolutely or you get into a
Compartment or get your rain jacket out without climbing in and out or something like that that’s that’s the ticket right there so man shout out to megaware obviously C guards protecting your boat from grinding salt a brace of boat ramps and concrete and rocks and all just protecting your ke from anything out
There uh ke guard.com just awesome product thank them for uh bringing bass Edge radio to the world to the world uh our our our hottest Rich by the way if you look at our chartography which you know kind of shows where your podcast is listened to we’ve been number one in
Usbekistan for for several weeks by the way I just want to let you know that it’s a key key demographic over there in usbekistan so whoever’s listening in usbekistan thank you very much and odd facts I have been to Tes Kent usbekistan we won’t go deep into that what we’re
Gonna go deep into is bass fishing right rich absolutely all right let’s do it man let’s let’s first talk about I gotta I gotta bring this up um the Rayburn event when we were filming our or taping our last episode we had we kind of brought up the Rayburn Toyota event kby
Miller crushes the field by 11 plus pounds uh congratulations to Coy Miller taking to Sam rurn Toyota Invitational but rich I gotta ask you did you see ebear Dakota ebear dude is just off the charts right I mean he fishes the MLF Invitational I’m pretty sure he had a top 10 on Rayburn
MLF Invitational at least top 25 I know he made the cut he cruises over to a watchall for the Bassmaster EQ event number two which we covered last episode Jeremiah KY Won Won that event but uh just misses the top 10 nonetheless another check Dakota races back to
Rayburn for this MLF Toyota series cracks a top 10 what is up with this dude it’s nutty and is he gonna be at West Point cash in a check again this week I I do not know if I don’t know if he’s doing all the Invitational or just
Some of them I’m not sure so I’m not sure either I I would bet that he may be and he’ll be one to watch if he is we we will definitely give get into events that are coming up this week for sure one other take here Sam rer kby Miller
Uh pocketed 73,000 plus the 35,000 Phoenix bonus which is almost what you win on an Invitational at the Toyota isn’t like yes 80k plus 35 if you’re running the Phoenix um so the invitation yeah don’t sleep on the Toyota guys yeah yeah don’t sleep for the fee per event plus the
Championship it is by far the most economical if there is such a thing the the best trail to fish for your money back in the entire bass fishing Universe at this moment so especially at the top end yeah yeah especially at the top end and chances to win big money especially
With the championship Championship pays 200k going out this year at wheeler Lake later on this fall so very cool event great Point Rich glad you brought that up I got to give a shout out to my folks over at Bass angler magazine Mark lassain firing off a brand new West
Coast series and the first event went down last week on Lake Shasta none other than Greg gutterz who’s just kind of getting back into the game of Bass Fishing he had a he had he he lost his wife uh so you know prayers prayers to Greg in that but uh getting
Back into bass fishing Greg ter has fished the Elite series for several years been a true hammer in NorCal for many many years congratulations to Greg coming from 11th to win the event on on on the last day it’s a three-day event so very cool congratulations Greg teres
And Mark lay congratulations on kicking off the inaugural bass angler magazine event over there at of the original Elites right yeah Greg started in 2006 I believe he qualified uh through the when they had Western opens yes so U yeah he is the OG Elite Series guy that’s how I
Met Greg being one of those crazy Anglers that he actually had a couple good events on amastar in those early days I feel like he did and he had a great event at Clear Lake of course you know uh year two of the Elite Series we
Went out west and uh had a phenomenal event at Clear Lake almost won the event um uh I can’t I know that he was challenging ski Reese for the win and then you know Kennedy came out of nowhere to just Whack Him on the big HUD
The last couple days once he dialed in the swimbait deal but that’s how Greg was catching him on a big Osprey if anybody remembers back in the day so great little piece of trivia right there um let’s see jump jumping into the next event that just concluded last week
Bassmaster Elite Series stop Number One Toledo Bend Rich the old school guys struggled at Toledo big time that’s putting it mildly the uh it was it was you know it was I think everybody saw this warming Trend I think Bassmaster saw the warming Trend a lot of these veteran Anglers the
Old adage wanted to have fish coming to me but they didn’t come fast enough and the hackes and the Christies spinner bait and chatter baited and flipped and they just nothing but Buck bass they they got blindsided by the Anglers that were catching those staging fish at the
Ms and you know using front-facing sonar and picking them off coming in I heard Kobe creger had 20 pounds the first day sight fishing okay but then couldn’t back it up so I mean there was some fish up but they just weren’t coming fast enough to keep up with you know the fish
Lingering outside bigs which and then obviously the social media outcry over the weekend about you know this is boring but then Bassmaster publishes a Instagram little pictorial yesterday is like biggest event ever more views more social view so I don’t know yeah yeah and and I did notice a
Lot of people and maybe there is some truth to this they they call it the milikin effect Ben milikin made top 10 there and uh so that could have you know milikin got um you know 500,000 plus YouTube subscribers huge fan base you know that’s that’s got help viewership
Something cuz Ben was just outside of the top 10 cut on day two or day three I don’t remember which one it was I believe it was day two and jump the live mix chat on YouTube was just screaming where’s the camera for Ben milikin that’s so awesome guys guys got
A a great following huge fan base done a wonderful job building a brand so congratulations to him um forward facing sonar obviously we talked about you talked about fish that were still outside dominated the event and Howen Creek if you weren’t in Howen um I’m not saying you weren’t
Catching them there were some you know Robert G had a great event and milikin caught him the last day outside of Howen but there was a lot of bass caught in Howen Creek and eight of the top 10 were clustered in there with many many more
That uh made the cut to Saturday in that top 50 so that Creek was just putting them out yeah absolutely I think from what I understand there’s a fair amount of grass in that region of Toledo B so that kind of adds up abely um my specific kind of I don’t
Know maybe a little detailed note eight Bassmaster Elite qualifiers the rookies this year may checks eight of nine pretty freaking good yeah and I guess uh Garrett was the only one that didn’t John Garrett but he was still like 62nd or 65th so he still actually
Got a $2,500 check he still got one of the the baby checks right but yeah eight and and I think those eight it wasn’t like they snuck in they were all in the like top 35 3 I mean like most of those were most of those
Eight were in the top 20 five and two or three were in the top 10 yeah milin ke and mckenny were all in the top 10 right yes I believe that is correct I have my my top 10 list right here I think some of those guys fell out a
Little bit but uh top 10 in that was uh of course winning it um Vegeta second place Walters schlapper Robert G as you mentioned fourth place Ben milin fifth place um so those were the two eqs that made the top 10 Ben 11th right yes yes so the point point being phenomenal
By the new Anglers you would used to see a rookie class come in and kind of struggle most of them finish you know outside of the cut for a lot of year one maybe two or three checks cashed through year one would be good for a rookie
Anger but uh with the new technology and the the new way of life in in bass fishing uh these young cats uh killing it killing it yeah all right yeah I talked a little bit about this last week on on one of my shows I think we are GNA
See a lot of some of people’s favorite veterans gonna get displaced at I mean as I don’t I’m not saying I’m happy about it but I think it’s the reality is the people the Anglers that come through the EQ to make it through that nine tournament qualifier are going to
Be tournament tested and be ready at a level that they’re going to be around and I think we could literally see a 50% turnover in the Elite Series in the next five years I think it’s a great Point very good point I I I think we’ll see a
Lot of movement and behind the scenes behind the scenes there are some grumbling of Anglers that are not excited to even compete with forward facing sonar in the mix um I think that if it just continues to take over and there’s no regulation you might see some people that say hey
Man I’m just not enjoying my time you know with this process anymore and I’ll just let somebody else take my spot uh there’s potentially some you know movement like that uh moving forward you know going forward into into 2025 we just have to kind of wait and see it’s definitely interesting um you
Know we’re going to talk a little bit more about Fort coming up but even Greg Hackney on stage at Lake Fork today in the first day of the event uh we’ll talk about weights and how crazy it was but but Greg was just like man I I I don’t
Know I gotta do something different um so there’s some frustration there with with uh some guys that have been around for a long time and and not just internally but they’re you know they’re not pissed they’re they’re just like damn what’s going on there’s I mean I mean there’s
Plenty of guys like Matt Heron Caleb kall several others been very vocal on their Instagram and Facebooks publishing videos about and comments about this and frustration so we’ll see yeah it’s interesting you got two groups let’s let’s talk about a video you know just one more dive into this that I saw from
Chris Zan over on I think it’s the Z dangerous podcast Chris went through and kind of broke down several of the Anglers graph setups uh as they came through check so this is kind of the first time we’re seeing some of some of the graph setups for the Elite Series
Now that you know that there has been no regulation and this is becoming such a popular way this new technology check this out here’s a boat of a good friend of mine and this boat was on that video this is Brian Schmidt’s boat um man he
Is set up head to toe uh with four units on the console to look at uh forward facing sonar from the left and to the right have his mapping and um 2D as well and also you know sides scan ready to view all that while he’s idling around
Then he’s got three units on the front so you know we we’re seeing these uh exceptional um investments in in these these units Tyler Williams also uh he’s a EQ angler from Maine had four units on the console and uh three units on the bow um you had the opposite saw Brian
New four units on the bow and three units at the console um it doesn’t mean that we’re going to catch fish all the time if we have that stuff though does it yeah I think it we’re seeing it’s it’s not a a straight correlation just because you have the
More graphs and the more inches and the more transducers is not necessarily transl translating for some it is for some it’s not there’s guys that are catching them with four screens and two transducers and there’s guys that are catching them with all the screens and there’s guys that have all the
Technology are not so far you know right blowing everybody’s doors off I guess we’ll see we’ll need more data but you know there’s definitely not a direct correlation at this point absolutely agree more data is going to be the key and and uh maybe we we’ll see has bass
Finally you know just kind of let this morph into uh you know some sense of ridiculousness to to what these Anglers feel like they need to do to be competitive uh and and get more information through this new technology we we’ll see how that breaks down but um
Um let’s move on we got another event that well let me just say congratulations to KY F Vegeta absolutely sad that kind of sad that my my neighbor Pat schopper didn’t didn’t take home his first Elite win but uh yeah hats off to to Kyoya for For the
Win Pat had a great event though very consistent just had that rough fourth day and uh Coya had a rough third day um you know there were some chances there uh for for all all the guys that were in that top five heading heading into the
Finals but man I I la last thing I want to say about Toledo is do you think we would have seen a century mark or even close to it without this technology where would this have gone what do you what do you feel like the weights would
Have been what do you feel like a winning weight would have been without the new way high 70s 78 pounds something like that right like 18 17 to 18 19 a day somebody would have had a sure there would have been some low 20s maybe a mid
20s bag but then they would have caught 14 then they would have caught 19 right it would that’s what I think and it still would have been a solid tournament but then like even the check right I don’t remember what the check weight was it was right around 33 pounds I think to
Make day two that probably would have been like 27 without forward facing yeah I totally agree my in my mind I was like 80 pounds Max so we’re we’re we’re freaking like eye to eye on that man that’s uh that’s pretty cool very interesting okay let’s move on to the MLF Bass Pro
Tour Jacob wheeler raises trophy number seven on the Bass Pro Tour uh fishing down at Lake San Cooper in South Carolina cold event it’s a shallow water fishery you might not have thought forward facing sonar would have played too big and it didn’t for a lot of
Anglers but wheeler takes it by managing a few areas utilizing forward-facing sonar in a middepth Range situation yeah I even heard a little bit little interview where he basically he started going into those popular creeks and areas and Bay and said there was too many boats I can’t out compete I’m gonna
Try to manage some lesser areas to have them to myself in right did it to Perfection roas was in there roas was you know one four five pound bite away in the final minutes but couldn’t the other thing that was cool I actually caught the end of that a little bit
Because they they were going live after Bassmaster on on Sunday I think okay and uh with like 13 minutes left wheeler was up by like four pounds five pounds it wasn’t much right it was one bite and he puts on the boat and runs like six seven
Minutes and goes somewhere and catches a fish like he is not scared he is fishing to win there are other Anglers out there that are fishing not to lose and Wheeler is absolutely fishing to win every single event yeah couldn’t agree more uh the guy the you know don’t know what you
Think about him and don’t don’t care uh honestly um the guy catch bass straight up I don’t care if somebody gave you you would you would probably agree with me Rich right somebody gives you the 10 best way points they have on the Mississippi River and you you’ve got
Your 10 best way points um that doesn’t correlate into victory that much right I mean you still gotta figure it out you know dissect the scenario and I’m not saying he got way points I’m just saying from a broad perspective right um there’s there’s no way that there’s not this level of
Consistency without talent and work and absolutely absolutely it’s it’s it’s unbelievable got to give a shout out and and let everybody know uh before we get deeper into this podcast feature angler Spotlight coming up in this show after rich and I break it down the all these
Tournaments uh that have been going on Justin Lucas is going to be with us uh here in just a few minutes and uh Justin’s going to talk about his Santi Cooper event uh he weighed six fish for 42 six 42 pounds 6 ounces in The Knockout round he was in second place
Going into the championship round which of course Rich Day Zero the weights zero the weights so he didn’t get to keep that but his best five and Justin says his best fishing day ever his best five was 37 pounds 3 ounces we’re g to talk with Justin break his
Day down listen to his his uh you know thought process throughout the event there at Santi Cooper um why he thinks you know maybe he struggled on the championship day but really wanted to dial in the uh phenomenal knockout round that he had so stay tuned after this uh
This break here in a few minutes we’re gonna break that break this down with Justin Lucas and our feature Ang Spotlight Justin was a bit nervous about that tournament so I’d like to hear ask him about that he was he had trepidation he was not uh familiar with sany Cooper
And this was one that he was worried about soting for you to find out like how did he T you know turn that into a really good tournament absolutely I I will definitely ask him that it’s a great question rich and uh what else did you think about Santi you had James
World W James Watson Watson made the top 10 made the championship I was super happy for him and uh you mentioned some some uh fishing from Dylan Hayes that uh really you know I I I all people loved Dylan Hayes on camera breaking down what
He was doing and how he was doing it yeah bladed jig 101 like I mean there was a lot of guys throwing bladed jigs in the qualifying rounds but nobody did it as good as Dylan Hayes and he was putting out big numbers and calling his shots didn’t quite translate I mean
Worked okay in The Knockout round but then in the final round it kind of faded a little bit but yeah I think people enjoyed that for sure yeah I I I couldn’t agree more break it down of course wheeler taking his seventh trophy Dean Roos finished second place Jesse
Wiggins third Matt Becker uh if you watch Matt Beck Becker before the event he doesn’t think he’s gonna catch a bass Matt finishes fourth Dylan Hayes as as Rich mentioned breaking it down with the uh vibrating jig finishes fifth Casey Ashley the local here’s another name you haven’t heard too much in Championship
Rounds lately Dave lafra Dave lafra knocks out Seventh Place Cole Floyd had some huge days he’s a flipper that’s what he does he loves to do he finished eightth place of course watching as wat James Watson as we mentioned ninth and then Justin Lucas had a rough final day which you do not
Carry over your weights he finished in 10th place in that event so uh I I thought Santi was was fun I thought it was great but I was still surprised Ford facing sonar utilized pretty heavily in that event I mean it was definitely a more Dynamic viewing experience than
Toledo Bend for both BPT and Elites right BBT and Elites both PLO band was 100% hanging or 90% hanging minns and 10% jerk baits pretty much it and this we saw you know flipping we saw moving baits we saw we saw some forward facing soner but in a little bit different more
Target oriented right they were I don’t believe it was more like chasing roaming fish it was more like picking off isolated stumps isolated trees brush piles things like that is ultimately Jacob wheeler was leveraging but I’m guessing even some of these guys like I couldn’t really see what Dean Roos was
Doing the final day but I’m guessing he was using front-facing sonar to like Target those stumps that you could see under the water couldn’t see visually under the water and making you I think he was throwing a Seno making super precise you know hitting those stumps
Multiple times so I mean it played quite a bit but it wasn’t dominant and it made for a more interesting event for I think a lot of viewers completely agreed completely agreed all right before before we run out here into a break man let’s uh you got West Point starts uh
Tomorrow which is Friday on um for the MLF invitationals looks like it’s going to be a a freaking brutal event yeah a lot of grumblings grumblings dude I’m going back to Hanging minnow chalk one up for Rich that was classic dude hey the hanging minnow okay
I’m sorry I got to get back focused so uh West Point Lake looks like it’s I think you’re going to see a couple of uh 18 20 pound bags but it’s not going to be uh sustainable over a three-day event uh I think you’re going to see 45 to you
Know 48 pounds probably become victorious in in that tournament most guys going to be tough It’s been muddy you hear like you say grumblings about West Point I think sounds like there’s a lot of other fish like there’s a lot of biomass of stripers white bass things
Like that that make it very difficult to pick out bass just cruising around sounds like it’s got to be more Target oriented you got to have bass setting up on stumps and brush piles and and things like that to to increase your odds of catching a large mouth or a spot over
You know a white bass or a striper or something like that and also making some of that difficult is low water situation there so there’s not a lot of cover on you know in the water on the bank so so guys are are having to find some outside
Stuff as you mentioned um man let’s let’s talk a couple of minutes about Fork today Lake Fork Bassmaster Elite Series day one concluded today um 14 bags over 30 pounds yeah and and plenty more sniffing 30 pounds right like what oh my God it was unbelievable what
50th place to cut weight right now at Lake fort is 2111 Brian Schmidt which we just talked about just a minute ago great friend of mine in 5st with 2110 what yeah Justin Lucas’s amazing bag would be good enough for third on day one here yes yes it would which
Which is which is still pretty stout right third in that in that weight weight field is freaking unbelievable but but yeah so it’s a little early does anybody scare Paul Elias this week oh dang great 1328 1328 uh which is uh 33 30 33 34 pounds a
Day so there are technically three guys on Pace on a pace heavier than that right now I think somebody does I I say yes I say yes you asked me earlier before the show uh over under on uh Century belts um what we we we didn’t really come to an
Agreement or disagreement what what do you think about that right I I I kind of asked that in my fantasy fishing predictor column and I think I said I think at least seven at that time before seeing you know obviously that was like Monday that it recorded that okay I
Think everybody in the top 10’s GNA have it unless this warming Trend actually freaks the fish out and causes them to get weird but if okay people think this is going to get better it could be really silly so I think potentially there are people will be on Pace after
Three days to get a Sentry but but they won’t make the top 10 because it might take 80 pounds to make the top 10 they’re gonna be people with 75 to 79 pounds that don’t make the top 10 that’s unb and don’t have a chance we might see somebody crack I mean like
Taku IU is on track to have 100 pounds on day three yes yeah it’s it’s it’s gonna be a fun one to watch uh tune in if you haven’t you you’re probably going to be watching this on Saturday which is day three of the event maybe maybe
Sunday make sure you check it out go back check out the Lake Fork event you know maybe hit pause on the podcast and go look at it right now and then come back to us because uh it’s uh it’s it’s it’s kind of ludicrous right I mean we
We haven’t seen this yeah we haven’t seen this since 2007 at at Falcon which you mentioned when when Paul Elias broke broke the alltime weight record so go will the bass day one live continue to be a curse because nobody’s caught him on day one yet
Master it’s because they well I I don’t yeah yeah I don’t know I don’t know if it’s bad luck they’re picking the wrong it’s interesting like day two through four should be wild at uh Lake Fork on Bassmaster live it’s gonna be a rodeo it’s gonna be fun to watch uh shout out
To Old School guy Keith Colmes caught him today he had 31 in so good for Keith and um here we go man we’re gonna we’re going to uh we’re going to close up this segment rich thank you again for coming back to uh break down the latest tournament action
Uh we hope to see you again here in another episode or or or so here in the next you know two or three weeks uh there’s going to continue to be lot to talk about still you know obviously after this Fork event and then many West Point event and then many many other
Events coming up over the next couple weeks it’s just a wild fishing time right now with endless amounts of content to check out so uh keep checking it out Rich thanks again any final thoughts for this episode for the for the bass Edge Nation no I think uh enjoy
Everybody watching love to hear some feedback down in the comments let us know Kurt and I what you like what you don’t want you to see more of and we’ll try to bring it to you absolutely sounds great don’t forget to subscribe to the channel go ahead click that button you
Don’t want to miss another episode of bass Edge radio and at the same time make sure that you go ahead and uh hit a comment below let us know what you think we’re going to roll in Justin Lucas feature anger Spotlight coming up next Rich thanks again y’all don’t go away
Stay tuned it’s going to be an exciting episode dude I’m I’m I’m really interested to see what Justin’s going to say y’all stay tuned we’re going to be right back with more bassage Radio you know the importance of protecting your Investments so choose the protection the pros pick grinding sand abrasive rocks and concrete ramps are no match for our patented technology the megaware keel guard is made tough and made to stick install it yourself in less than an hour providing the most
Dependable most trusted protection for your boat guaranteed for life insist on the original ke guard the pros have picked for 25 years megaware keil guard since 1971 bascap boats has innovated persistently thinking outside the box never abandoning their roots or the commitment to Quality through their process clearly visible in the new Puma
STS their design and development continues to evolve improving performance enhancing the Anglers experience and broadening the appeal of the sport they have dedicated their lives to fast cap boats Feel the Rush hey hey hey here we are back as promised time for the feature angler Spotlight with MLF Vass Pro Tour angler Justin Lucas I appreciate you having me I was trying to think of the last time I was on the show with you and it’s been a
While so I was happy to see you reach out the other day and happy to be here dude man I I reached out I saw what went down at the uh last event at Santi Cooper of course stop number two of the MLF Bass Pro Tour went at Santi Cooper
Jacob wheeler took the win but uh man Justin Lucas made some big time noise in The Knockout round and I thought bass Edge Nation needs to know what went down with Justin Lucas how did this all develop because I think there’s a lot of really great learning aspects here that
You know Justin will hopefully share with us in this episode but uh dude so in you went through the um first two rounds and uh qualified for The Knockout round we’ll talk about that a little bit but really what we’re here to highlight is The Knockout round day one you you
Had six fish for 426 man you posted this scorecard right here on your Instagram look at these weights man break that down for us yeah I had to get a picture of that first of all right that’d be like shooting a course record at a golf course and not
Taking a picture of your scorecard you go you gotta get a picture of that thing so absolutely look at the times on that so a 53 at 945 and 84 957 77 104 I mean dude did you have time to recover from the shakes after the
884 it was it was nutty there for a minute dude when uh let’s see about 10 10:14 you know you could see what the the up there at 10:14 I remember my guy saying well you know at at 9:44 I was in last place or tied for it and at 10:14
He said well you’re in the lead you got four fish for 26 something and I remember looking back going are you serious you know and he’s like yeah dude you got you know he started reading them off I’m like dude that’s insane so uh we
Had a little bit of a we had a 15minute break and just me kind of moving around on the trolling motor knowing I’m in the lead I’m not in a hurry at this point anymore um so I kind of was taking my time getting up to the next spot we had
A 15minute break he said lines in and it felt like within five minutes I catch a seven pound even and yeah there it is right there 1051 a 7 so the only reason there’s a big break between 1013 and 1051 is because you had a 15minute period break between what was that I
Guess period one and period two right yeah and I trolling motored about 200 yards when I caught that last one I just followed this Ridge all the way up to where I knew that there was another brush pile I wanted to throw on but being in the lead and not having to feel
Rushed anymore I wanted to take my time getting up there just to see if there was something I missed um so it was incredible dude it was a insane hour you know or hour and 15 minutes whatever that was um I I still looking back I’m
Like God that it went by like you know it’s all blur but also at the same time like that was insane so at that point I catch that seven after after the break I know I’m good to make the cut at least I feel really good about it and I
Practiced for hours dude hours hours hours idling around looking for every little brush pile I can find in 12 to 18 feet of water that’s what I was keying on their little which which is wildly deep at Santi right yeah so here’s I’ll finish that story and then we can go
Back to that but I finally get bored basically of idling because I’m like I’ve found everything I feel like within two miles in this Z zone of the lake uh so I stand up make a cast on a fresh pile and catch an 8:15 you know that
That was the two o’clock fish 8:15 at two o’clock it was really cool because I also told him I was like dude I kind of don’t want to catch a another one when I have five for 33 whatever 337 because I’m like yeah I want people to know you
Know that this was like this was a quality day and I said if I catch a two pounder it’s gonna mess my average up so I was like I don’t want to do that and I I step up you know and make one a couple more cast and catch a
8:15 and uh bump that total to 373 which my previous best was 354 at Lake Fork where the elites are at as we speak you know and uh man they they’re crushing them there and I I crushed them there back in the day 11 years ago 354 I’m
Like I don’t know if I’ll ever beat that in a tournament but to catch 373 man pretty special so going back um you know you say that’s you say it’s deep for Santi but this is how important it it’s really important for pre-practice and guys that are listening to understand how important it
Is to uh see places not just like you know um I guess ahead of time more than just a couple days ahead of time because what had happened and transpired was I went there to pre-practice a month before okay maybe about 35 days before it goes off limits 30 days before right
So the water was clear it was in December and it was cleaner than I thought I was expecting swamp right I was expecting dirt your water Santi Cooper all shallow blah blah blah yeah but with the water Clarity I saw I’m like okay well there’s obviously going
To be some fish you know when you can see two or three feet there’s going to be fish that are using deeper depths and on the bottom Lake you could actually see like four or five feet okay so I just kind of make my rounds in practice
Just looking around you know and I did catch a couple threes on the bottom Lake and I caught a seven and a half pounder on the Upper Lake out of a brush pile and 15 ft water W so keep in mind this is back in December well they have a ton
Of rain leading up to our event and we get there and I’m excited to go to the bottom Lake because of how clear the water was it just you know that’s what I’m always comfortable doing just from where I grew up and everything um so I
Go down there to the bottom Lake I launch and Bobby Lane and I we travel together and Chris too but me and Bobby launch down there and he’s like man was the water this dirty well there was a little tournament going on where we launched I’m like no it’s got to be the
All their boats you know stirring the water stir up the shallow water yeah I’m like there’s no way it’s you know it was so clear a month ago there’s no way well I get out there to the lake and I’m like oh my gosh this is not good you know I
Literally make a a big circle it’s like a mini okobe that bottom Lake but I make a big circle around this Lake and I’m like the water Clarity is the same everywhere and it’s trash like you can see two in in the water so uh man I
Immediately put it back on the trailer I’ve never put my boat faster on a trailer in practice than I did then it took me 45 minutes uh to get it back on the trailer and I had seen enough down there so I go up uh you know I was
Fishing Potato Creek wo that’s where I did most of my damage and that was where I saw the cleaner water also you know on the Northern like it wasn’t as clean as down south but uh that’s where I caught a 7 and a half pounder out of a brush pile was in wo
Creek and so I Mark a couple more brush piles you know and whatever and I get up there the first day of practice still and it’s the first thing I check because I’m just like I just want to see the water Clarity I want to see if there’s
Anything in some of these piles I marked and there’s nothing there the water was really dirty up there too but as the week went on uh that water was cleaning up like just you know a half inch a day and by the time I finally you know got
To The Knockout round and end up catching fish um out there on these brush piles because like we like you talked about the first couple days I caught them all shallower you know I caught them under docks the first day Little Brush piles by docks uh the
Second day I actually caught them on some stumps and just a little hard like gravel spot I found in two feet of water in the back of a creek um but anyway that water’s clearing up just day by day just enough and I remember I I busted
Like 29 something for my best five on my second day and I go to start there on the on the knockout round and that was the shallow stuff right on the shallow stuff yeah so I was catching these fish on a Cole shad and a frit side and they
Were big ones dude I remember uh I caught I caught one right at six couple two and a halfs whatever and then we had a break and I’m like I’m about to Jack them up here in a minute when I get when they when he lets me out of the gate
Here in a minute you know so the second period started and I catch a 69 a 62 and a 7:15 and I’m like dude I’m in like this is money I’m in and anyway I go to start there in The Knockout round and I’m throw and it’s colder it’s post frontal
That day we had clouds and wind it was perfect for a shallow bite um but on the knockout round day was Post front colder Bluebird skies and I get in there I’m like I don’t need to throw the swimbait because conditions do not even call for
It so I make like two cast with it put it down I pick up the frit side you know it’s a little tiny crankbait I’m like if I’m G to catch him in here it’s going to be on this and throw it around and all I
Get are just a couple bumps like not nothing that would eat it just a bump and I instantly in my mind I’m like man the their attitude has changed back in here today this is not I’m gonna die back here if I try trying and stay here
In force where I caught 29 pounds the day before uh so I just that’s that’s the difference the weekend Anglers sometimes will die on that stuff right and and you you have enough experience to number one notice okay it’s it’s not a swimbait style day okay this this frit side isn’t working like
It did in practice and you make these adjustments quickly based on understanding the conditions and your previous EXP experience right and I’ve got sucked in I’ve been doing this 15 years now I’ve been sucked in so many times where I didn’t quit early enough and it really screws you so in my mind
Now I’m like I’m I’m kind of ready to quit you know today’s a new day I have no expectations from the day before that’s a great learning experience for the listeners for sure because I think they stick with it too much yeah man for sure actually quick story when I won the
California Delta years ago uh where I expected to catch him the very first day of the tournament this is when it really started to change for me I remember running there the first morning into Sherman Island and the wind was blowing off the river and it was blowing dirty
Water into where I had shooken off 15 fish okay I saw how dirty the water was I didn’t even put the trolling motor down I just moved and even after having all those bites no one else around it just wasn’t right and I’m like I’m going
To win this tour we had to run really far in that tournament if you remember it was like recall I I was I was with you somewhere in that wake pack I was with you we launched in Sacramento and and everybody had to run about two hours
We had I don’t know what maybe five hours a day yeah so I I knew I’m like man if I sit here and waste an hour trying to force these fish to bite when the conditions aren’t the same as they were when I got bit this is going to
Waste an hour of precious fishing time so I pulled the plug I didn’t even make a cast dude didn’t even put the trolling motor down um but anyway so back to that is I pull the plug uh you know on quick adjustment at STI yeah yeah pull the
Plug on The Knockout round and I go to that brush pile I’m like I don’t I don’t need to go hit more shallow stuff if I’m hitting my best shallow stuff and it’s not panning out for me uh you know and this is a totally different area it
Wasn’t cypress trees and stuff like a lot of the guys fishing this is more Creek based deeper water docks that kind of stuff a little bit cleaner water um but I instantly just went deep and I the first place I went was that brush pile I
Found a month and a half ago or whatever where I caught a seven pounder seven and a half pounder and there was nothing there in practice but as that water had been cleaning up you know a half an inch a day uh those fish repositioned out
There and they got staged back up you know and in my mind the whole time I’m like man it’s still pre spawn it’s pre-spawn 55 56 57 degree water that doesn’t mean they’re all going to the bank that means they’re going to Stage you know right out there in that 10 to
20 foot Zone and really when the brush piles you know if the brush piles in 15 feet the top of it is really you know in 10 feet so if you can see even a foot that’s not that deep really when you think about it right and man it was just
The mother load it was uh it was unbelievable how easy it was that day and you know they hadn’t been pressured it was they had just shown up it was everything was perfect and that’s what still blows my mind dude is I i’ I got so ghosted the next day by these fish
And I have no idea why I still don’t because conditions pretty much stayed the same like it just didn’t happen so let’s talk about that that day when when you roll up to the brush pile you throw down the trolling motor um you’re looking at your forward faing sonar I
Assume um do you see five six seven8 12 blobs out there just marinating three three or four in each pile you know yeah yeah pretty easily pretty quick pretty obvious and catch one out of each little spot and definitely did not overfish them or catch too many or any I mean I only
Caught six and I only did it as as you saw in the time for like an hour and a half you know or whatever and uh man so I yeah you talk about fired up to get out there the next day I’m gonna I was I
Was thinking I’m already in my mind I’m like I could have caught 40 pounds today I know I could have caught 40 but doesn’t matter you saved them all you get to go back out there tomorrow you’re gonna win this tournament that was my mindset you know just so the listeners know the
Reason he saved them was because the weights are zeroed for Championship day so Justin knew that that he had this knockout round licked and he was going to move on to the championship day so so he’s basically saving what he needs left you know the these fish and this area
For potential duia on on Sunday Championship de yeah that’s exactly right and uh I’ve been telling everybody I feel like I you know I feel like I get ghosted by my my wife or my best friend where I see that they read the text message and didn’t write me back you
Know that’s how I felt the next day when I went out there man because after what I saw I would have bet everything in the world you know I would have at least caught four or five fish like right never in my mind that I once expect to only catch one especially
After conditions pretty much just stayed the same it got a little bit colder but it wasn’t it wasn’t that much different and so I don’t have an answer uh and I don’t have any regrets about it either you know go from having this my Best Day
Ever to one fish and I look back and I’m like I drove home that night I was I was so mad I drove home seven and a half hours that night but the whole way home I’m like dude I would there’s nothing I would have done differently so yeah I’m
I was over it by the time I got home and now I just wonder like what happened but I’m not mad I’m not mad at myself because I also committed to that area dude Santi is a scary place if you’ve never been there it’s dangerous to around it’s not easy to run around
Something off real fast you just can’t go like oh I’m just G to go fish new water today and and land on them on Santi like it takes time to dial things in get everything figured out figure out your way in and out of where you’re
Going so uh for me who had never been there I was all in on this area and I felt like I had everything dialed in to make it happen but just wasn’t meant to be that day y yep well and and just so everybody knows Justin finished 10th
Place in the tournament after they zeroed his knockout weight and he caught a good one the 48 but that was the one that that was there that’s why he felt like his uh his wife or you know some you know nobody texted him after he knew they read the
Message so it was kind of crazy let’s break down how you caught those fish you know you drop the troller you make this adjustment from shallow they’re not eating the crankbait uh not not cooperating as they had when you made The Knockout round so you you quickly make this adjustments we talked about
You know an experience deal you saw the conditions uh you had a gut feeling I’ve got to change you went to this brush pile you saw the fish there how do you initially start to you know kind of attack the process is it just you know
I’ve got this one lure or bait that’s always successful this time of thing do you go back to saw let me grab okay yeah yeah we love to see it love to see it because I think uh a lot of times just so the listeners know that
Um it’s interesting how how you know Anglers with experience like Justin will will either you know lean on something in the past or make another slight adjustment based on conditions that day so let’s see what what he threw Justin what do you got there sure so this is a
This is a maxent Berkeley maxent flatnose jerk shot and typically when you’re seeing these guys uh Demi rigging hover strolling whatever you want to call it it’s yep typically I would say most of the time 75 80% of the time it’s these smaller baits right like three
Inch three and a half inch baits um and and those work really well but I opted for something bigger because of that water Clarity like we talked about right so if the water had been a lot cleaner uh I would have considered scaling down down to something really small but I
Knew that you know one thing I’ve learned playing with forward facing sonar over the years is first thing you have to do is get that fish’s attention right they have to see that bait and then they can start you know tracking that bait and deciding whether they’re
Going to eat the bait or not uh so I went with something a little bit bigger than you know you’re typically seeing guys do and this is a 5 inch bait um and of course it’s kind of a whitish color it’s a I think they call it blue pearl
Hologram something like that it’s kind of that milky white you know and it just looked really good and that water Clarity to me um you know white probably would have worked but I like a little bit of flake and stuff in there and then the one thing I do uh on this that’s
Really helping and I don’t know if you can see it there or not but I’ve been tying a loop knot okay on this on on this technique anytime that I’m using it and what that allows me to do let’s see if you guys can kind of see yeah there I
Can see it better now yeah we just zoomed in a little bit so what’s cool about about that loop knot is the bait is all your knot will never if you tie a regular knot with this sometimes that knot will get on the back side of the
Head towards the eye of the hook and so you’re shaking the bait but you’re not is kind of coming around to the side it changes the action of the bait and I just don’t like the fact of like you know if you’re setting the hook pulling
That thing like and it’s not aimed right at you so this allows the bait I think it gives it better action to be honest with you um and it also just always allows it to be really free and in the same exact spot at all times we do this
A lot with a hair jig uh out here on the Tennessee River throwing a loop knot with it and so any of those type of baits that you’re really like kind of following you know on forward facing sonar and stuff if that not can get on the backside of there I highly recommend
Ty a lutut instead but definitely and dude they’s strong people are like people have tried to tell me Loop knots aren’t strong strong I’m like I don’t know what loop knot your time but I got 37 pounds on this one so this this one’s pretty strong right here you know I used
To go to a loop knot uh in a situation where I was throwing a walking bait I I would remove the split ring obviously the spit split ring does a lot of great things if you’re tying direct to the split ring and and tying a firm knot
Onto the split ring but if you take it off it uh and tie a loop knot it really allows that much more action to to the lure to you know create especially if you put a feather on the back of a walking bait because it needs so much
More waggle because the the feather creates drag so kind of sounds a little bit similar to what this loop knot is giving you on on the on the jig head here with the with the maxent minnow well and it like just like you said it frees that baa right like it doesn’t
Matter if it’s a top water or whatever right but instead of having that direct Conta to it you’re freeing the bait up and man obviously everybody’s doing this the fish are getting pressured with it so in my mind if it’s gonna allow me to for my bait every single cast to look as
Natural as possible and not one time because you got to think if I threw on those fish one time you sometimes you only get one chance right like those fish set up and you get one chance you throw out there and your knots on the back side of your eye or something and
It’s just not the perfect action if you draw those fish out they see it they come but they do not one of them commit it’s going to take them a while to get repositioned and set back up and you just screwed up a a perfect opportunity
Right there to catch so for me the cool thing about that is like I can tie it on I know anytime I pick it up that day that thing’s ready to go and it’s gonna have perfect action now we’re seeing a lot of forward facing Sona over deep
Water what what a lot of people are calling floating fish right you’re catching fish in this scenario where they’re associated with a piece of cover how do you choose your um are you just using a standard open hook jig head and also how do you choose the size of your
Jig head is it based on the the size of your bait that you’re choosing at the time you know for for conditions or or how do you make those adjustments uh for different scenarios so my thought process on choosing the weight size is what what can I get to them comfortably
Like I want to wait forever but what can I get to them comfortably what can I cast well because if you go too light you’re not going to be able to cast it far enough because these fish feel the pressure now right so I want to be able
To reach them at 70 80 feet somewhere in there but I also don’t want the bait sinking like a rock I want to be able to you know hover it um above their heads Shake doing that shaking technique um and also make it look the most natural
As possible so I was going back and forth between between an 8 ounce and a 3/16 ounce that day or that hour and 15 minutes uh there was a couple of the piles that were like in 12 feet you know and they come up four feet so they were
In eight feet I’d pick up the E ounce on those because really for you know an eigh ounce bait to fall even even with those fish in eight feet I’m not letting it fall eight feet I’m letting it fall like five or six because you can’t get
It stuck in the brush right or that and I want to keep you know if the fish if I can see that far in the water the fish to me they can see about three or four times further than we can see is what it seems like um not three or four times
Three or four feet further right so like if they can see a foot they can they can see three feet in my opinion and so I could see the head of my trolling motor I knew I could see about a foot so I knew at that point too like I don’t want
To drop this bait right on the fish because if you drop it right on them a lot of times you scare them you got to keep it right above their heads and so that e ounce on those a little bit shallower piles if those fish were in
Eight feet on the top of the pile I would drop it five six feet and then stop it and that’s where I would start shaking it and get those fish to draw out you know and if I missed them a couple times on I remember a couple cast
I throw out there and I don’t get their attention or you know they don’t come towards it and all all that’s doing in my mind is just telling me I didn’t hit the right cast yet like the right angle yeah not the right angle where were able
To see it right so they have great eyesight but you they can’t see I don’t think they can see behind them you know if you bring it past their tail or something like that but you bring it up in this zone right in there you know if
You can and think about how big that is right that’s not that big of his own so to be able to do that you got to watch their attitude on the screen and if they start to follow it once at at all they caught a glimpse of it and they saw it
And if they’re interested they’re going to keep coming but if they don’t show that turn and that you know first nudge coming up to it you didn’t get their attention so it’s worth repeat a cast until you see some kind of Rea sometimes it’s them swimming away but at least I
Saw something right I want to see some type of action or reaction out of the fish you know towards my bait so are you generally trying to overcast the fish in the scenario so your example was maybe you see a fish at ft are you trying to
Overcast at 8590 and bring the lure to 80 okay yeah because if you start casting too far your window of where you’re trying to hit it’s is much harder to hit um so I try and cast it about five to 10 feet past them you know and
Then and then try and hit that little window I mean basically think about it like a basketball hoop right yes you’re trying to bring your bait through that basketball hoop on a long cast and if you don’t get it in that hoop you know you you don’t get their
Attention you don’t have that chance so I think this is great you know obviously a great tutorial I think a lot of people have a a big misconception if they’re throwing toward fish and they’re not reacting they’re just not interested and they throw one time and now it’s it’s
You know from your experience you’re letting people know that hey look it it might take two maybe three presentations to hit the hoop and it’s not a big area or it might be just right angle through through the the sector that the that the fish is holding to so and and also the
Precision of the casting right I mean it’s it’s not like H I’m around it you need on it you better be on it better be on it’s a dinner plate that you want your food on for sure yes absolutely very cool man this has been been a great
Conversation so let let’s now that we kind of dissected the the ma the magic day uh you talked a little bit about man I don’t know where they went on that 7 hour drive home you still thought man I I’m not sure and I and and you know admittedly you wouldn’t have changed
Anything you you had six for 42 your best five of all time five for 373 um hindsight now you know I think we’re what five days you know post post the event now um do you think uh you know what what is your thought process now my thought
Process is it was not meant to be uh I’ve been in that situation too many times and dude if it was meant to be it would it would have happened and I you know like I said I was all in on that area I didn’t even have anything
Anywhere else I had found multiple patterns you know in basically Three Creeks and uh I knew my shallower patterns were done the docks were my docks were done Dean Roos caught him on some Docks but it was different section of the lake Jacob wheeler you know he
Ends up winning catching some off of stumps and brush piles doing what very very similar yeah different section of the lake and so I really just think that the section of the lake I was fishing is different lakes have this where they if when they turn on those sections are
Unbeatable the biggest fish live there but when they turn off it’s like a ghost town it’s like the Dead Sea and I’ve seen that you know at other Lakes before and I really just think that’s what happened to me I don’t feel like anybody else that day in those two care you know
Where I was fishing really would have caught them any better than me they might have caught maybe two or three if they would have gone and fish docks all day but I wasn’t there to do that you know you’re there for win we were all in on trying to win
And it was like I had this big plan in my head and uh got all right we had a little internet fuzz but we’re back uh Justin man I want to show a couple of these fish you caught there from Santi man just some absolute tanks um I know
Some of these fish were caught in uh pre- knockout round you know some of the stuff that that you did to get to The Knockout round and and to the championship but uh man it looked like Santi was just on fire how much fun was it fishing there maybe this was one of
Those ones you caught knockout uh around it looks like it was in that maybe in that Creek area yeah that was uh the cloudy day that was up Shallow the one before that that real big one that was uh that one right there that I think
That was first or second one I caught in The Knockout round where I started you know getting on fire there for a minute so so that was a that was a straight Bluebird day there’s that’s probably another one that Dayo very cool totally different conditions but there’s that clouds low
Pressure day that’s why those shallow fish really fired that day but that lake is incredible man I can’t believe I’ve been fishing for 15 years now doing this and had never been on that Lake until this year and I I can’t wait to go back
It’s a special place I had a I had a PB bag there the first time I went to Santi which was the uh Elite Series event where Preston Clark oh yeah originally broke the alltime rate record sight fishing then of course it was broken later on out in californ
By uh by Steve Kennedy on Clear Lake and then again uh not not long after that by paulas over at uh Lake Falcon but yeah just uh just a lot of fun man Santi is a cool place very diverse uh it’s a bucket list place man if you’re a Die Hard bass
Fisherman and and you know you’ve never been to Santi Cooper you got to put it on your list and I would highly recommend March or April that’s probably the best time to be there but it’s just a cool it’s got that legendary feel you
Know like a kind of like a lake seol a lake you follow Alabama but but just unique in its own way so really cool place well Justin man I I give you so much props for hanging with here on bass Edge radio breaking down your historic day dude
373 absolutely Phenom obviously with MLF all fish count so 6 for 42 and change just uh just phenomenal man any final words you have for the for the listeners here in this episode no I just appreciate you having me on dude and hopefully we don’t have to wait too long
To do it again yeah man just just keep cracking them we we’ll keep talking about it it’s it’s always great to have you here on the show man you guys stay tuned thanks again for Justin Lucas being here for this uh for this episode but uh we’re going to have some closing
Thoughts right here in the final segment of bass Edge radio right after this message we’ll be right back come on man let’s Roll what the to catch the fish you need to be one with the fish with powerpull shallow water anchors you’ll get the ultimate in Precision power and control so you can catch more fish no face paint or phony fins necessary excessive shock and vibration are two leading causes for premature
Battery failure prolong the life of your batteries with the new megaware battery guard the battery guard sits under your battery and absorbs excessive vibration and bounce reducing G-Shock by up to 80% great for boats or anywhere shock and vibration can damage a battery the battery guard can easily be trimmed to
Fit virtually any custom shape or battery size save money by protecting your batteries spend more time on the water and less on maintenance find yours at mear.me want to review a few key elements with Justin Lucas if you listen to our last episode with um Drew Gil um interestingly enough some parallels man
These Anglers that are really kicking it with forward facing sonar especially impressive with Justin Lucas making the adjustment that he made you know qualifying for The Knockout round fishing shallow cranking um you know doing a couple different styles of techniques and then noticing a change in conditions and having to you know alter
His approach his pre-practice played a huge role in him kind of knowing some some areas and some high percentage spots to look for these fish offshore on that forward facing sonar and dude he made it happen um we’ve already discussed but but uh his huge bag personal best for Justin Lucas guy’s
Been a long time 373 congrats to him and obviously six fish for the round 42 and change um but some of the keys were the loop knot we’ve seen this before Justin talks about it again especially in this scenario and you would think maybe it wouldn’t make such a huge difference in
The shallow presentation but he mentions how important that is as well you know although these brother brush piles 15 18 11 ft you know topping out four 5 6 feet underneath the surf the surface of the water um he’s still using that loot knot very cool that he upsized his lure
Presentation where you see a lot of guys throwing smaller stuff he upsized that presentation he talked a lot about weights and how he likes to use his weight in what circumstance so be sure to you know follow some of Justin’s advice as far as you know how to put put
Those pieces of the puzzle together to be successful then I I think the we we’ve talked about fundamentals of forward facing zone are having to hit the cone understanding you know nine out of 10 times you better know exactly where it’s at but it’s not only just hitting the cone Justin talks how
Critical it is to also distance understanding the distance if you’ve got to hit 80 feet you better be throwing it somewhere real close to 80 83 84 maybe 7 8 but you know you don’t want to land on top of a fish he feels like it Spooks it
But there is a spot you know about the size of a basketball goal he he mentions especially in this scenario where it was a little bit less visibility but there was an area that you had to hit to get these fish to react or any fish to react
If you’re on forward facing sonar and how to get that fish to react and then read that reaction is it positive is it negative did you just maybe have a bad Angle Fish slightly you know move toward the bait but didn’t fully commit and um
You know these are a lot of things that that folks are really talking about that uh are exceptional at forward facing sonar that’s giving uh the weekend anger a little bit better understanding of the uh technique within the technique right so really really important and great to
Have Justin break that down for us man so cool appreciate him being on the show Once Again lots of upcoming events Fork going on right now we talked about that earlier with uh rich lingren in the early half of the show or I should say the first segment of the show man just
Uh crazy weights going on at Lake Fork right now and and lots to learn there watching live the next couple days it’s going to be a fun show um but coming up next Clear Lake uh MLF March 1 through March 3 if you don’t know the Clear Lake venue out in
California is firing and it’s firing hard so I think this is going to be a big weight event right here in my backyard the npfl championship the first ever npfl Championship coming to Lake Amistad March 7th through March the nth that’s going to be a big event you got
An open back on Santi where Justin Lucas just cracked 37 be great to see how these fish have progressed from you know late February to early March you know that that ladder between the 1 and and 15th of March and and where these fish have gone do they get some warm weather
Do the do the fish move up a little bit more but the third stop of the Bassmaster opens going to Santi March 7th through March 9th same dates Lots going on March 7th through March 9th you got a Toyota series at Kentucky Lake going on um so that’ll be interesting to
Watch you know how is Kentucky Lake progressing will it be a shallow water deal will it be a smallmouth deal we saw Toyota one there last year on spawning Smallmouth how will that R up and then of course a big one uh the red crest for MLF that is their Championship
$300,000 to the winner that’s going to be going down in Alabama March 14th through 17th so so man we have the first half of March here is just going to be 1 two 3 four five pretty major events you know heavy Regional or some national events going
On in that time frame and then I believe just shortly after red clest is going to be the Bassmaster Classic but uh we’ll definitely have another episode here on bass Edge radio once again big shout out to Justin Luc Lucas thanks for being a part of this episode of bass Edge radio
Another big shout out to uh Rich lingren AKA Hass thank you for being a part of this episode of bass Edge thank you all for being listeners of bass Edge radio make sure you hit that subscribe button hit that like button comment below love to hear what yall think man we are done
Out of here for this March Edition we’ll see you again right here on bass Edge radio
4 Comments
Solid show! With mlf and bass master fishing at the same time on the same day it’s hard to keep up. Thanks for bringing us a breakdown!
Not fishing. It’s video game playing
My best 5 went 41 lbs. All spots. Bullards Bar Reservoir. No FFS. I turned my electronics off, the pings shut them down up there. I remember Justin fishing with his grandpa in the Future Pro Tour back in '02 in Northern California. My partner and I knew he was going places. He was just a kid. Always pulling for Justin.
Lucas is such a good interview