Wendlandt winds up third
Kellogg’s pro Clark
Wendlandt of Leaer, Texas finished in third place with a two-day total of 10
pounds, 1 ounce for $75,000.
Wendlandt alternated between two patterns all week.
In the mornings he fished shallow around bream beds with a Brian’s Bees Prop
B 3 and then he moved out deeper in the afternoons to fish grass edges in 10
to 12 feet of water with a 10-inch Gambler worm topped with a ¾-ounce tungsten
weight.
“My better quality fish came from the grass on the big worm,” Wendlandt said.
“The topwater pattern worked on and off and was real situational – I had to have
a little breeze on the bream beds to make it work.”
Wendlandt finishes third
Clark Wendlandt of Leander, Texas, finished the event in his best
position
of the week, third, with a four-day total of 62-12 worth $40,000.
Wendlandt rallied with a 16-15 catch today.
His two main patterns all week were “walking” a big spinnerbait along
rocky bluff banks and cranking square-billed crankbaits alongside
floating boat docks.
“The key for me was using really big baits,” Wendlandt said. “I think
the fish here were eating those big gizzard shad, and I wanted a really
big profile in the water.”
Along the bluffs, Wendlandt used a 3/8-ounce spinnerbait with a big No.
6 Colorado blade, and around the docks he used a Lucky Craft BDS 4
crankbait and a Brian’s Bees B3 square-lipped crankbait.
He used 15-pound-test Ande monofilament and a Pflueger 6-to-3 ratio reel
for both techniques.
“I wanted to keep the baits way up high near the surface so they bulged
the surface, and the faster reel helped with that.”
Of the two techniques, the dock pattern ended up being the more dominant
pattern, especially in the afternoon.
“I’d catch a limit on the spinnerbait early and then go to the docks for
quality in the afternoon.
Surman fourth
Castrol pro Mike Surman of Boca Raton, Fla., finished fourth with a two-day
total of 9 pounds, 14 ounces worth $60,000.
Surman also fished two patterns, which were similar to Wendlandt’s.
In fact, Wendlandt lent Surman the Prop B 3 topwaters he was using.
“I only used the topwater for about an hour each morning and then that bite
died,” Surman said. “Then I’d moved out and fish the grass with a 10-inch
Gambler red bug worm. One worm was rigged with a ¼-ounce weight and the other
was rigged with a ¾-ounce weight.
“I used the ¾-ounce worm to pitch into the thicker grass on top of the humps in
10 to 14 feet of water and I used the lighter weighted worm to fish the outsides
of the grass in 14 to 18 feet. For me, the outside of the grass was a little
better, but I did catch a couple of my better fish up in the thicker stuff on
top.”
Thrift fifth
2007 Gain Rookie of the Year Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C., finished in fifth
place with a two-day total of 9 pounds, 12 ounces for $50,000.
Thrift also alternated between shallow and deep patterns during the week.
Interestingly, he too settled on the Brian’s Bees Prop 3 for his shallow
water bite.
His deep grass lure of choice was a Zoom Ultravibe speed worm in green pumpkin
with a ¼-ounce weight.
Prop Bee 1
Prop Bee 2
Prop Bee 3 Prop Bee 4
Wake Bee
Top Bee
Buzzing Bee
Twitch Bee
Prop Tail
