Posted  April 29th, 2007  7:17pm CST

Tucker Makes a Charge for Second, Butcher Third

Story by Dan O'Sullivan, Photos by Mark Jeffreys

“Big Show” Terry Scroggins also saw his bag weight decrease on the last day of competition. The 38-year-old pro from Palatka, Fla. weighed 16 pounds, 13 ounces to finish in fourth place with 58 pounds, 0 ounces. While Jason Quinn of Lake Wiley, S.C. was unable to hold on to the second place slot he had maintained for the first two days; the 34-year-old pro caught 15 pounds, 4 ounces to finish with 57 pounds, 2 ounces.

The rest of the top 12 stacked up like this:
6. Kelly Jordan 55-3
7. Yusuke Miyazaki 51-9
8. Alton Jones 48-0
9. Kotaro Kiriyama 46-11
10. Shaw Grigsby 44-13
11. Ben Matsubu 43-3
12. Timmy Horton 43-1

Van Dam: Shad Spawn, Two Baits, Flexibility and Biosonix were Key
Like many of the other competitors, Kevin Van Dam spent most of his mornings targeting the shad spawn that happened in the low light conditions. “My last morning started off fairly slow, I wasn’t able to catch any fish on my first two stops, and I started getting a little nervous.” Van Dam reported. “But on my third stop, I caught them pretty quick, and I had a 20-pound limit by 9:00, so that took the edge off and let me settle down a little bit, even after I lost a couple of good fish.”

When he found these variables, the two-time Bassmaster Classic Champion would slow down and use two baits to trigger the strikes. “In the morning, or if I had wind, I would slow roll a ½-ounce Strike King KVD Pro Model Blue Shad spinnerbait with double willow blades over the grass,” when things got slick, he would switch to a crankbait. “Depending on the depth of the water, I would throw either a Strike King Series 5 or Series 6 crankbait in Tennessee Shad and rip it out of the grass when the bait buried up in it.”

This is a picture of the actual 1/2 ounce spinnerbait that KVD used during the final day of his victory.

The three-time Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year said that three components of his pattern were especially key. “I had to read the water to find where the fish had positioned themselves, as the current, or lack of it, would cause the fish to change,” he continued. “Using the right line was also important, I used Bass Pro Shops XPS 20-pound monofilament for the spinnerbait because it would help keep the bait above the grass, and pull the fish out of it when I hooked up. But my Quantum reels had Bass Pro’s XPS Fluorocarbon line on my crankbait setups because I can feel better and the low stretch makes it easier to rip the bait free from the grass.”

The final component that Van Dam felt presented a major advantage was his use of a Biosonix unit. “Other anglers were talking about the shad becoming inactive as the sun got high,” he said his BSX changed that. “I kept it running all day, and it seemed to keep the shad more agitated, I always had them around my bait, and I think it made a difference.”

He said that his first win on the Elite Series is a special one, “I wanted to win one of these form the moment the Elite Series was announced, so this is pretty special, I’ve been in position several times, and I’m glad I was able to close this one out.” 

Tucker: Content, but Opportunity Missed
Mark Tucker was pleased with his second place finish at Guntersville but felt that his day two performance was the difference between first and second. “I really lost this tournament on the second day when I should have had 24 or 25 pounds.”

Tucker spent most of the week dealing with fishing pressure from locals who dogged his area while he fished, and while he got a reprieve on the final day, it impacted his ability to keep fish hooked on day two especially. 

“They didn’t commit to the strike on the second day with all the traffic in the area, and I lost a couple of good fish that I wasn’t sure were grass or a fish when they struck,” Tucker related. “The other days the strikes were much more solid and I was able to get a good hookset on them and get them to the boat. But, anytime you have to catch a five pound fish to cull is a good day,” 

Butcher: Nice to Lead, but didn’t Close.
After leading the first two days of the Southern Challenge, Terry Butcher felt that he didn’t have enough backup flipping water to sustain the whole event, and he would have practiced a little differently. “I spent too much time in practice chasing that ledge bite that everybody else was on, and it didn’t work for me,” Butcher said. “I should have gone looking for more flipping water, because I just didn’t have enough of it.

“My morning spot was pretty good to me,” said Butcher. “I caught most of my better fish came off of that area around my morning area, but it let me down on day two.”

“I really have no regrets,” Butcher said. “I’m not sure if it would have made too much of a difference, but I did get one good bite right at the end of the day today on a Texas rigged Wooly Hawg, and my line broke right in the middle, but that’s fishing. I still feel pretty good about breaking out of my slump with a top five finish; that’s pretty good.”

Scroggins: Happy with Fourth
Like many of the other anglers in the top 12, Scroggins was keying on the shad spawn, and while it produced well on the first two days of the event, slick weather shut down his area on the final day. “I had been getting them in there pretty good each of the first two days, but we had weak wind and no cloud cover today, so it was over very fast.”

Scroggins’ afternoon area was a deep-water ledge where he probed the edges with an Bomber Fat Free Shad crankbait in Citrus Shad, but “Big Show” said that his afternoon cranking area also let him down on the final day, “I didn’t catch a fish there today, and I went back ten times at least,” he continued. “I must have fished it out the first two days.

Quinn said that while he would have loved to win at Guntersville, he is very satisfied with the outcome, “ I would have like to have won, but I really wanted to turn the season around and these last two events have gotten me into better position toward qualifying for the Bassmaster Classic.”

He also said that he found a few bed fish that he could not get to bite, including one that was over seven pounds that he spent two hours fishing for on the final day.

Miyazaki: Scrambled for Late Limit
Yusuke Miyazaki said that his final day was tough, that he didn’t get many bites on the last day of the Southern Challenge. “I had to run around a lot to get my last two fish late in the day,” Miyazaki said. “I still concentrated on the same areas and pattern, but just didn’t get as many bites.

Miyazaki said that he keyed on outside grass lines on points with Texas and Carolina rigged Senkos and Brush Hogs and Megabass crankbaits all week.

“My one regret is execution,” Jones concluded with. “ I did lose a few fish that would have helped me do better, but that’s the bump and grind of the sport of fishing.”

Kiriyama: Big Fish got Spooky
Kotaro Kiriyama found his pattern on the last day of practice and said that his only difficulty was in not having enough different areas to his pattern. “I knew that I was fishing for big fish only,” said Kiriyama. “I was only getting a few bites a day, so having other areas would have been good to have.”

Kiriyama was throwing ¾ and one-ounce Jackall Lures Slow Roller spinnerbaits in “white, chartreuse or a combination of both,” he continued. “I used a large willowleaf blade to match the size of the shad.”

Kiriyama said that the fish were quick to drop the lure today and that he missed quite a few fish, even with a trailer hook; he felt they were spooky because of the high skies without wind.

Grigsby, like many of the other pros in the top twelve used a spinnerbait to do the yeoman’s work this week, “ I threw a ½-ounce Strike King Premier Plus spinnerbait all week, and just slow rolled it through the grass, and those fish would just come out an whack it,” Grigsby concluded. “That is a great bait for the grass, and I had a fun week.” 

Matsubu: Stayed with his Game Plan
Ben Matsubu of Hemphill Texas lived and died by the crankbait bite on outside grass lines all week and said that the low wind and high skies hurt him today. “I stayed with what got me into the top 12,” Matsubu said. “I threw that Rick Clunn RC2.5 crankbait around those grass lines all day.”

Matsubu said that he felt most o the competitors left the grass line bite too early each day, as there was a good bite in the afternoon with the wind. However the wind didn’t blow today and he had to scramble to get some fish to weigh-in for the cameras. “I grabbed an eight-inch Yamamoto grub and fished that for awhile so that I had some fish to weigh-in,” Matsubu said. “I stuck with what I knew, as I should have.”

Horton: Glad for the Points
2000 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year, Timmy Horton said he was not exactly sure why his fish didn’t bit today, but he kept fishing. “I’m not sure what happened to my areas, other than the wind,” Horton said. “I had been getting them all week on a Booyah spinnerbait, and it just didn’t happen today, so I scrambled to get the fish I had.”

Like any true competitor, Horton would have liked to have done better, but he said that being in the top 12 is a good thing. “Yeah, we all want to win, but making these cuts is important for the points,” the Muscle Shoals, Ala. angler relayed. “Being here is important for the year-end points race, you need these high finishes to make the Classic. So, while I would have liked a win, this is still good.” 

Notable: 
King KVD?
While he is more than likely the most feared and consistent Elite Series Angler, Van Dam’s win at the Southern Challenge was his first Elite Series win. It was his 11th BASS victory.

Next Millionaire?
Kelly Jordan’s 6th place finish at Lake Guntersville inched him closer to Skeet Reese in the race to become the next member of the Bassmaster Million Dollar club. Reese, who failed to make the top 50 cut for the first time in 2007 has $912,808 in career earnings. While Jordan, who earned $15,500 at Guntersville, has career earnings that total $911,162. A win will push either angler over the million-dollar mark. Which one will be the 20th member of that elite group?

What’s Next? 
The Bassmaster Elite Series will take a couple of weeks off as it heads into the first “Major” of 2007; the Bassmaster American on High Rock Lake May 17 – 20 in Greensboro, N.C. The American is presented in honor of 1994 Bassmaster Classic Champion Bryan Kerchal, who won the Classic as a Federation Nation Angler and died a few months later in a plane crash. 

Make sure to tune in for the BASS ZONE's on location coverage of the 2007 Bassmaster American… There’s nothing like, being there.

Thanks Top of the River 
The BASS ZONE on location staff, Harold Allen and Mark Jeffreys, want to thank the staff and management at Top of the River for a great event.  If you ever go to Lake Guntersville, make sure you visit Jeff Barnes and his staff and dive into some of the best food on the lake.  When you visit Top of the River, make sure you are hungry, because there will be a ton of food waiting for you and your friends. 

FINAL STANDINGS

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