Patrick Walters
Pro Patrick Walters lead wire-to-wire to take his first NPFL victory on Spring city, Tennessee’s Watts Bar with a three-day total of 45-pounds, 9-ounces.
Walters rotated between two zoom soft plastics this week to catch his fish. He alternated between a Magnum Trick Worm in red bug color fished on a dropshot and an Ol’ Monster in redbug color.
“I fished them both on a heavy action 7-foot, 6-inch Daiwa Tatula Elite rod with 17 and 20-pound Suffix fluorocarbon.”
Sheldon Collings
Oklahoma Pro Sheldon Collings finished the event in 2nd place with a three-day total of 43-pounds, 4-ounces. Collings caught his fish this week mixing between a jerkbait and a ¾-ounce jig fished around shallow cover.
Collings started the event on day one using 3/4 oz Football Jig green pumpkin and orange color paired with a Zoom Ultravibe Speed Craw in watermelon candy red as a trailer. He threw his jig on a 7’4 Heavy action rod with an 8.2:1 reel and 20-pound fluorocarbon line. He targeted shallow cover around docks and grass.
On day two and three, Collings switched to a Berkley Stunna 112 MF Tennessee Shad with a 6-foot, 10-inch medium-light rod with an 8.1:1 ratio reel and 12-pound fluorocarbon line. He was fishing over brush pile and grass clumps in 8 to 12-foot of water using active target to locate bigger fish.
Pug Clements
Pro Pug Clements finished in the 3rd place spot with a three-day total of 41-pounds, 5-ounces and caught his fish by targeting fish schooling around the shad spawn in the morning and by fishing a swim jig around marina docks.
Clements caught fish a variety of ways on Watts Bar with his bigger bites coming off of a stretch of marina docks. He fished a ½-ounce Katcher Lures Swim Jig in white color with a white pearl Super Chunk trailer and fished it on a 7-foot, 1-inch Jenko medium-heavy fast action rod and a Daiwa 8.1:1 reel.
When he moved off the marina docks, he flipped a green pumpkin Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver on blowdowns around 7 to 10-foot of water on the main lake. He used a 3/8-ounce Queens Tackle Tungsten and a Gamakatsu 3/0 Finesse Flipping Hook. His flipping rod consisted of a 7-foot, 6-inch Jenko High Roller medium-heavy fast action rod and the same Daiwa 8.1:1 reel.
He also caught some fish around brush piles from 10 to 15-foot near points and humps on the main river. He used a Zoom Magnum Trick Worm in green pumpkin on a 3/8-ounce football head made by his father. He used the same rod/reel as the Sweet Beaver and 20-pound P-Line 100% Fluorocarbon on all his set ups.
Matt Massey
Matt Massey caught the biggest bag of the tournament on day two, and added 12-pounds on the final day to finish the event in 4th place. He amassed a three-day total of 40-pounds, 7-ounces and worked a pattern that involved a bladed jig and transition areas to catch his fish this week.
Massey relied on a Strike King Thunder Cricket in 3/8 ounce and paired it with a Strike King Rage Grub trailer to catch his fish on Watts Bar and used several retrieves to keep the bait moving with an erratic action. That was his key to getting those bigger bites.
Ryan Satterfield
Ryan Satterfield added 9-pounds, 14-ounces to his total to finish the event in the 5th place spot with a total weight of 39-pounds, 5-ounces. Satterfield worked a channel swing flat near a spawning area and was targeting isolated grass patches.
Satterfield set up on the shallow side of the channel swing and dropped his Powerpoles to stay in position to line up his cast.
“If I could float a bait through the grass, I was getting bites. It’s a high percentage area and I definitely had the right fish around me.”
