Breakdown by Ken Duke
The path to a major tournament win is rarely a straight line, and there are always lessons to be learned. Here’s how Gary Adkins bested the field at Saginaw Bay in August 2024.
Backstory
Coming into Stop 4 on the 2024 National Professional Fishing League season, Wisconsin’s Gary Adkins was no stranger to success on Michigan’s Saginaw Bay. He won here in the summer of 2022 on his way to Progressive Angler of the Year honors. Everyone handicapping the field had him on a short list of pros expected to do well, along with 2023 Saginaw Bay champ Trent Palmer and Ohio’s Kevin Martin.
Practice
When Adkins first won on Saginaw Bay in 2022, he found a great spot near the mouth of the bay that produced a lot of his fish. Unfortunately, high winds in 2023 blew the spot out, and — without a strong backup plan — he finished 59th. This year, he vowed to find several backup areas to serve when high winds or other circumstances took him off his best spots or patterns.
“I found seven good spots on the east shore,” Adkins said, “but I only had one area that I thought held fish that could win, and that spot was 60 miles from launch.”
Day 1
Despite four- to five-foot waves, on the first day of competition Adkins made the long run to his most promising spot. He knew it would be protected from the winds once he got there, and he found it “very fishable.” He also had company.
“Jesse Millsaps and I got there at the same time,” Adkins said. “It’s a man-made gravel bar in about 15 feet of water, and it held a lot of quality fish. I caught a couple of 5-pound smallmouths right away on a dropshot rig. The fish were pretty spooky, and I left after catching four good ones.”
On his way back to the weigh-in area, Adkins stopped on a point and caught a 2-pound smallmouth on a spinnerbait to fill out his limit. As he was bringing that fish to the boat, he saw several much bigger smallmouth following it in. But he couldn’t get any of those fish to bite on subsequent casts.
Then he stopped at another bay with submerged humps that held quality smallmouths. At 1:00 p.m., his trolling motor died. He turned the head manually to direct his Garmin LiveScope transducer and managed to cull a 2 pounder with a 3 pounder.
In all, Adkins managed to catch seven bass (all smallmouths) weighing 23 pounds, 3 ounces, good enough for third place behind Trent Palmer (25-4) and Kevin Martin (23-5).
Day 2
The second day was tougher … for everyone. Adkins ran 60 miles back to his man-made gravel bar, but there were no fish on it. So, he headed to the shallow point where he had caught a small bass on a spinnerbait but seen several big ones. He caught his Day 2 bag there — two on a spinnerbait cast around boulders and three on a dropshot.
Adkins fan casted a breakline that dropped from five to 10 feet deep. He did not use his live imaging and managed just six bass all day. The five he took to the scales weighed 16-2, and he was certain he had blown any chance of winning the tournament.
Instead, weights were down across the board. The big bag of the day was less than 19 pounds, and Kevin Martin took over the top spot with a two-day total of 42-1. Zack Birge was second with 40-12 and Adkins was third with 39-5. Trent Palmer stumbled with just three bass weighing 10-7 for a total of 35-11, falling to sixth.
Gary Adkins was still in the hunt.
Day 3
The final round saw Adkins start on his gravel point where the spinnerbait and dropshot had paid dividends. He saw a few bass on his electronics, but they were extremely skittish.
“I had nothing to show for myself the first two hours,” he said. “Then I caught a small bass seven feet deep almost directly underneath my boat. I could see the bottom with my eyes, but couldn’t see the fish without LiveScope. Then I caught a 5 pounder the same way. Some local tournament anglers started showing up. Luckily, they were fishing out deeper.
“I started working some points where I found quality fish in practice. I was steadily picking up some decent fish, but nothing special. Almost all of them came from shallow water almost directly under my boat.”
By the time he was finished, Adkins had a decent limit, but he was merely hoping he could stay in the top 10. He had no hope of winning. On the 38-mile drive in, he stopped and lost a 4 pounder to add to his disappointment.
“At the ramp, I ran into Kevin Martin and learned he had a tough day. I started wondering if it had been tough for everyone.”
As the weigh-in wound down, the excitement picked up. As the last few anglers came to the scales, the “hot seat” earned its nickname.
Louis Fernandes (51-5) was bumped by John Cox (55-5), who lost his spot to Trent Palmer (56-08), who gave way to Jason Williamson (56-11). That’s when Adkins came to the scales.
His five-bass limit weighed 17-7 for a three-day total of 56-12 — just enough to edge Williamson by a single ounce! Adkins knew that he probably had Kevin Martin beat, but what about Zack Birge, who launched that morning in second place, nearly a pound and a half ahead of Adkins?
Birge’s 15-15 for the day gave him 56-11 for the tournament — an ounce behind Adkins! Two anglers — Birge and Williamson — finished a single ounce behind Adkins, who took home his second NPFL win, both on Saginaw Bay!
It was a weigh-in to remember and one Gary Adkins will never forget.
Takeaways
“A lot of things went wrong for me in this tournament,” Adkins said, “but enough things went right. If I had to sum it all up, I’d say the key to my win was being versatile and open-minded. I followed my gut in my decision making. If you think about something more than once, you should probably do it.”
Gear
Most of Adkins’s bass came on his dropshot rig:
Bait: Schief’s Custom Baits 3.6-inch Movement Worm (Goby Magic) on a Gamakatsu 1/0 Drop Shot Hook and a 3/8-ounce Titan tungsten dropshot sinker
Line: 10-pound-test Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon leader; 8-pound Power Pro braid main line
Rod: G. Loomis 6-foot-9 NRX+ Drop Shot spinning rod
Reel: Daiwa Tatula Elite 3000 spinning reel
Adkins also caught a few key fish on a spinnerbait — a 1/2-ounce War Eagle with a chartreuse skirt and chartreuse blades.
