Dropping water levels and current piled big gizzard shad on points and humps near deep water. This created a feeding frenzy on key structure for large schools of largemouths. Anglers were able to sit on one or two ledges all day, culling through numerous fish to come up with their best four fish bag. The difference was a kicker fish and the winner was able to box two.

Practice wasn’t especially productive for Jeff Venus and he was only able to boat one good fish from one off-shore hump. Launching into Grand’s stained waters early in the morning, Jeff had merely one choice, go to his hump and see what happened. What happened were two kicker fish in the livewell and Jeff’s first Heartland title.

With the dropping water and high generation, Jeff knew the event would be won deep. He found a hump about 150 yards off shore in the mid-lake area to have every thing an angler would want in the summer. The hump was at the end of a long tapering point, acting as a bass funnel from shallow water. Large broken rock was scattered around the hump, which was about 50 yards in size. This gave the fish something to ambush schools of shad from. Finally, deep water was found on the outer edge of the hump.

The action wasn’t constant for Jeff. Groups of fish would decide to feed every couple of hours and several fish would hit the bottom of the boat before the action lulled again. Two kicker fish, one taking Big Bass honors at 6.42 lb plus another nearly the same size bit at 8 and 9:30 am. Jeff’s best four largemouths pinned the scales at 18.89 lbs to narrowly claim the Elite Series victory.

The boat traffic made things difficult for Jeff but he stuck to his location to cull up to his winning bag. The key to his worm bite was sitting on top of the hump in 10 feet of water and casting out into deep water to work his bait up the slope. A fast, stroking action triggered the bites.

The Heartland Elite Series victory was worth $3000 plus an additional $600 for Big Bass honors. Jeff is sponsored by Basswishes and Out of this World Guide Service.

2nd Place – Wayne Diffee, Oakhurst, OK
Most tournaments would be won with an 18.83 lb limit but it was just a whisper shy of what Grand Lake specialist Wayne Diffee needed for his first Heartland win. After practice, Wayne felt he could run through 25 to 30 quality bass from the mid-lake and he was exactly right.

Wayne had a limit was swimming in the livewell in 20 minutes flipping bushes but it only weighed about 10 pounds. He knew it was time to search for a better bite and after his first stop on a point, a crankbait culled all of them out enroute to a memorable day of fishing.

Wayne pocketed $1800 dredging points with a Norman DD-22 crankbait in shad and blue/chartreuse patterns on 15 lb Trilene Big Game line. While most anglers were having trouble getting on structure due to boat traffic, Wayne’s intimate knowledge of Grand Lake allowed him to stop directly on the “sweet spot” and work around other anglers. Small rock piles and single logs turned out 4 to 5 quality fish when Wayne was able to make repeated casts at the same angle. Wayne is sponsored by Falcon Rods, Gene Larew Lures, Sundown Marine and Ranger Boats.

3rd Place – Gary Carrier, Vinita, OK
The one-two punch of swimbaits and football jigs settled Gary Carrier into 3rd Place with 17.87 lbs. Gary culled through 10 or 12 keepers by 9:30 am on ledges up lake of Martin’s Landing with a new Berkley Hollow Body 5” swimbait in Tennessee Shad. The swimbait was rigged on the packaged hook but Gary crimped on an additional split shot to gain more depth. He sat out on the deep edge of the ledge and slowly swam the bait towards deeper water. This resulted in a good limit but not enough to be in contention so Gary worked main lake points and ledges down towards Duck Creek to start upgrading.

Gary’s tool to super-size his limit was a new brown 3/4 oz Berkley Gripper football jig matched with a green pumpkin Chigger Craw. The jig started to produce a better quality bite in 8 to 10 feet of water on the same type of structure with big rocks. A flurry of bites at noon produced several fish from one point, including a 5.37 lb kicker. A tool which really helped during the day was a new Abu Garcia Revo Premier reel. This allowed Gary to make super long casts with his baits and stay in the strike zone longer. Gary cashed $1200 and is sponsored by Berkley, Mercury Marine, Motor Guide, Ranger Boats, Shoreline Fiberglass Repair and Premier Power Sports.

July 19 , 2008