Top 10 baits from a wet and wild Eufaula
EUFAULA, Okla. – Stop 5 Presented by K&N Filters at Lake Eufaula turned out to be a really excellent tournament. Though the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by MillerTech pros had to play in the rain a lot, the fishing was pretty solid for Eufaula, and a lot of different strategies worked. Pros could grind it out on the bank, fish docks, run offshore targets, and some made it work way up the creeks.
1. Shaw does what he does best
Earning his second Pro Circuit win of the season, Banks Shaw mixed a shad spawn pattern with deep brush. It was a perfect strategy, and it also insulated him from the rising water, which affected some other bites.
For his shad spawn, Shaw used a Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammer Baby Jack in golden shiner with a 4.25-inch Rapala CrushCity Freeloader in gizzard shad. Fishing deep brush, his best bet was a 3/16-ounce VMC Redline Tungsten Swimbait Jighead with a 5 3/4-inch Rapala CrushCity Freeloader in green shad. He threw his minnow on a 6-foot, 10-inch, medium-light 13 Fishing Myth, with 8-pound-test Sufix 832 braid and a 14-pound-test Sufix Advance Fluorocarbon leader.
2. Mixing and matching puts Nutt in the conversation again
Finishing second for the second tournament in a row, Dylan Nutt did a little bit of everything on the week.
For Nutt, a Scottsboro Tackle Co. Top Hook Swimbait in natty light caught fish, as well as a Neko-rigged Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Magnum Hit Worm, a drop-shot with a Berkley Lab Series Finesse Worm, a Berkley Lab Series Minnow and a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Chigger Craw on a wobble head. He threw the whole pile mostly with Abu Garcia Fantasista X rods and Abu Garcia Zenon X reels.
Nutt put up consistent bags the first two days and nearly won the event with a big bag on the final day.
“Day 3 was tough on me. I was able to catch a small limit somewhat early on a drop-shot and that wobble head, and I had about 11 pounds,” he said. “I turned on my LiveScope, and I was fishing my main area, and I caught one small fish that culled me up to 12 pounds. I was sharing a lot of water with Hayden O’Barr and Banks Shaw, I was rotating a lot of stuff, and it didn’t seem to be working at all. So, with about 40 minutes left, I pulled the plug and ran to a different area close to the ramp.”
That’s where the magic happened.
“Right off the rip, I pulled up on a point and jumped off about an 8-pounder on the minnow,” he said. “It was super frustrating – it was a game-changer bite. My next cast I caught a 4 1/2, and then a 5 3/4. At that point, my LiveScope period was up, so I picked up the drop-shot and wobble head and ended up catching a 2 3/4, and then on my last cast, I caught a 3 3/4 that culled me up to 20 pounds. It was a phenomenal flurry right there in the last hour. It was a great feeling to rally like that, that late in the tournament.”
3. Lane falls short yet again
Cal Lane led the first two days of the event, but he fell to third on the final day – possibly done in by the water conditions in his area and possibly by his own decision-making.
Fishing shallow all week, his best baits were a 3/8-ounce white swim jig and a 1/2-ounce black and blue Epic Baits Grass Punch jig. He presented both with 7-foot, 3-inch, heavy TigeRodz TRZ Pro rods.
Fishing the same area as Drew Boggs for the most part, Lane ended up leaving the area on the last day, though it still accounted for most of his limit.
“It was the first place I went to in practice, and I had a couple bites and left the area,” Lane said. “I knew they lived down there from past tournaments. The last day, I just didn’t get the bites. I guess I should have stayed down there, but I went through other areas and shook off fish in the tournament, so it was hard not to go to those areas. It wasn’t meant to be, I guess.”
4. Rising water sinks Boggs
Like Lane, Drew Boggs was reliant on a major creek, fishing shallow cover exclusively. Had the rain held off, he’s sure he or Lane would have contended for the win.
“It’d have been a showdown between Cal and I if that rain hadn’t happened,” the Tennessee pro said. “I don’t think it was fishing pressure – it was 100% the rain. The water I had been fishing looked pretty good when I got there on Day 3. As soon I rounded the bend, there was debris everywhere, current rolling; it was not going to do it. I fished the highest percentage spot I had in the entire deal, and I never got a bite.”
Boggs went with the staples, catching most of his fish on a Big Bite Baits Swimming Craw Tube with a 1/2-ounce Jenko Creature Weight and two key kickers on Day 2 on a SPRO Bronzeye Poppin’ Frog in Amazon.
Despite falling short on Day 3, Boggs thought it might have been a lot worse. At weigh-in on Day 2, he was sure the rain would have totally destroyed the area.
“If that rain hadn’t come, it’d have been lights out,” he said. “I was so tickled to death to have at least some water and some fish left. I was pleasantly surprised to be able to do what I did.”
5. Another good one for Gill on Eufaula
Always solid on Eufaula, Drew Gill put together another very good event this week.
With his ‘Scope on, Gill used a Big Bite Baits Nekorama on a drop-shot, and he used a shallow-running crankbait when he was fishing blind.
“I’ve never been there in June, but I knew they were probably going to trend a little deeper,” Gill said. “I ended up catching them at the ends of points in 15 to 18 – that was my ‘Scope deal. I would fish points, brush and stumps in 15 to 18. The bite percentage was incredible; I just wasn’t around many fish. Without ‘Scope, I would crank shallow rock – the edges of where it would break off. I caught a decent amount of fish – nothing really impressive, but it contributed four fish throughout the week.”
6. Berlinsky notches his first Top 10 of the year
Tripp Berlinsky was also strong on the offshore game, and he rocketed up the leaderboard on Day 3 with a 21-pound, 3-ounce bag.
His best baits were a 6.25-inch Rapala CrushCity Freeloader on a 3/16-ounce head, a jig, a Carolina rig with a Rapala CrushCity Cleanup Craw and a 1/2-ounce Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait JackHammer in clearwater shad with a 4.25-inch Rapala CrushCity Freeloader in green shad.
“I was around Banks for almost all of the ‘Scope period every day, and we had different areas in the morning,” Berlinsky said. “There were a couple areas every morning that I would catch a decent one with a ChatterBait.”
After that, Berlinsky fished offshore, mostly targeting brush or shell in 15 to 25 feet.
“It felt like we were a little bit deeper than other people,” he said. “Once I got offshore some, you could see the weight shoot up. That big bag on the last day, I caught them all in 24 or 25 foot. I just didn’t really dial that in soon enough. I looked there in practice; I found five schools in practice and they turned into two. I think there was so much bait in that place, they were roaming around so much, you had to know when they were going to pull in to feed.”
7. Lachniet consistent again
This year on the Pro Circuit, Ryan Lachniet’s worst finish has been 25th, and he notched his second Top 10 of the season in this one.
His best bait was a Big Bite Baits Nekorama on a drop-shot with a 1/4-ounce Jig Shack tungsten weight, which he threw on a 7-2, medium Phenix M1. He also used a jerkbait and went with a 7-2, medium-light Phenix M1 for that.
“I would start the morning fishing shallow rock with a jerkbait. I fished that until probably 9:30 every day, and I’d throw a drop-shot at docks in between,” he said. “After that, I turned ‘Scope on, and I split my ‘Scope period between fishing points with brush and roamers, and going back up shallow with a jerkbait.”
8. Nielsen mixes and matches
Riley Nielsen ground out a Top 10 at Eufaula with some modern techniques and some time-tested baits.
His best two baits were a Zoom Magnum Trick Worm on a 3/8-ounce Texas rig and an off-brand 19-mm urchin with a 1/8-ounce weight. He used a Powell Endurance 764 for both.
“I was throwing a ChatterBait in the morning on the shad spawn, just to get my livewell going,” Nielsen said. “I would throw the worm around blind, and then I would fire up my cheater box and go to work with the Coike. I was throwing it at structure – taller rock, stumps, whatever was a little bit different. I wouldn’t see them, I would just throw at structure and they would show up.”
9. Eufaula is good again for Jacob
Almost always solid on Eufaula, Connor Jacob knocked out another good one this week. Of the Top 10, he fished one of the more varied game plans, taking advantage of most of what Eufaula had to offer.
His best bets were a Megabass Vision 110+1, a 19-mm imitation Coike or a 17-mm Hideup Coike, a 3/8-ounce swim jig with a Zoom Z Craw trailer and a Nichols Mini Magnum Flutter Spoon.
“I started in the marina every day. Day 1, the swim jig worked out,” Jacob said. “Then, I would run to a stretch of rocks, and I would throw a jerkbait down that blind, and I caught a few. I tossed a Coike around blind at the end of the day on some docks, too. Day 3 is when the spoon came around. I ran down to Porum, and I ‘Scoped around with a drop-shot and was running some stumps, and with an hour left, I pulled up on a stretch of stumps and found a school of like 30, and I caught one on the spoon and a couple on the Coike.”
Fishing docks with the Coike, often blind, he went with the 17-mm size when he was looking for keepers and the 19-mm model when he had a solid limit in the boat and wanted an upgrade.
10. Pemberton goes old-school
Austin Pemberton fished down the lake and did his best work offshore.
“I was targeting 10- to 25-foot brushpiles with my drop-shot during my ‘Scope period, and I would sit over the brush piles with 2D when it ended,” he said. “I would also drop-shot brushpiles on docks, and I had a cranking hole the first day on a hard spot in 10 foot of water.”
Pemberton’s crankbait of choice was a 6th Sense Crush 300 DD, and he drop-shotted a 6.7-inch 6th Sense Bounce Worm.
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