2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite on Chickamauga Lake Day 3: Brock Mosley Claims Lead!

Canadians Gustafson 19th, & Chris Johnston 20th.

Brock Mosley of Collinsville, Miss., is leading after Day 3 of the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Chickamauga Lake with a three-day total of 58 pounds, 1 ounce. (Photo: Seigo Saito/BASS) 

BASS PRESS RELEASE

DAYTON, Tenn. — The Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Chickamauga Lake has been anything but your typical early April event in the South.

 

At one point during Semifinal Saturday, anglers were actually sight fishing for bedding bass in 52-degree water with sleet peppering down on them. Any angler will tell you that’s not only an odd scenario, but one of the hardest to figure out.

 

Through it all, though, Mississippi pro Brock Mosley has remained consistent, building a three-day total of 58 pounds, 1 ounce to grab the lead heading into Championship Sunday. He caught 19-6 Thursday, 18-11 Friday and 20-0 Saturday and will now head into the final round with five anglers within 4 pounds of him.

 

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again,” Mosley said. “I didn’t know if I could catch a fish at all going into the first day of the tournament. I caught five that weighed 17 or 18 pounds early that first day and then laid off of them because I didn’t know if I’d be able to find anything else the second day.

 

“But what I’m doing has pretty much worked every day.”

 

While Mosley has stayed in the same basic areas each day, he has alternated between several lures, including a bladed jig, a lipless crankbait and an assortment of flipping baits. He said it’s been a process of trial and error to figure out which of those offerings the bass want.

 

“Every day they’re in a different mood,” said Mosley, who has 13 Top 10 finishes with B.A.S.S. “The last two days, the flipping bite has been slow. So, it’s been the moving baits that worked. I kind of have to mix it up until I figure out which mood they’re in.”

2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite on Chickamauga Lake Day 2: Matt Robertson On' Em for Lead!

Canadians Gustafson 14th, Chris Johnston 31nd & Cory Johnston 49th

Matt Robertson of Kuttawa, Ky., is leading after Day 2 of the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Chickamauga Lake with a two-day total of 40 pounds, 5 ounces. (Photo:  Seigo Saito) 

BASS PRESS RELEASE

DAYTON, Tenn. — Before this week’s Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Chickamauga Lake, Matt Robertson made an important decision.

 

After a tough start to his season, the second-year Elite Series pro from Kentucky came into this week determined to fish more to his strengths — and so far, the strategy has worked well as he’s climbed into the lead with a two-day total of 40 pounds, 5 ounces. He caught 21-13 on Day 1 to open in third place and added 18-8 Friday to move atop the leaderboard heading into Semifinal Saturday.

 

An offshore prespawn pattern has been the ticket for him so far.

 

“I know the fish are still wanting to spawn, so I’m happy we got this little cold snap to slow them down a little bit,” Robertson said. “I’m throwing a lipless bait in grass and then going headhunting with a big swimbait after that.

 

“Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to get a couple of big bites out of the grass, but today I didn’t. That was really the only difference in the two bags.”

 

Robertson’s biggest bass Friday — a 5 1/2-pound largemouth — came on the big swimbait around 11:40 a.m. That was the only difference-making fish the lure produced, but he’s confident in his two-pronged approach.

 

“Tomorrow, I’m gonna do the same thing, just fishing for five bites,” he said. “I don’t care if I catch a fish, I’m going to fish how I want, do what I want. If I come in with no fish tomorrow, that’s fine because I’m fishing how I want.”

 

After picture-perfect weather on Thursday, the temperature dropped 20 degrees Friday and the winds blew 10 to 20 mph all day with occasional light rain and even some sleet.

 

While the conditions might not have been pleasant for many on the lake, Robertson said they helped in multiple ways. Besides the cold weather possibly delaying the approaching spawn, the wind also gave him a boost. 

 

“Whenever that wind blows, the fish bite — especially on a lake with this kind of pressure,” he said. “The only thing that equalizes the pressure is the weather. I wanted it to blow hard.”

 

Shinichi Fukae Wins the 2014 BASS Northern Open on Lake Champlain.

Shin Wins and Goes to 2015 Classic!

By John Neporadny Jr.

bass press release

PLATTSBURGH, NY-- Lake Champlain has been good to touring pro Shin Fukae.

The Palestine, Texas pro became a two-time winner at Champlain Saturday by taking first place in the pro division of the Bass Pro Shops Northern Open with a three-day catch of 56 pounds, 13 ounces. He earned the top prize of a Nitro Z9 bass boat/ Mercury 225 Pro XS outboard rig worth $40,000 and $7,595 in cash. Fukae previously won a FLW event at Lake Champlain in 2010.

A mix of large and smallmouth bass helped
Shin vault into the winner's circle.
(Photo: James Overstreet BASS)

He caught all of his fish on two baits-- a Gamakatsu shad-shaped worm on a drop shot rig and a 4-inch Senko attached to a 3/16-ounce wacky rig jighead. The drop shot rig worked best for smallmouth while the wacky rig coaxed bites from quality largemouth. Fukae noted the drop shot is his key bait whenever he fishes Lake Champlain because he can “catch so many fish on it.”

The Jackall Flick Shake Worm with Simon Frost

The Flick Shake is a great finesse technique. Learn from Simon Frost about Jackall's Flick Shake worm and jig head. Jackall really has all you need.

Flick Shake Video with Jackall pro David Swendseid

Flick Shake

Japan's Little Secret
By Luigi De Rose

The under used Flick Shake.

“Man, this thing works!” I said surprisingly to my dad. We were working our favourite shoreline on our secret bit of bass haven in mid July. Giving the dock’s posts and shady floor boards most of our attention we were catching them well. Suddenly, the docks petered out but we kept on fishing.
With nothing to aim at we fired casts randomly along the sandy shore line. Switching from a craw to a wacky rigged worm on a light jighead, I started nailing them. Considering the heat and intense sun, bass were hammering the worm. After that  great day I vowed to learn more about this technique called flick shake.
Flick shake is another finesse technique with Asian roots but with an edge. The concept is simple. The tackle is simple. The results are simply amazing.
Hooking a finesse worm through the middle with a jighead is a staple in Japan. A pinnacle player in it’s design and popularity is Seiji Kato, a Japanese lure designer and founder of Jackall Lures. His reputation, he’s the creator of the TD Minnow (Diawa), Sammy and Pointer (Lucky Craft), has been a driving force. Winning the 2007 Bassmaster co-angler title on famed Lake Amistad with the jighead wacky rig, anglers took notice.