Before hitting the water for pre-fishing this week, the two enthusiastic Z-Man pros paused to break down a variety of probable Classic presentations:
Bladed Jigs
Gussy: Obviously, the high water, rain and cold weather could really throw some crazy variables into the mix, but I’m pretty confident in my abilities with a ChatterBait JackHammer™. At the 2014 Classic at Guntersville, Paul Mueller set the one-day tournament record, boating something like 32-pounds with a ChatterBait Elite. The big fish track records of both the ChatterBait Elite and JackHammer are pretty hard to ignore.
Buck: Gussy’s got the right idea! My Classic strategy revolves around Guntersville’s giant prespawn females and the lure that consistently puts them in the boat. That means locating concentrations of bass staging in milfoil and hydrilla, particularly milfoil edges or pockets and lanes between the vegetation. Like Gussy, I’ll be targeting those areas with a 3/8- or ½-ounce ChatterBait JackHammer, probably something bright and highly visible. For me, the JackHammer simply triggers the biggest bass in the lake; it’s certainly one of the favorites to win the Classic. The easy-starting blade and its consistent, rod-thumping vibration make this ChatterBait one of the all-time tournament baits, for sure.
Gussy: Have to add that a lot of us will be throwing Z-Man’s new Fire Craw pattern. You’ll see this bright red ChatterBait rigged on the decks of a lot of anglers at the Classic; can’t tell you how many competitors have been asking me to hook them up with this color. Fire Craw JackHammers have become hard to find, though, so alternatives like Spring Craw and Hite’s Hot Craw could also play prominently. I put a green pumpkin pattern RaZor ShadZ on the back for what might be the ultimate big fish confidence bait.
Buck: Worth noting, too, that the other popular bait for working the shallow vegetation at Guntersville is a lipless crankbait. While these lures have a track record of producing here, I think the ChatterBait slides through the vegetation a bit better and simply yields bigger bites.