Stars and Stripes Report
Bill Mathews and Kris Iodice caught 13.80 pounds to nudge out Jeff Ogletree in the Stars and Stripes Tourney at Austin Lake last weekend.
The difference maker was a 4.59 pounder that the winners caught and that also earned them big bass of the event.
Nearly one-third of the fish weighed in during the event were smallmouth. Topwaters and worms are said to be the key to most of the bites that competitors got.
“We targeted shallow fish all day long,” says Mathews. “The morning bite was surprisingly tough, but we picked off a limit in about 1.5 hours on a BAFA Primal jig, a Whopper Plopper and a popper. We continued to fish around docks and flats and made small culls throughout the day.”
He said the shallow bite really picked up for them later in the day. Kris caught their big bass and then Bill followed up with a few nice 2+ pounders that culled out smaller fish.
“Then with about 20 minutes left, I caught a 3 pounder skipping a BAFA primal jig (3/8 ounce magic craw) under a dock,” Mathews adds. “It culled out a 1.7 pounder.”
Ogletree had 12.89 pounds by fishing shallow around docks with a Zoom worm.