Gambler Pro-Staffer finishes 3rd at Bassmaster Elite Series Diamond Drive
Chris Lane didn’t pull any punches when placed in the ring with the Lake Dardanelle bass. When the 2009 Bassmaster Elite Series visited the Arkansas River Reservoir, the bass were in various stages of the spawn. Chris relied on the one-two punch of the Gambler Lures Cane Toad and Ugly Otter to knockout heavy-weight after heavy-weight, and a Top-3 finish.
Many fishermen’s perception of topwater toad fishing is related to mid-summer, warm water, and thick floating vegetation. Chris, however, secretly knows that the Cane Toad is incredibly effective during the spawn. He relied on that fact at Dardanelle.
He explains the situation he encountered, “Dardanelle has so many fish in it and it was setting-up just right for the spawn. Shallow, sandy flats were what I was keying on. One spot in particular had a little ditch running through it which offered an area for the fish to come into as the water warmed and to pull out to when it got cold. Many people think that in cooler water, bass will start leaving during the spawn, but that is not true. I’ve found that bass will still stay near their beds. And with a warm-up, they will become real aggressive. At Dardanelle that happened, and the afternoon bite was key.”
The daily afternoon warm-up caused the Dardanelle bass to binge nearly on schedule, at which time he put the Cane Toad to work.
“The bigger fish were engulfing the toad as soon as it came over their bed. One of the advantages of using the Cane Toad in that situation was that I was able to make so many more casts when compared to a flipping presentation that other guys were using. I will say, though, that the temperature had to be just right – for Dardanelle that was right around 62 degrees.”
Chris tossed the Cane Toad on a heavy action 7’-4” rod and 7:1 high-speed reel, spooled with 50-pound Spiderwire UltraCast Braid. He utilized three colors: Ghost Shad, Green Pumpkin / Pearl Swirl, and Lane Toad. Chris relied on his Cane Toad rig primarily during the opening rounds of competition. When a front passed through northern Arkansas on Day 3, the weather was so severe that tournament officials cancelled competition for the day. The remnants of the system also lingered into Day 4, and adversely affected the shallow water bite for most of the competitors.
On Day 4, when Chris’ spawning fish were non-responsive, he adjusted to the conditions by switching to an Ugly Otter. As he searched for new fish, he simply followed the ditch line out from the flat and slowed his presentation down. He eventually found a pod of active fish, and soon thereafter filled his livewell. He fished the Otter, in either Green Pumpkin and Florida 5-0 colors, on 15-pound fluorocarbon with a 3/16-ounce Gambler Rattling Florida Rig screw-in weight and 5/0 Gamakatsu straight-shank hook. The adjustment helped him to move up to third for the tournament. The decision turned an otherwise poor day of fishing into his heaviest limit of the tournament.
Chris believes that his advancement to the final day of competition is a direct result of fishing the Cane Toad when other competitors would not, and the additional fish he put in the boat with the new Gambler Double Trouble Toad Hook.
“This was the first time I have been able to fish the Double Trouble Toad Hook in an Elite Series event. When you can capitalize on the bite with that thing, it simply makes you that much better of a fisherman. You’ve heard it before – when people come into a weigh-in and say, ‘Man, if I would have caught those three that I missed, I would have had a huge sack.’ Well now with the Double Trouble Toad Hook, you can come in with those three, because when they hit, they are hooked. It just works. You can get them from both sides, on either hook, and the bait never balls-up. It is a phenomenal hook.”
Chris Lane didn’t pull any punches when placed in the ring with the Lake Dardanelle bass. When the 2009 Bassmaster Elite Series visited the Arkansas River Reservoir, the bass were in various stages of the spawn. Chris relied on the one-two punch of the Gambler Lures Cane Toad and Ugly Otter to knockout heavy-weight after heavy-weight, and a Top-3 finish.
Many fishermen’s perception of topwater toad fishing is related to mid-summer, warm water, and thick floating vegetation. Chris, however, secretly knows that the Cane Toad is incredibly effective during the spawn. He relied on that fact at Dardanelle.
He explains the situation he encountered, “Dardanelle has so many fish in it and it was setting-up just right for the spawn. Shallow, sandy flats were what I was keying on. One spot in particular had a little ditch running through it which offered an area for the fish to come into as the water warmed and to pull out to when it got cold. Many people think that in cooler water, bass will start leaving during the spawn, but that is not true. I’ve found that bass will still stay near their beds. And with a warm-up, they will become real aggressive. At Dardanelle that happened, and the afternoon bite was key.”
The daily afternoon warm-up caused the Dardanelle bass to binge nearly on schedule, at which time he put the Cane Toad to work.
“The bigger fish were engulfing the toad as soon as it came over their bed. One of the advantages of using the Cane Toad in that situation was that I was able to make so many more casts when compared to a flipping presentation that other guys were using. I will say, though, that the temperature had to be just right – for Dardanelle that was right around 62 degrees.”
Chris tossed the Cane Toad on a heavy action 7’-4” rod and 7:1 high-speed reel, spooled with 50-pound Spiderwire UltraCast Braid. He utilized three colors: Ghost Shad, Green Pumpkin / Pearl Swirl, and Lane Toad. Chris relied on his Cane Toad rig primarily during the opening rounds of competition. When a front passed through northern Arkansas on Day 3, the weather was so severe that tournament officials cancelled competition for the day. The remnants of the system also lingered into Day 4, and adversely affected the shallow water bite for most of the competitors.
On Day 4, when Chris’ spawning fish were non-responsive, he adjusted to the conditions by switching to an Ugly Otter. As he searched for new fish, he simply followed the ditch line out from the flat and slowed his presentation down. He eventually found a pod of active fish, and soon thereafter filled his livewell. He fished the Otter, in either Green Pumpkin and Florida 5-0 colors, on 15-pound fluorocarbon with a 3/16-ounce Gambler Rattling Florida Rig screw-in weight and 5/0 Gamakatsu straight-shank hook. The adjustment helped him to move up to third for the tournament. The decision turned an otherwise poor day of fishing into his heaviest limit of the tournament.
Chris believes that his advancement to the final day of competition is a direct result of fishing the Cane Toad when other competitors would not, and the additional fish he put in the boat with the new Gambler Double Trouble Toad Hook.
“This was the first time I have been able to fish the Double Trouble Toad Hook in an Elite Series event. When you can capitalize on the bite with that thing, it simply makes you that much better of a fisherman. You’ve heard it before – when people come into a weigh-in and say, ‘Man, if I would have caught those three that I missed, I would have had a huge sack.’ Well now with the Double Trouble Toad Hook, you can come in with those three, because when they hit, they are hooked. It just works. You can get them from both sides, on either hook, and the bait never balls-up. It is a phenomenal hook.”
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