If I Had a Do-Over: Near Misses From The 2020 Elites
SENIOR WRITER
EVERY BASSMASTER ELITE Series angler has a painful tale of a near-win, a total bomb or something in between where a key decision shifted the outcome one way or another. Within these tales, we find a rich harvest of techniques, tactics and timing that can help all anglers sharpen their game.
ADJUSTMENT DELAYED
David Mullins Event: Lake Eufaula (2020) Scenario: The early June event found fish settled into summer patterns, but water fluctuation disrupted their normal positioning.
The Decision: Knowing that this Canadian River reservoir typically sees the offshore structure playing a significant, if not dominant, role in summer events, Mullins devoted his entire practice to graphing the deep spots. Looking for schools on channel swings and other sweet spots seemed like the right call, but his crankbait and swimbait efforts yielded little.
“When I go to these structure lakes I’m really keyed in on [offshore] structure, and I really want to catch them that way,” Mullins said. “Sometimes, I put too much emphasis on idling too long when they’re not there and trying to find the one deal out there.”
When he realized his offshore strategy wasn’t going to pan out, Mullins moved up shallow and used a big Texas-rigged worm to target brush in 6 to 10 feet. Placing 46th, Mullins caught a limit of 13-14 on Day 1.
