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Muscle Shoals, Ala. – The BASS ZONE tracked down PRADCO pro and PAA Conservation Chairman Timmy Horton while on a vacation with his wife Melanie and his three children. Horton was kind enough to get out of the pool to talk to The BZ for a few minutes; he spoke about his pattern at The Sooner Run, PRADCO lures, the focus of the PAA, the future of the sport, and a tribute to an old friend.
Horton, the 2000 Bassmaster Angler of the Year is currently in 15th place in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year points standings. His 2007 campaign has included a total of 5 paychecks; two of them top 12 finishes, and a 13th at the Golden State Shootout at Clear Lake in March.
‘I guess I am having a pretty good year,” the 34-year-old said. “I’m pretty happy with my season so far, and I just hope to be able to keep it going. He spoke about the tactics he used to sew up his top 10 finish at Grand Lake, and the adjustments he made during the day.
“The morning was a shallow bite for me, as it was for a lot of the guys,” Horton said. “I stayed shallow until about 10:00 each morning and was able to catch fish on a number of baits.” Horton said that his morning patterns included casting a black ½-ounce Booyah buzzbait and flipping two baits; a ½-ounce black and blue Booyah Flipping jig with Yum Craw Papi in green pumpkin as a trailer, along with a Texas rigged black Neon Yum Vibra King tube.
“A lot of fish were being taken around the willows in the morning, but after the sun came up, I went deep,” the Muscle Shoals, Ala. Pro said. “Most of the fish I weighed in were taken in the afternoon, and they came on two baits, but were around specific targets.” Horton said that he utilized a ¾-ounce Bomber Fat Free Shad and a ½-ounce brown and black Booyah football jig with the green pumpkin Yum Craw Papi as his trailer.
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The former Bassmaster Angler of the Year said that the depth of the Fat Free Shad was critical to triggering strikes, and that he did that by adjusting his line size. “I needed to bait to run about two feet deeper than the bottom in the areas the fish were staging in,” he said. “I did that by lining my boat up so that the target was halfway between the boat and where my cast would land, and the size of my line.”
Horton said that his Pflueger Trion cranking reels were spooled with either 10 or 14 pound Bass Pro Shops XPS Fluorocarbon line, depending on the depth. “The Fat Free Shad will run about 16 feet on 10 pound XPS,” Horton said. “That was perfect, because a lot of the targets were in 14 feet of water.”
When the fish were in the mid depth rang, Horton would pick up his Pflueger Trion crankbait combo that had the same bait, but 14 pound XPS Fluorocarbon. “My bait would then run about 10 feet with that setup giving me just the right bottom contact,” he continued. “I needed the bait to hit the structure and maintain contact with it all the way through the area, so making sure the bait ran about two feet deeper than the bottom was key.”
He said he would turn to the jig after combing the area with a crankbait to try and pick off any other fish on the structure.
Horton lost one fish on day one that hurt him. “I hooked the one big shallow bite I had all week on the first morning and totally messed it up,” the PAA executive said. “I didn’t realize how big it was and tried to flip it in the boat, and it came off in the middle of the move; it was seven pounds.” Horton said that the fish cost him second or third place.
Horton said that a recent addition to the PRADCO family has given him and the rest of the pro staff a leg up on the competition. “Andy Carroll has taken our lures to a whole new level,” he said. “PRADCO has lures like the ZARA Spook and the Fat Free Shad that are standards in the industry, but his involvement has taken things to a whole new level. I can’t think of a bait that PRADCO makes that is not the best or near the best in the industry, and Andy is a big part of that.”
Horton said that he is very optimistic about the recent news out of BASS headquarters, particularly the news about BASS allowing anglers to use their own boats. “I think getting to use our own boats is going to make a big difference for us when it comes to marketing,” he said it will improve boat wrap packages. “I think we will find that it improves our boat wrap deals by as much as 20 to 3o percent in some cases.” He said that the reason is that the new ruling removes a loophole in the marketing plan.
“Not being able to use our sponsor’s wrapped boat on the TV day made sponsors really take a second look at it,” he said. “For next year, we will be in our own boat all four days, including all three days of the Bassmaster Classic, and that just helps us market ourselves better.”
Horton also took a few minutes to talk about the overall focus of the PAA. “My main role is to focus on conservation, and we are trying to educate the anglers and fans as to how they can get involved in the conservation process,” he said. “But, as an organization we are working to make things better for all anglers.”
Horton was not able to disclose any specific plans for the PAA in the future, but he did say that the efforts are all to grow the sport. “I hear from people all the time about how much they want to see the best in our sport competing against each other,” he said. “The PAA wants to help pull that together, whether that means organizing tournaments or working with the leagues to finds a way to make that work, we will do that. We want to work with BASS and FLW to accomplish their goals and the goals of the anglers.”
About his role in The PAA, Horton says it is an honor. “My peers elected me to this post, and knowing that makes me want to work hard at it,” he continued. “We need to bring the focus back to the fans, by educating and engaging the serious fans that want to be good at fishing; they are the heart of this sport, and are key to the long term growth of it.”
Despite being a fierce competitor, Horton is a man with a big heart, and he displays it with a tribute to a friend on the rear of his tournament jersey. Horton, a Russellville, Ala. native played football at Russellville High School, the Alma Mater of Chucky Mullins.
For those who don’t remember, Mullins, who played defensive back for Ole Miss, was injured on October 28, 1989 while making a touchdown saving tackle against Vanderbilt. On the play, Mullins shattered four vertebrae in his neck and was permanently paralyzed; he died on May 6, 1991, from complications of the paralysis.
‘Chucky was a great guy,’ Horton said. “Most seniors in high school treat underclassmen like low class individuals,” Horton said. “Chucky was different, he treated us with respect, he always had a smile for us, and I wanted to do something to honor a man who treated me with respect, so I put his name on my jersey.”
Horton’s heart is evident in the tribute to Mullins, his efforts on behalf of the anglers and fans at the PAA, and in his fishing. Find out more about Timmy Horton and his sponsors by visiting his website at:
www.timmyhorton.com
To find out more about the Professional Anglers Association visit their website at
www.proanglersassociation.com
NOTE:
Horton will be featured in the next
"In the House" segment in the BZ.
Horton will be in the house in July.
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