Tim Horton found a goldmine in Lake Champlain. Actually it was a pile of rocks, but to the Alabama pro it was as good as gold, because the rocks were loaded with chunky largemouths, and Horton selected the perfect tools to tap his goldmine for a runaway victory in the Bassmaster Elite Series Champion’s Choice.
Horton’s No. 1 tool during the first three days of the tournament was a YUM Craw Papi rigged on a BOOYAH Football Jig. Other important lures during the tournament included a Bomber Fat Free Shad Jr. and a YUM Vibra King Tube.
Horton, whose 83-pound, 10-ounce four-day weight eclipsed that of his nearest competitor by nearly 13 pounds, did the bulk of his damage with a Brown ½-ounce BOOYAH Football Jig rigged with a Brown and Black BOOYAH Jig Skirt and a Green Pumpkin 4.25-inch YUM Craw Papi.
“Those fish were feeding on crawfish,” Horton explained. “A lot of crawfish have both brown and green in their coloration, and that combination looks very natural in the water. I really like the way the pinchers move on the Craw
Papi.”
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The
1/2 –ounce Football Jig was ideal
for feeling the rocks and controlling
the bait, according to Horton, who was
crawling the bait right along the
bottom in approximately 6 feet of
water, occasionally hopping it up from
the rocks. “A real key to the jig is
its hook,” he noted. “You just
don’t lose fish once you hook
them.”
Horton’s crankbait, a Bomber Fat
Free Shad Jr. in Dance’s Citrus
Shad, came into play on the final day,
when the fish weren’t hitting the
jig well. |
“I
made 10 or 15 casts with the BOOYAH jig and
didn’t get a hit, and I knew something had
changed,” he said. “Either I was running
out of fish, or they were getting
conditioned to seeing that jig. I hadn’t
shown them a crankbait so I threw it in
there and immediately ignited the school.
Apparently it was exacty the right size and
color because I caught them steadily for the
next hour. The Fat Free Shad was critical to
me winning the tournament.”
Finally, Horton caught a few significant fish with a YUM Vibra King Tube, which he Texas rigged on an XCalibur Tx3 Hook, weighted with 1-ounce Tg Bullet Weight and flipped into vegetation.
“Fish management is really important in a four-day tournament, so I left my main spots early each day and looked for other fish. I was able to cull a few fish by flipping vegetation, and one of those was a 4-7 that I caught late on the first day and used to cull a 2-12.”
Horton, who has four BASS wins to his credit, notched two of his past victories punching a Vibra King Tube through dense vegetation. “The combination of bulk and the solid head, which is excellent for rigging in heavy matted cover or vegetation or wood, makes it second to none as far as a flipping bait goes," Horton said about the Vibra King Tube.
Horton’s win at Lake Champlain moved him to fifth in the 2007 BASS Angler-of-the-Year standings. A former Angler-of-the-Year, Horton is currently riding an eight-year streak of Bassmaster Classic qualifications. With only three events remaining in the season, including two at the sites of past Tim Horton victories (Potomac River, Lake Toho), number nine is looking quite likely.
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