HUGHES was flyin' high after his first major tournament win on Lake Shasta Photos by Gary Tramontina
Howard Hughes' money pit
By Brian Sak
Bassmaster February 2006
LOCAL ANGLERS ARE SOMETIMES favored to win fishing contests
on their home waters, but the outcome of these events often surprises
everyone. Their intimate knowledge of every piece of structure
and cover, and reconceived expectations of where bass should
be, tend to get in the way of making
decisions on the fly.
Out-of-towners, on the other hand,
can benefit from their unfamiliarity by "fishing the fish ." Bass are creatures of
habit strongly influenced by the conditions
around them - the anglers that
figure out what these fish are doing, and more importantly
why, usually do best.
There was definitely a shortlist of pre-tournament favorites going into the
final CITGO Bassmaster Western Open on Lake Shasta, with guys like Greg
Gutierrez, Russ Meyer, Jim Riley and Bill Townsend showing up at the top of most lists. But it was a lesser-known local, without a major
win, who made the decisions that took top honors.
"This time of year the bass should be in the creek channels
and chasing shad up points," admits Redding, Calif.,
pro Howard Hughes, "and although they should be eating
spoons and Spooks, I thought it would be more of a spoon
bite. One day I threw swimbaits for quite a few hours in the
morning, but it just wasn't working for me."
Although many of the anglers fishing Shasta stuck with
typical autumn patterns hoping they would eventually
produce better than average bass, Hughes decided that it
would be in his best interests to try another approach.
"All I had to do was turn my trolling motor on and
run the first big creek channell found," explains Hughes, "and when the fish weren't in the middle, moving around,
I knew I had a problem. If there are fish in 35 feet of water
and they aren't actively feeding, you aren't going to catch
anything on spoons.
"The Spook bite is obvious because it's calm, and the
bass start busting the surface on a regular basis," observes
Hughes. "When you hear a couple of splashes, or see trout
coming out of the water running for their lives, you're pretty
sure a Spook may be the ticket. But after a couple of days
not seeing those conditions, you just have to abandon it."
Hughes considers himself a good riverbed fisherman
and says that his knowledge of fish behavior and Shasta's
tributaries were key to his win - especially during this
mid-November tournament, when bass would be running
upstream as water temperatures began to drop.
Hughes has known about the area he targeted in
Shasta's Pit arm for a long time and that bass stack up in
specific spots every fall. By concentrating his efforts on
these fish-holding locations, he was able to catch plenty of
bass, continuously culling-up until securing the victory.
"The channel is long and straight as you move in,"
describes Hughes, "but all of a sudden there's two quick
bends with 80 feet of water around them. That's the last deep water and the bends in the channel break the current.
The shad hang out on those quick bends and that's where
the bass are, too."
In addition to targeting bends where shallow areas
dropped into deeper waters, Hughes looked for bass along
transitions where banks changed from dirt to rock or vice
versa. Although he would fish an entire bank as he followed
a creek channel, he would stop and methodically
cover the transition areas.
Hughes attempted to catch larger bass on the mornings
of Days 1 and 2 of the tournament, but it was his afternoon
Pit arm bite that allowed him to make the cut and fish the
final round. On the third day of the contest, he spent all of
his time in the Pit.
"The bass were there feeding on very small shad," says
Hughes, "so I began throwing a 6-inch shad pattern worm
and a 5-inch green/pumpkin with black flake Senko rigged
wacky style. To catch these bass, I had to fish real slow so
slowly, in fact, that it usually took me about 30 minutes
to cover 100 yards."
Even with an ample supply of bass stacked-up in the
upper portion of the Pit that Hughes was targeting, it took a
unique presentation to entice bites.
"I was very much finessing," claims Hughes, "but triggering
a reaction from the bass that were chasing shad
meant that I had to shake it (the worm or Senko) violently
using only light weight - it wasn't just a little doodle-doodle-doodle, but a real pop."
Hughes' excitement almost cost him the tournament,
which he won by just under a pound, when he lost a quality
fish at the boat.
"On the first day, I hooked a fish that would have probably
gone 2 1/2 pounds," chuckles Hughes, "but I was in a
hurry and missed lipping it - when I went to lift the fish by
its belly, it shook free. I became too conscious of my nonboater,
who was doing well, and started fishing too
fast. Once I slowed down, I was fine."
WINNING DETAILS
HOWARD HUGHES
WESTERN OPEN CHAMPION
LAKESHASTA
LURES: Gary Yamamoto Custom
Baits 5-inch
green/pumpkin with black
flake Senko and a
6-inch shad pattern worm.
TACKLE: 7-foot medium Fenwick HMG
graphite rods and Abu Garcia Cardinal C774
spinning reels spooled with 8-pound- test
Berkley Trilene XL monofilament. Senkos
an
worms were rigged on Gamakatsu No.2
dro
shot hooks.
TECHNIQUE: Hughes targeted
spotted bass
that were feeding on schools
of small shad
in Shasta's Pit arm, by casting
to distinct
transition zones where the bank
changed from
dirt to rock or from steep to
shallow. Fishing
slowly and violently shaking
the lures was
critical to enticing strikes when
bass became active.
The Shasta champ relied
heavily on a Wacky Rigged Senko,
agressively shaking it for bites.
Hughes targeted feeding fish
near channel bends and in areas
where the bank transistioned
from one structure to another.
Illustration: Chris Armstrong