If Justin Lucas were going big-game hunting, he’d probably head into the woods with just a pocket knife and a plan and emerge with dinner and a trophy. That’s effectively what he did to win the Bassmaster Elite at the Potomac River presented by Econo Lodge in August. He located the winning group of bass in a snag-filled underwater industrial jungle and plucked them out, one by one, with spinning tackle.
In an spot where even 50-pound braid or 25-pound fluorocarbon might have given many anglers a case of the shakes, Lucas relied on nothing heavier than 10-pound test, and he didn’t lose a hooked fish all week. “I’m totally comfortable doing it,” he said of light line in heavy cover. “It’s how I grew up fishing Clear Lake and the Delta.” It’s not that he doesn’t like winching on big fish with ropelike lines. Instead, it’s often a matter of necessity. When fish are being heavily pressured in the spring, or when presentations demand it, he won’t hesitate to go light. At the Potomac, the latter rationale prevailed.
“I want to use the heaviest line that I can,” he said of his spinning rod efforts. “I use 8-pound test more than anything, but at the Potomac I used a leader of 10-pound-test Trilene 100 Percent Fluorocarbon. It’s real strong stuff, but it was the right size to allow me to still be finesse. Spinning tackle was the only way I could really present the bait the right way in 5 to 8 feet of water. There was no need to change because I wasn’t losing fish.” Of course, his strategy isn’t just to get bites and then come up with a plan. At the Potomac — and any time he’s fishing heavy overhead cover with spinning gear — he has an escape route planned to maximize landings and minimize heartache. It starts before the fish even has a chance to strike.
“You need to make really accurate casts and plan ahead where you’re going to get a bite,” he said. “That’s the best opportunity to get the fish out. You have to look at each dock individually to understand where that is.”
He can skip or pitch a bait into the smallest openings, and he primarily uses a 7-foot medium-heavy Abu Garcia Veracity rod, which has the right tip for accuracy but substantial backbone for applying brute force when necessary.
While many anglers do pay attention to rod choice, fewer focus as clearly on their reels. Lucas uses an Abu Garcia Revo MGX 30, not only because it has a butter-smooth drag when needed, but also because it pulls up 35 inches of linenper turn off the handle.
