Peter Phelps showed the way at the 2012 Lake Glenbawn BASS Pro fishing finesse plastics through the flooded trees to claim his maiden ABT win.
F
inesse plastics have been something I have played around with since my first tournament as a non-boater in 2005. I fished with a bream angler who was using 3” jerk minnows in the weeds at Glenbawn with good results. Since then I have trialled many different styles of plastics with varying success depending on time of year. Put simply, finesse plastics fishing involves cutting down paddle-tails and jerk minnow plastics and fishing them on jigheads no heavier than 1/6oz. The finesse side is all about matching the hatch, having a plastic that looks and behaves exactly
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like the bass’ prey. Paddle-tails can be used in full size or cut down so they’re not much bigger than the diminutive no. 2 hook jighead that they can be rigged on. Jerk minnows also respond well to being cut down, even if it’s just to get the body size correct to match the hatch.
A Fine Line The finesse approach in many instances ends with the lure itself, because in a lot of cases you’re casting the lure into rugged terrain and fishing locked drags, stiff rods and heavy leaders in an attempt to drag fish from cover. This brutal approach means that TOURNAMENT ANGLER GUIDE 13
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