Monday, February 26, 2007
 

Photo: Brad Brown Tough casts with live bait got Team Moonlite these fish and a big win under their belts.

(Editor's note: This is the final part of a 3-parter on Team Moonlite Charters winning pattern at last fall's Flatsmasters Championship. Apologies for the delay in publishing it.)

Well, now you know the story of how Team Moonlite – Capt. Brad Brown, Jason Dudley and Derek Carlson – won the 2006 Flatsmasters Championship. Here's what they did to catch their fish, plus some gear notes.

Winning Presentation

"In terms of boat position, you want to get as tight to the cover as you can," Brown said. That's because in this case the cover was docks, and – just like bass fishing – his teammates were casting as far back as they could (about 25 feet) for those reclusive big snook.

The bottom in the area they were fishing sloped down a bit, which gave them the opportunity to fish for both species. Snook would hit before the bait sank, and if there wasn't a snook bite they'd let the tide pull the bait down to deeper water to try to catch a nice red.

The bait of choice was pinfish and whitebait. Pinfish in that 3- to 5-inch size "easily weigh about 4 ounces," Brown said. So even with just rigging it on a single 5/0 circle hook, casting isn't a problem in terms of weight.

But as he noted, "it's the accuracy." Try getting 4 ounces of helicoptering baitfish 25 feet under a dock and you see what he means. Get good enough and sometimes "you can even skip (the bait)," he said.

Much of the time it was "next to impossible for three guys to fish at the same time – even two guys at the same time," he said. "We'd have one guy fishing, one guy on the trolling motor to pull the boat out away from the dock and pilings if we had time, and one net guy and boat control guy. We'd take turns with that."

Winning Gear

> Rod – 7-foot medium-heavy or heavy spinning outfits (St. Croix and Cape Fear)

> Reel – Shimano Stradic 4000 or Quantum Cabo 40

> Line – PowerPro braid (40, 60 or 80-pound)

> Leader – 60- to 80-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon connected to mainline with uniknot

> Hook – 5/0 Owner circle hook. Brown said: "It's very sharp right out of the bag, which is important because (around docks) there's not a lot of room to really rear back and set the hook, and if you lift up you can break off. You have to pull to the side and pull down. If you go to a larger size, that's all right. But if you go to a 3/0, you run the risk of opening up a hook." He always uses a loop knot for the hook because it "allows the bait to turn freely. I only use a cinch knot when the knot is buried in soft-plastic."

> Bait – 3- to 5-inch pinfish and whitefish, hooked "three basic ways: just behind the anal fin, which makes the bait want to swim up and away from you; in the back, which makes it swim down and away; and in the lips, which is a little better if you want to move the bait back toward you. We vary it – it depends on how the bite is (even during the course of a day)." Brown noted that the loop knot helps eliminate the problem of whitebait getting the hook point in its gills, which decreases hookups.

Only in the case of strong tides or wanting to get the bait down a little more will he use weight – either some splitshot or an in-line sinker from1/4- to 3/4-ounce. "I don't like it, but sometimes you have to use it to get the bait to stay in the strike zone longer."

Winning Rig

> Boat – 2007 22Z Shearwater (fiberglass)
> Motor – Yamaha 250 hpdi
> Trolling Motor – Minn Kota 101, hand control
> Electronics – Garmin 498c (depthfinder and GPS)
> Pole – 8-foot Power Pole
> Other Equipment – Boat comes standard with trim tabs and 10-inch Bob's Machine Shop jackplate.

Brown said: "I run a big bay boat, so go-fast flats boats can't keep up in rougher water. That allowed us to get (to their spot) a little quicker."

Main Factor In Their Success

> Brown – "We were willing to make that long run to try and separate ourselves from the rest of the field."

> Dudley – "The ability to change our plan at a minute's notice. The day before the tournament, we actually set out with a plan to fish all these spots thinking another team would be on our spot. But no one was there so we quickly changed our plan to fish the spot that we'd been fishing the past year."

Performance Edge

> Brown – "Using braided line in this type of heavy structure is a big factor. You couldn't (fish that way) with mono."

> Dudley – "I'd have to say that with the weather the way it was, and Charlotte Harbor as nasty as it was, it was definitely that boat. We never doubted making that 40-mile run in that Shearwater 22-foot boat."

Notable

> Brown noted that the Rejuvenade livewell additive was "a factor to keep the bait alive as well as our fish alive."

> Carlson didn't return a phone call seeking comment for this article

- End of part 3 (of 3) -