Actually, that's flipping and pitching jigs and soft-plastics, which was involved in almost 30 percent of both wins and high finishes (2nd through 5th place) this year. Cranking, mostly in shallow water, climbed back into the second-most-productive spot after being displaced in the cool 2003 season by spinnerbaits.
Senko-type baits, which really came into their own in 2003, were bumped down a notch this year (to the fifth-most-productive technique) by finesse techniques, including dropshotting and shakey-heading.
The early "spring-loaded" tour schedules, particularly on the Bassmaster Tour, also seem to have contributed to a rise in the productivity of coldwater techniques like jerkbaits, tube-dragging and deep-jigging. And sight-fishing wasn't much of a factor at all.
This proves several things:
> Power techniques – including shallow cranking – still rule on tour.
> Most tour events are still won on bass living in shallow water no matter how cold or warm the water is.
> If BASS continues to load its Tour events into the early spring, proficiency in colder-water techniques is a must.
The Stats
Here's a quick look at how the stats break down:
> Flipping and pitching were involved in 28 percent of wins and a remarkably consistent 28 percent of high finishes. That's about where flipping was last year.
> Cranking was involved in 17 percent of wins (about the same as last year) and 24 percent of high finishes (three times more than last year).
> Spinnerbaits were at 10 percent and 5 percent, respectively, as compared to 16 percent and 17 percent during last year's cloudy tour season.
> Also:
-Seven (58%) of 12 tour events were pre-spawn
- Add in the four tournaments where bass were in all phases of the spawn, and 92 percent of tour events had pre-spawn fish
- Only one tournament (8.3 percent) was smack on the spawn, but add in the four all-phases events and that climbs to 42 percent of tour events with spawning fish
- One of the E50 events was on the spawn and three were post-spawn
- Both championships, held in July and August, were of course post-spawn
