Wolak found Strength in his Weaknesses
Category: article
Sep 23rd, 2008 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Sep 23rd, 2008 at 12:00 AM
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Wolak is on his way to a fourth Bassmaster Classic
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When Bassmaster Elite Series Pro Dave Wolak was asked what four lures he wouldn't leave home without prior to the start of the 2008 season he said a Colorado-bladed spinnerbait, a black 3/8 oz. flippin jig, a shallow running square-bill crankbait and a YUM Houdini worm on a Shaky Head.
Now that the 11-event season is over, and Wolak has qualified for his fourth Bassmaster Classic, we asked him to talk about the lures he actually used — compared to what he thought he'd use. "I'd probably pick the same four lures all over again if I were stranded in some obscure fishing location and had to catch a bass, but the reality was that much of this past season took place in post-spawn and summer conditions, so the spinnerbait and the shallow crankbait weren't nearly as helpful as they would be in the early spring or fall," said the 2005 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Rookie of the Year.
Turns out, that only one of his four original picks, the Shaky Head worm played a key role. So what worked? "The YUM Money Minnow was the big surprise winner for me. I never considered myself a big swimbait fisherman before I started using this bait. But it's easy to use, and it runs extremely true through the water. I scored a Top 10 finish on it at Lake Murray, which included the Purolator Big Bass on Day 2. Plus, I caught a 10-pounder on it at the Toyota Texas Bass Classic, and I caught key fish on it at other tournaments throughout the year," said Wolak.
Wolak also discovered he wasn't as bad at deep-cranking as he once thought. " I used to say that deep crankbait fishing was my biggest weakness, but I practiced a lot of cranking in NC last off-season and became a lot more comfortable with it. I used a Bomber Fat Free Shad to finish 14th at Lake Wheeler this year. I truly believe it's the best deep cranking plug on the market, anyone that cranks owns a bunch of these," said Wolak.
A 1/ 2 oz. Title-Shot Jig trimmed with a YUM Craw Papi trailer and a Title-Shot Shaky Head jig paired with YUM Houdini worm definitely served as day-savers for Wolak in 2008. " I mostly consider myself a jig fisherman, because it's the all-around bait no matter what time of year. There were very few days on the water this past season where one of these two jigs failed to bail me out when I badly needed a bite. The head design that Title-Shot used on both these jigs is extremely snag-free, which means I can fish them around anything from dock posts to vegetation to get a bite when I need one. I'd say those two jigs combined for 50% of the keepers I weighed in this year."
To read more about the Toyota Tundra pros please visit www.toyotafishing.com.