Back to Knoxville: Tournament-Winning Lures for the Tennessee River
As we head toward the 2023 Bassmaster Classic in Knoxville, the 2019 iteration of the big event seems like a lifetime ago. Since then, we’ve gone through “the split” between the two tours, the COVID pandemic, and three more Classics, including two Hank Cherry victories and a redemptive performance by Jason Christie.
Knoxville is one of my favorite Classic sites for a variety of reasons: It’s about as close as a February/March event can be to my house (just a 7 hour drive), everything is close together (no hour drive from the lake to the weigh-in), and my lovely wife looks good in orange.
This time the derby will be a few weeks later in March, and we’ve had a relatively mild winter, but if you’re looking for early hints of what could happen (or if you have a tournament of your own), consider some of the following lure choices.
Ott DeFoe’s Winning Baits
Ott DeFoe was the rare pre-tournament favorite who lived up to the hype. He caught 20 pounds on Day One to grab the lead and had 18-14 on Sunday to claim the trophy. He used two hard baits and an “unnamed vibrating jig” to win. The two hard baits were both from his sponsor Rapala/Storm:
The Vibe was in the “Rusty Craw” pattern with additional Sharpie marks. Since then Storm has come out with a “Classic Craw” color. The DT4 was dark brown craw.
Other 2019 Classic Contenders (as reported)
2nd Place --Jacob Wheeler
3rd Place – Jesse Wiggins
4th Place – Mike Iaconelli
Missile Baits Ike’s Mini Flip with Berkley Mini Chunk Trailer (black and blue)
Molix Water Slash Spinnerbait (Double Colorado – chartreuse/white).
5th Place – Mark Daniels Jr.
Rat-L-Trap (1/2 ounce Red Craw)
Bill Lewis MR-6 Strawberry Craw or Chartreuse Blaze)
Will Big Baits Be in Play?
Despite a strugglicious Day Three that dropped him back to 12th place overall, Chris Zaldain looked to a contender after dropping a tournament-best 21 pound 12 ounce bag on the scales on Day Two. Most if not all of that catch was amassed with a Megabass Magdraft prerigged swimbait (albino pearl). If those same fish had fired on Day Three, he might have made a run at it. Since then, Zaldain has designed a similar unrigged soft lure for Bass Mafia.
Gussy’s Bronzeback Guidelines
The Elite Series returned to Knoxville for a regular season event in late February of 2021. DeFoe and the other members of the top five had by then moved to the Bass Pro Tour (Ike has since come back but he will not compete in the 2023 Classic). Veteran Canadian pro Jeff Gustafson led the tournament from wire-to-wire, and won entirely on smallmouths. That’s particularly remarkable because they have to be 18 inches to keep there. He used the “moping” technique to fool them. His key bait was a 4-inch Z-Man Scented Jerk ShadZ (Bad Shad) on a custom-poured 3/8 ounce jighead.
Gussy will be in the Classic again this time, his fourth straight appearance. Will smallmouths play a role? Any competitor who can add a few to his bag each day will be in good shape, although those 17 ¾ inchers can be a nasty curse.
