Persistence pays off–for Brent Ehrler in winning at Table Rock Lake, and for me to track him down–and I did. And the grub story–it’s real–but with enough variations to make the story interesting. The location, of course was big. But more than that, the nature of the spot.
“It was an inside bend,” he described. “You know, the outside bend of a creek is a wall, but the inside bend forms a sort of flat point.”
That point gently faded from 12 to 15 feet before falling off into the channel. Then below the break the trees were located where he caught most of his fish. “The thing is,” he said, “those trees weren’t visible to passing boats. They were all 10 to 12 below the surface.”
But for the most part, those tree tops were where he fished the 5-inch Yamamoto grub, especially the first two days and then again on the final day.
So, was there something unique or magical about his grub baits? No. He used 1/4-ounce ball head jig! And the colors? Smoke and natural shad (so go ahead and order if you don’t already have boxes of them in your garage.)
“I’d cast it (from deep to shallow) and let it hit the bottom. Then I’d just kind of swim it through the trees,” the tops of which, he added, “were about the same depth as the flat point.”
Of course, working the same key location four four days required some other wrinkles. “I had to give them something else to look at,” he said. A 6-pounder on a Lucky Craft jerkbait didn’t hurt, and he also took a 3 and a 5-pounder using a crankbait on another day, substituting the grub for a Swimming Senko. His final round was more of the grub, plus a jig.
And as they like to say: It’s all good.