MLF EMBEDDED: Inside Strader’s ‘Gut-Wrenching Death Round’ Win
HOT SPRINGS, Arkansas – It was the defining moment of the recently aired Sudden Death Round of the 2018 MLF Summit Select on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and as we’ve all come to expect from Wesley Strader, it came with a clever quote.
After surrendering the round’s lead to Ott Defoe just seconds earlier, Strader tied into a 4-pound, 10-ounce largemouth that catapulted the Tennessee pro over the day’s 16-pound cut weight and into the Championship Round.
“If that was a drug, I’d buy it by the pound,” Strader cracked as he turned the fish loose with shaking hands and celebrated making his first MLF final in just his second event.
But it hadn’t been quite so pleasant to get to that point.
As viewers likely noticed just moments before, Strader growled and muttered in disgust as the final seconds ticked away on Round 1.
It was a departure for the good-natured Tennessean, who appeared to be in excellent shape, with 12-15 and the lead as he, Defoe, Randy Howell, Michael Neal, Fletcher Shryock and Gary Clouse punched their way toward the day’s 16-pound cut weight.
A departure, but also a “tell” about Strader’s anxiety level as he inched tantalizingly close to finishing out what he jokingly refers to as the “Gut-Wrenching Death Round”.
“I really wanted to hit that cut weight in the first period,” Strader admits. “I missed a couple of fish and had been in the right place (to go out early), so I was a little bit disappointed that I couldn’t get a couple more bites (before the period break). Things can change a lot in 30 minutes.”
Especially during a shad spawn, which was clearly the biggest factor of the morning.
Strader had rung up a pair of 2-14s and had surged to over 7 pounds on three fish in the first 45 minutes of Round 2, and had then plinked his way to four more scorable fish (all under 2 pounds) in the next 90 minutes.
But that bite was fading, and he knew it.
“The later it gets on those shad-spawn deals, the harder it gets to catch them,” Strader says. “Shad are on the bank in the morning spawning on rock walls, but they tend to quit that and go deeper as the sun gets higher. I figured it would change up quite a bit during the break.”
Strader’s fears appeared to be coming true at the start of Period 2 as Defoe rang up SCORETRACKER with four fish for 7-9 in the first 30 minutes to pass Strader. But no sooner had Defoe’s fourth fish been announced by Boat Official Steve Core than Strader’s big fish followed his baby-bass colored Pop-R out from the bank and inhaled it right at Strader’s feet, pusher him over the cut weight.
Strader’s key baits
Strader’s most productive bait in the round was a ½-ounce white Stan Sloan’s Zorro Baits swim jig with a White Pearl Zoom Z-Craw trailer, fished on 50-pound Gamma Braid spooled on a Team Lew’s Pro Magnesium Speed Spool Series in a 6.8:1 gear ratio.
He also caught fish on a Pearl Bone Wesley’s Ploppin’ P topwater by PH Custom Lures.