Hughes relied on transition zones and electronics to find the fish that would
win him the tournament. ___________Photos by Gary Tramontina
Hughes shakes his way to victory
By Brian Sak
Special to Bass Times
LAKE SHASTA, Calif. - Sixty year old
Redding pro Howard Hughes knew there was a
decent autumn swimbait bite at Shasta as the
final CITGO Bassmaster Western Open of the
year approached. He also knew that many of the
top pros would be fishing for a handful of big
bites. His prowess with soft plastics, however,
had him going in another direction.
"One day I threw swirnbaits for quite a few
hours in the morning," admitted Hughes, "but it
just wasn't working for me - I didn't even have
any followers.And because the wind began howling
in the place I was fishing, I bailed to
this finesse-type area that I had stumbled
on about three weeks ago."
Relatively far up the Pit River
arm, but still downstream of the
transition between warm reservoir
water and cold stream water,
Hughes located what he hoped
would be enough spotted bass feeding
on schools of baitfish to last all
three days of the contest .
"The bass were feeding on very small shad,"
explained Hughes, "so I began throwing a 6-inch
shad pattern worm and a 5-inch green pumpkin
with black flake Senko rigged wacky style. They
were both larger imitations, but the fish seemed
to be tuned in to them."
When the first day of competition came to an
end, Hughes brought a five fish limit to the stage
that tipped the scales at 8 pounds, leaving him
tied with three other anglers for 25th place, and
6 pounds shy of the leader.
The second day of competition began much
the same as the first, with Hughes boating a
small 5-pound limit in the morning then running
to his Pit arm area in the afternoon . It didn't take long, however, for things to change for the better.
"When I rolled into my area, I caught two nice bass on consecutive casts," beamed Hughes. "Then I moved to another bank and hooked a couple more decent fish. I knew I had about 8 pounds again and was about to save a third spot for the final day when I decided that it would probably be
better to make sure [that I made the cut]. It only
took two more casts for me to catch a 4-1."
"Before I came in on the second day, I took
my partner to an area where he could drop shot
some fish," chuckled Hughes, "and while he was
trying to catch his fifth bass in 20 feet of water, I
cast up to about 5 feet and caught a 2 1/2-pound
smallie with five minutes to spare."
Hughes' second day liinit, totaling 12-14, was
the second heaviest stringer of the tournament and
good enough to move him all the way up to second
place and within striking distance of the leader.
''Needless to say, on the third day I went straight
to my primary area in the Pit," said Hughes. "On
the third cast I caught a 2-13, setting up
the day pretty nicely."
Despite having another quality
round, and 10-8 in the bag,
Hughes was anxious as he
waited his turn to weigh in.
When the dust finally settled,
however, he had locked up his
first Bassmaster Open victory.
Hughes was all smiles as he raised
the champion's trophy for the crowd.
The key to Hughes' Pit arm pattern was targeting
distinct transition zones where the bank
changed from dirt to rock or vice versa. Areas
where the bank had slid into the lake were also
productive.
"Transitions between steep and shallow
shorelines were also really important," claimed
Hughes, "and I would catch fish any time a flat
point dropped off and created and edge."
"To catch these bass I had to fish real slow," explained Hughes, "and I was really finessing. I was fishing so slowly, in fact, that it usually took me about 30 minuted to cover 100 yards. Any kind of wind and I wouldn't have won this thing. "Triggering a reaction from the bass that were chasing shad meant that I had to shake it [the worm or senko] violently using only light weight - it wasn't just a little doodle-doodle-doodle, but a real pop."
Another key to Hughes' success was the use
of his electronics to stay on top of baitfish
schools. More importantly, however, he used the
equipment to prepare for the action before it
began. "That Lowrance X-15 has been my saviour,"
said Hughes, "although I spent most of my time
looking at the X 135 I have mounted on the bow.
There were so many shad in the area I would see
them all the time, but with my electronics I could
tell when the bass became active. When I saw
the flashes start to go through the schools of
shad, I knew it would be getting fun. I could anticipate
a fish in about three casts every time."
All of Hughes' bass were landed with Fenwick
7-foot medium action HMG graphite rods
and Abu Garcia Cardinal C774 spinning reels
spooled with 8-pound-test Berkley Trilene XL
monofilament. He rigged both his worms and
Senkos with Gamakatsu No.2 drop shot hooks.