In the young existence of Major League Fishing's REDCREST, Oklahoma pro Zack Birge has done quite well in the three events that have been held, notching two 4th-place finishes to go with another great placement, a 6th. Maybe this will be Birge's year to win it, but he'll have to do it on a lake he's never seen in North Carolina's Lake Norman.
Even though he's never been to the lake, he has an idea of what to expect and plans to work that into his strengths when he gets there.
REDCREST Preparing from afar
All competitors for this year's event were allowed time before the off-limits period to make scouting trips. Birge was too busy with other obligations during the off-season and never made the trip. Instead, he's been doing his prep work and research electronically.
"I'm not reading any articles or anything," he said of their ability to scour publicly available information online. "My research and preparation has all been done with Google Earth and sitting in my boat looking at my Lowrance maps to get a game plan. This gave me a good feel for how the lake looks and lays out."
Because of the lake type and time of year, Birge expects a prespawn bite in typical prespawn areas. He also sees similarities to other lakes that he has fished.
"It looks like it's going to have a Smith Lake (Alabama) or Lake Hartwell (South Carolina) vibe with the docks and mix of largemouth and spotted bass," he said. "Those are my initial thoughts and give me an idea of what to do. But you also have to stay open-minded this time of year and that's what I will do when I get there. I'm ready, though; it should be fun."
Predicting the Patterns
As Birge gets ready for REDCREST, he believes jerkbaits and crankbaits will play a big part for him. He also thinks mixing in a jig will be a great way to target the many docks on the lake.
"Jerkbaits and shallow crankbaits should be a big player," he said. "I'll also pitch a jig around if there's a shallow bite."
When cranking, he will lean on staples like the Yo-Zuri 3DB Series Squarebill 1.5 and newer lures like the 3DR-X.
"The 3DR-X is a new bait for them and it's really good for fishing around bridges, pilings, and stuff like that," he said. "It's got a great crawfish profile and comes in some great finishes. Plus, since Yo-Zuri has internal paint and prism finishes, the color stays the same no matter what you bang it into or how many fish you catch. You might get a few scratches here and there, but the color stays looking good."
For jerkbaits, Birge believes that Yo-Zuri 3DB Series Jerkbait SP Deep 110 will be a good choice. He likes the deep version and not necessarily to fish deeper but to aid him when fishing while watching his Lowrance ActiveTarget.
"The deep version helps get the bait down quickly if I see one out there," he shared. "You don't have to make those casts way past the fish and try to work it down to them. Instead, you can cast a few yards past them and get right to them if they're sitting, say, 10 feet deep. It has a great action and casts great and the fact that it gets down right away really helps when it's windy and you are trying to control the boat and get to the fish quickly."
Birge says his go-to colors for the jerkbait are ghost sexy shad and clear pro blue. For both, he opts for 12-pound Yo-Zuri T7 fluorocarbon. For the cranking, he chooses an Alpha Angler Rebound rod and the Slasher for jerkbaits. Both are fished on a high-speed reel, something he likes to do for all techniques.
"I fish them all on fast reels and adjust how fast I'm reeling," he said. "That forces me to pay more attention to what I'm doing and how I'm working the baits."
The other option that Birge could see coming into play is pitching an Omega finesse jig on a 14 or 16-pound test Yo-Zuri T7 fluorocarbon.
"I have a lot of confidence in that line because of how tough it is," he said. "Last year on Lake Fork, I had a bunch of 5 and 6-pounders wrapped around trees and got them all in. It's extremely abrasion resistant and can handle anything."
Keeping things simple is part of Zack Birge's approach everywhere he goes. He finds success all across the country and it typically comes down to fishing a handful of baits that are his strengths. After three excellent finishes in the three REDCREST tournaments, Birge is looking to take it up a notch and bring the trophy back to Oklahoma.
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