Terry "Big Show" Scroggins won his second consecutive BASS Southern Open this weekend – with both wins following shortened practices and both using
YUM Houdini Worms as major tools.
Scroggins, who now has five BASS wins to his credit, arrived at South Carolina’s Santee Cooper lakes later than the bulk of the other competitors in the most recent event because he made the final 12 (and ended up finishing fourth) in the BASS Elite Series Southern Challenge on Lake Guntersville.
During his short practice, Big Show visited several spots that had produced for him in the past but didn’t find any concentrations of fish. However, he did figure out that post-spawn fish were relating to cypress trees in roughly four feet of water and that they could not resist a Houdini Worm.
Scroggins, who amassed 50 pounds, 11 ounces during the three-day event and upgraded his catch each day, fished with Green Pumpkin and Watermelon/Red Flake Houdini Worms, adding a split shot to the line just above the hook. He moved continually throughout the tournament, following his pattern and never returning to spots.
He used 8-pound-test the first two days of the competition but got broken off by three different 6-pound fish during those two days. For the final day, he switched to 12-pound-test and got less bites but put every fish that bit into the boat.
During the first Southern Open event, which was held on Florida’s Kissimmee
Chain of Lakes, Scroggins Carolina-rigged a Houdini Worm in addition to swimming an XCalibur Xr50 Rattle Bait over submerged hydrilla. His Florida practice was shortened by participation in the 2007 Bassmaster Classic, in which Scroggins finished 7th.
Having won both Southern Opens, Scroggins is easily in first in the points with one event remaining in that series. The final event is at Wheeler Lake, and Scroggins has done well on the Tennessee River in the past. The top three anglers in the Southern Opens will earn bids for the 2008 Bassmaster Classic.
Toyota Texas Bass Classic, Too
In between BASS tour stops, Big Show joined many of the nation’s top pros and competed in the inaugural Toyota Texas Bass Classic – a unique team event held at Texas’ Lake Fork April 13-15 and put on by the Professional Anglers Association.
Scroggins captained of one of 20 four-man teams, and his team ended up winning the $250,000 first prize, fishing almost exclusively in a single area where Scroggins located a huge school of quality bass with a Bomber Fat Free Shad during practice.
Photos courtesy of ESPN-Outdoors