Regular Job: Full time student at Middle Tennessee State University, studying elementary education K-6
Boat: Triton 19X3 with Mercury 225XS
Truck: Ford Expedition
Other Sponsors: All Star, G. Loomis, Pflueger
Dog’s Name and Breed: no dog, a cat named Raisin (normally that’s minus 10 points, but Stanton insists that Raisin is a murderous soul that leaves dead rats and moles on the driver’s seat of his boat, so we’ll waive the penalty)
Where should a first-time visitor to Center Hill start his search for smallies during summer?
Start at the point in front of Edgar Evins Marina. The point in front of Center Hill Marina is also a good one. These two areas have access to the main channel, chunk rock and pea gravel. The cove that surrounds Edgar Evins Marina is an excellent place to work. I've caught a ton of good smallmouth around the marina, and I always take my guide trips in there. The area from Edgar Evins to Holmes Creek has all types of structure that anyone can feel comfortable fishing...except for those who like to flip. If you're a flipper, head up river about 30 or 40 miles, take your boat out and go somewhere else. Bring a shaky head with a green pumpkin/purple flake or smoke red pepper Yum Houdini worm with Booyah 1/8 to 1/4 oz. Big Show Football head jig head. Gonzo grubs in red shad and Ozark smoke work well in the clear water. You'll need a BD6 Fat Free Shad and a BD5 Fat Free Fingerling in DCS (Citrus) and FS (Foxy Shad) to find schooling fish. To work the bluffs, bring either a Booyah HD spinnerbait in any kind of chartreuse or a Boogie bait in chartreuse and white or purple and white. Don't fish a bluff without a Smithwick Devil's Horse. Something about those prop baits and bluffs that smallmouth can't stand. Jigs: Booyah Bed Bugs with Yum Craw Papi trailers to work bluffs and points.
If you really want to catch smallmouth at Center Hill in summer, stay on the lake way after dark. They really pick up at night (typically). You better have a Booyah Moon Talker spinnerbait in blue/black for dark nights and red/black for moonlit nights. Work the spinnerbaits on the bottom, slow rolling, always staying in contact with the bottom. Fish the points and pockets. You'll need either a Yum Craw Papi or Big Show Craw to work these same areas as the Moon Talker. You'll need black/blue or PB&J for dark nights, and crawdad, Cooter Brown and red shad on the moonlit nights. Lastly, you'll need either a BD6 or BD5 Fat Free Shad in Texas Red Sparkle. Yes, fish do hit plugs at night, and these are the best two that I've ever used up there.
What’s your summertime go-to bait on Center Hill and how do you work it?
In the daytime, a 3/16-ounce Booyah Big Show jig with a smoke red pepper or green pumpkin/purple flake Yum Houdini worm. I also use a Fat Free Shad BD6 in Citrus or Foxy Shad. I always have a Yum Gonzo Grub in Ozark Smoke on a Booyah jighead (5/16-ounce). At night, the Gonzo Grub in red shad, a Booyah Moontalker (1/2-ounce) in red/black or blue/black, and a Big Show Craw in Cooter Brown. I'll finish off my go to baits with a BD6 Fat Free Shad in Texas Red Sparkle. What's that, you only want one bait? I can’t do that! Okay, my go to bait is a Yum Big Show Craw in PB&J. Just enough purple for moonlit nights and dark enough for dark nights. I work the Big Show Craw on points, bluffs, flats, pea gravel...everywhere. I add a 3/8-ounce XCalibur Tungsten and work it slow, Texas rigged. Sometimes I keep the bait in the same location for about a minute if things are really slow.
What do you like best about tournament fishing?
This is going to sound corny, but the thing I love most about tournament fishing is the blast off. Most of the tournaments I fish are wildcats and everyone blasts off at the same time. I love the rush of trying to get to a spot before anyone else. In the bigger tournaments when I have a big run, I like to catch the guy in front of me. I'm not as into the mentality of "I'm trying to beat nature," I'm trying to beat the boat in front of me! So childish, I know. After the blast off, it's business. I like finding fish, and I like finding the magic pattern as well just like everyone else. But I really like the sound of "Boat number one!" on a megaphone.
What are the three most important things about night fishing for smallies?
Be patient, switch presentations and work deep water if needed. Night fishing for smallies can turn on at any time, and they also can turn off. If you find an area and catch them on a particular bait and they stop biting, try something else and move deeper. Always keep in mind that smallmouth relate to pea gravel and points. If you find this combo, it should be just a waiting game.
What’s your most memorable guide trip?
I have two equally memorable guide trips. This first is taking out Little Jimmy Dickens. I can’t repeat what was said, but what I can say is that we were fishing Old Hickory. Let me tell you, the name “Little” fits this man to a T. He was so cute, I wanted to put him in my pocket and take him home. It was kind of like watching ET for the first time, and you wanted to take ET home with you. We were on a Cordell Super Spot bite and I was killing them by reeling as fast as I could. Little Jimmy wasn’t catching nearly as many, and I looked back and figured out what the problem was. He had a 5-foot-6-inch pistol grip rod and a Zebco 33 reel. His tiny hands were burning the reel as fast as he could, but his bait was moving about two miles per hour.
The other trip was with a guy straight from Japan. When I met him at the ramp I said “Hello Sir, how are you?” He smiled and spoke in Japanese, and I knew I had better find fish in a hurry. After about three hours we were catching them good on a Houdini Shad and he got hung up. When I retrieved the hook it was bent and while bending it back into shape it broke and went into my index finger. Blood was gushing out. He ran up to the front of the boat, looked at my finger, then at me, and said, “Oh no, you need fust aid!” “Fust” is not a typo. I immediately fell to the ground in tears of laughter. That was the funniest thing I’d ever heard. The guy hadn’t spoken a lick of English all day and then he pulls out “Oh no, you need fust aid!” I’ll never forget that.