Check out the size of this monster Dave caught at the recent FLW Series tournament at Lake Champlain…a 7lb 2oz brute.

“This is by far the biggest Largemouth I’ve ever weighed in up north”, Dave said. “I’ve caught smallies up to 7-14 from Lake Erie and have landed a couple big largemouth from Lakes Edinboro, Conneaut, and Wilhelm in the seven pound range in the past, but never actually weighed them on certified scales. I think this is the biggest Yankee bass I’ve ever caught period. I’m just so thankful I managed to catch that fish during the competition and not in practice, can you imagine?” What made it even more special was the fact that Dave caught a 6-2 during the Stren event on Champlain just a month earlier and forgot to weigh it for big bass that day. Big bass for the day was only 5-4.

Champlain is a big fish factory to say the least, with several smallmouth and largemouth over 5 pounds showing up at the scales each day. Pete Gluszek weighed in a 6-13 Largemouth on day 3 of that same event. Dave continued, “I love going to Champlain, especially at this time of the year. The leaves were changing, it was in the low 40′s in the mornings, and the water was really starting to cool down. It’s Fall and the big fish start going up super shallow to feed and escape the upcoming turnover. They also love to eat jigs this time of year, which is obviously one of my confidence baits.”

The Jig Dave caught his giant bass on was actually a prototype, one of only three that he’d received in the mail just days before he left for the Champlain tournament. “I was told these three jigs, one of each new size, was to be used for press and photos only, but the good thing is I still have it. I couldn’t resist! I probably caught 100 or more fish on it in three days, it’s been chewed up a little, but I didn’t lose it.” The new TABU Super Finesse Series jigs will be available sometime early next season. The exact jig Dave used was a 5/32oz black and blue with a tied skirt with a black and blue Kinami Bug trailer. He was cutting the bugs in half and only using the back portion, which is something he’s done successfully in the past.

This jig series was designed by Lefebre and his friend and lure-maker, Jimmy Lunsford. “I wanted something that was extremely compact in size, but had the muscle to drag a lunker out of the thickest cover, basically a tiny flipping jig. We came up with this and I’ve been winning money on it for the last 10 years or so, including a 9-1 big bass from Lake Murray in 2004. Jimmy’s still whooping on everybody back home with it too, he won the points champion in the KBBC Trail, the biggest trail in PA.

Dave’s big fish spot was a grassy point on the end of a rocky main-lake hump. The bite came in about 10 feet of water in the middle of a thick clump of milfoil. “I found the spot I caught that fish on on my last day of practice up north. I didn’t even get a bite there, but it just looked like the perfect type of deal to hold a big one, plus it was close to all my other spots. When I stopped there early the first morning I said to my co-angler, “Let’s start the day off with a big one”. I just felt like hitting it real quick before I went to my good stuff and it certainly paid off. That was the first fish in my live-well for the tournament, it was awesome!”

When the new “SF” jig hits the market, you’ll be the first to know!