At Havasu, Gregory tapped a nearly unknown pattern, creeping a camouflaged Z-Man Gobius™ swimbait along rock-sand transitions, catch-photo-releasing two 5-bass daily limits for a total of 165.25-inches and earning ample cash to buy an extra airline seat for his trophy on the way home.

“Havasu showed us some of the clearest water I’ve seen,” Gregory recalled, denoting super spooky, selective pods of smallmouth bass well up the Colorado River. (The tough bite scenario yielded just a half a dozen two-day limits among all anglers.) “It was so clear that most of my prefishing was spent surveying 12 or 13 miles of river, just sunglassing for smallmouths 3 to 10 feet deep. I didn’t necessarily need to catch them, just to see their location and how they were setting up on structure.

“Going in, I wanted to fish moving baits like a spinnerbait. But with the cold water compounding the crystal-clear flows, I knew I had to grab the spinning rod and tie on the sneakiest, most lifelike bait in my arsenal.”

Chilly, gin-clear water and bluebird skies met 111 kayak angler/competitors at Lake Havasu.
(Photo by Mark Cisneros / B.A.S.S.)

Given Gregory’s aquatic surroundings, the Gobius was the perfect play. “It’s really an exceptional, underrated bait that obviously mimics the round gobies that stuff Great Lakes smallmouth stomachs. But the little secret is, across the country and certainly in the Colorado River live numerous bottom-oriented creatures, including sculpins. Bass chew on these things way more than we realize, and like gobies, they’re a super camouflaged fish that dart around and hide in rocks.”

On day-one, Gregory recognized the connection and went to work. “I tied on the Natural Goby pattern, which is camouflaged to blend in like a darter. Even absurdly tough smallmouths couldn’t say no to it.”

Rigged with 8-pound test braided line, Gregory said the 3/8-ounce Gobius performed flawlessly in the challenging conditions. “This lure weight allowed me to swim it nice and slow in that cold water, while its buoyant ElaZtech® body could be hovered just above all the clingy algae, which would otherwise take your cast out of the game.”

To stay concealed from spooky smallmouths, Gregory hugged banks tight while quietly maneuvering his self-designed Crescent Kayaks Shoalie upstream. “Most of the bass faced into the current, which let me drag and hop the bait right into their strike zone. Just lifting and letting the bait’s tail kick as it dropped triggered most of the bites. (He also fooled one of his six first-day bass on a StreakZ™ 3.75 jerk minnow rigged on a Finesse BulletZ™ jighead.)

Smallmouth bass typically gobble the Gobius swimbait like it's live bait.

Tapping his experience and tournament savvy, Gregory made a decisive tactical maneuver early on, which kept him well away from the crowds. “Havasu has a lot of really scenic water, including some awesome cliff and gorge areas in the backwaters,” he noted. “I knew these zones would attract plenty of angling attention, so I picked the most nondescript stretch of river I floated and just dissected it.

“Thankfully, I located one good pod with about 15 smallmouths, as well as a little backwater area with milkier water flowing out. There were some 4 and 5 pounders in the mix, too.”

Another key for Gregory was focusing casts on a mudline where the dirtier water from the slough met the clear main river. “Smallmouths feel comfortable feeding along edges like these. It’s also where I caught a good largemouth on day-two. Another vital detail was keeping the Gobius right in that transition zone where riprap faded to sand—a sweet little ambush wall for the smallmouths.”