This Lucky 13 not a topwater

Most veteran bass fishermen are familiar with the “Lucky 13” lure.  But the guys that fished with that wooden plug probably have some pretty strong language to describe the one in this story.

Pro bass fisherman Casey Martin recently won the 2013 Walmart FLW Tour season with a four-day catch of 103 pounds, 3 ounces (winning by 22 pounds +) on Lake Chickamauga in Dayton, Tennessee.  The

Casey Martin and his 13-bait rig. (photo courtesy of FLW)

103 pound catch was impressive, but what was really news worthy is that he took “Alabama rig” fishing to a whole new level.  He caught a majority of his fish on a new kind of “Lucky 13” — an umbrella rig with 13 SWIMBAITS attached! That’s right, 13 — as in one more than a dozen.

It paid off. He started the last day off with twin 5-pounders on the line.  An 8-pound, 5-ounce giant, his biggest fish of the week, bit just a few minutes later, no doubt thinking he was swimming mouth open into a whole school of fresh filet of shad! He had his limit around 11. The final tally of 30 pounds, 1 ounce is astonishing, even for Chickamauga, but especially for late June.

Here’s what he caught them on, in case you are thinking about matching the rig: Martin caught most of his fish on a Picasso Bait Ball Extreme tipped with either Gene Larew Sweet Swimmers or Zoom Swimmin Super Fluke Juniors (albino color) on top and either Strike King Shadalicious (blue gizzard color) or Basstrix swimbaits on bottom.  Martin’s $125,000 win was the fourth, and by far the biggest, of his career. It also qualified him for the upcoming Forrest Wood Cup World Championship on the Red River in Shreveport this coming August.

I’d be interested in knowing what readers think about this. If you’ve got an opinion click on the comment link below.

The original

Lucky 13

topwater