Jim Jones’ move to the front of the boat this season did not start off like he’d hoped. Despite catching limits each day of competition, a trio of triple-digit finishes buried him in the points standings prior to the back-to-back Tennessee River tournaments.
After a 29th-place finish at Pickwick Lake, Jones followed it up with a 16th-place effort at Kentucky Lake as he rallied from 81st after day 1, thanks to an 8-14 kicker on Friday that catapulted him into the Top 20.
“I’m a pretty confident guy and I believe that I can do it, but I haven’t had a good year,” he said. “This definitely drives me. I don’t think I can make the (Forrest Wood) Cup, but this will definitely give me momentum going into next year.”
He didn’t have a lot of confidence coming out of practice. He caught 13-02 on Thursday, mostly on a dropshot, and found himself halfway down the leaderboard.
He called an audible Friday and stayed away from finesse presentations. His move to a 3/4-ounce jig resulted in a 23-04 stringer. It was a custom color from Wisconsin-based Brovarney Baits consisting of brown, black and green. He used a Strike King Rage Craw trailer to match.
“It just seemed to get bigger bites,” Jones said. “Even my bigger fish on day 1 were on the jig, so I stuck with it a lot more.”
His best spot was a sunken island that produced multiple 4-pounders and the 8-14 that stood as the big fish of the tournament until Jacob Wheeler caught a 9-04 on the final day.
“I didn’t catch anything like that in practice – that was a surprise,” he said of the big fish, which is the biggest bass he’s weighed in during a tournament. “Those fish were sitting on the drop. The rest were in 14 to 20 feet of water.”
The Sunline Strong Performer, which focuses on the angler who makes the most significant single-day move in the standings at each tour-level event, is brought to you by the great people at Sunline.
