By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
Two actively spawning fish that combined to weigh approximately 14 1/2 pounds. Getting them to bite and then wrangling them aboard his boat was worth $150,000 to Alton Jones Jr.
Jones won the Big Bass Bonuses in both the Knockout and Championship rounds at the recent Bass Pro Tour Heavy Hitters event at Lake Palestine in his home state of Texas. The former registered 8-03 on the boat official's scale and garnered him 50 grand. The latter was almost 2 pounds lighter (6-04), but was worth twice as much due its final-day occurrence.
Both fish inhaled a Geecrack Bellows Shad – a bait that's set to hit retail outlets within the next few months. The bigger one ate it more willingly – the other had to be smacked upside the head with it multiple times before it could no longer tolerate its presence.
Those were the only two scorable fish the 30-year-old Jones caught in the finals on his way to a 5th-place finish, which brought him another $15,000. It was his second six-figure payday of 2022 – he won the regular-season BPT event at Lake Fork (also in Texas) in February.
Here are some details surrounding those big-money catches.
Knockout Round
Jones caught the 8-03 near the end of the second of three 2 1/2-hour periods at approximately 1 o'clock. The competitors had been instructed to seek shelter at the conclusion of the period due to thunderstorms in the area.
"It wasn't good sight-fishing conditions," he said. "There was heavy cloud cover, it was spitting rain and it was really dark."
The fish was spawning in a dredged out canal and he couldn't tell how big it was. He was already in the lead for big-bass honors with a 6-11 he'd caught earlier in the day.
"All I saw was a shadow swim off a bright spot and I told my official, 'Man, that looked like a good fish.' I pitched over there and saw the shadow swim back in, and then my line thumped. It ended up being a 12-inch male.
"I thought I might've messed up by catching the male and if I'd known how big the other one was, I'd have been a little nervous. I pitched back over there and two casts later I saw her nose up on it. I told the cameraman it was a big fish, probably a 5-pounder. Four casts later, my line was swimming off and the fight was on."
When he got the fish to the boat, initially estimated it as another in the 6-pound class.
"I was really bad at judging fish in that tournament; normally I'm spot-on. Once I put my hands on her, I thought maybe she was a 7. After seeing pictures, she was built like a triangle.
"I knew I had a chance with the 6-11, but once I caught (the 8-03) I was pretty confident. Anything can happen and there are 10-pounders in there but fishing conditions were lousy and we were heading into the last third of the day."
As it turned out, the 6-11 would've held up."
Championship Round
Jones caught his second (and more lucrative) bonus-winner about 20 minutes into the final period of the final day.
"I spent about 20 to 30 minutes on her," he said. "She was kind of weird; the bed was so shallow and she didn't want to come in. Usually those type you straight-up don't catch."
Jones caught both of his bonus fish on a Geecrack Bellows Shad.
She was sitting a few feet off the bed watching the male do his business.
"At first I thought she was a 3- or 4-pounder and I'd about gotten to the point of giving up. I finally decided to pitch right at her to see if I could agitate her – that's a Hail Mary, last-resort tactic that has a low rate of success. I hit her in the side of the face and she flashed her mouth at it, so I was like, okay, hold the phone.
"I did that two more times, and the third time I hit her I killed (the bait's action) and she nosed down and ate it."
He also caught the male, which weighed 3-02. The duo accounted for all of his weight for the day.
"I had the lead (for the bonus and also briefly in the standings). I wasn't surprised that it held up, but I also wouldn't have been surprised if somebody had caught one bigger and I'd gotten my heart broken. There were 2 hours left and I got to sweat it out for the rest of the day."
Some Lowdown on the Bellows Shad
Jones said the bait is a close cousin to the Geecrack Bellows Gill, which he calls "the best sight-fishing bait I've ever used. But it's a specific-scenario bait and it's too big and bulky to fish on a daily basis. The Bellows Shad, with the smaller ribbed profile, swims like you wouldn't believe."
He said the proprietary S.A.F. material that the company uses in its plastics is extremely soft and allows the ribs to quiver while that bait stays in place.
"It's a good bluegill profile and we've all seen how bass guard their nests against bluegills. The bait really upsets bass that have got eggs down."
