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Fall 2026
WB: Besides the baits, do you do anything different with a drop- shot when it comes to the different species?
Lucas: I fish for largemouth with a Texas- rigged bait and use a No. 1 straight shank hook, and I will use a No. 2 drop-shot style hook and nose hook the bait for smallmouth. The rod is the other difference; I like a 7-foot medium-heavy Abu Garcia Fantasista X for largemouth and go with the medium for smallmouth. The medium- heavy would be too powerful for those little tiny hooks. Other than that, I use the same reel, an Abu Garcia Zenon X 3000, and the same line for both. I use 8-pound Berkley X5 braid in high-vis yellow, with a leader of 8-, 10-, or 12-pound Berkley Gin Clear fluorocarbon.
WB: Do you fish the baits any differently depending on the species or where you are fishing?
Lucas: For the most part, it’s the same, but one thing I do a lot when I am practicing for a tournament is to fish a drop- shot fast and make a lot of casts, work the bait a few times, and make another cast. It’s a great search tool, and you can
Photo: PMoore
fish it much faster than most finesse techniques to locate fish. Once I find fish, that’s when I slow down and really pick everything apart and try to get more bites. Another big key is to always use the lightest weight you can get away with. I feel like that is one way to get more bites with a drop-shot, no matter what species you are targeting.
LUCAS REFLECTS ON HIS CAREER
WB: It’s hard to believe it was six years since your last win; was that weighing on you at all?
Lucas: I’ve always heard other anglers older than me say that you never know when your last win will be. I’d hear that
and say, “Man, I still have a
lot of years ahead of me. That
can’t be the last time I win,
right?” It weighed on me a
little bit in that aspect, but
at the same time, I’ve been
knocking on the door for the
win, and I knew I had been
staying competitive.
page 46
Photo: PMoore
WB: With this recent win, how is your confidence level going into next year?
Lucas: The win fires me up and makes me want to go out and get another one. Hopefully it’s not my last one, but at the end of the day, I was just a kid from California, and I’ve made this whole thing work. Even if I never win another one, I’m really thankful that I’ve been able to do this for so long. •