I once asked John Cox why he favors Berkley’s PowerBait MaxScent The General for virtually all of his angling scenarios and got this answer.
“It covers the entire water column.”
I asked him to clarify and he said, “It covers all depths up to 5 feet.”
Part joke, part fact, Cox has not caught a bass deeper than 6 feet, through four Bassmaster Elite Series events. That’s his style. You won’t find a drop shot or Ned rig on his front deck. That might change.
Meanwhile, this morning he is again covering the entire water column under his definition, fishing in 5 feet of water on the St. Lawrence River. That’s the report from Andy Crawford, who is shooting an early morning gallery of Cox, who also leads Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year going into today’s competition.
Andy confirmed what we already suspected. Cox is using The General, rigged wacky style, and tossing it across points. He gave up on largemouth and is now focusing on smallmouth.
What’s got to be eating away at his mind, unlike all previous events, is when he will punt and redefine his water column by fishing in Lake Ontario.
“Eventually, I’ll move to the lake,” he told Andy.
That’s a decision Cox is not used to having to make, although he admitted not catching any bass weighing over 4 pounds in the river.
“The lake fish are one-quarter of a pound heavier on average,” he said.
That seems like a lowball answer. Either way, it will be interesting to see what the trigger point will be that sends Cox to Lake Ontario, and to deeper water outside his comfort zone.
