Chris Dillow of Waynesboro caught 19 pounds 2 ounces of James River bass on Day 3 of the Bass Pro Shops Northern Open to bring his three-day total to 50-12, defeating his closest challenger by a margin of over 9 pounds.
The victory earned him more than $8,500 and a Nitro Z9 bass boat and tandem Nitro trailer rigged with a Mercury 225 Pro XS, Minn Kota Maxxum trolling motor, and Lowrance HDS-7C electronics.
Dillow relied on a jig of his own making – the Dillow’s Perfect Jig – as well as a Strike King DB Structure jig to pluck his fish from a variety of hard cover, including rocks, wood and several sets of old pilings.
“It’s a milk run that I fish all the time,” Dillow said. Included in that series of stops were “one or two community holes” that enabled him to fill out a limit and then push forward in search of kickers.
He fished the jigs on a 7’11 G.Loomis GLX flipping stick paired with an 8:1 Lew’s Speed Spool baitcasting reel spooled with 20 lb. test Seaguar Invis-X fluorocarbon.