6th Sense Pro Finishes 5th in MLF Toyota Series Event

6th Sense Pro, Eric Olliverson, recently notched a top-5 finish in the MLF Toyota Series event on Lake of The Ozarks.  Olliverson relied on the 6th Sense Crush Flat 75X and the Curve 55 Finesse crankbait to catch bass in the frigid weather.

(photo by: Tyler Brinks, MLF)

Eric’s practice leading up to the tournament was subpar at best.  Having only three bites his whole practice period, Olliverson knew an adjustment had to be made if he was going to do well in this event.  On day one of the tournament, Eric decided he would dedicate his time to the Niangua river area. He rotated between the 75X in Boiled Crawfish/4K Shad and a spinnerbait to manage a three fish limit that weighed nearly 12 pounds.  Eric explained that he was around scattered big fish, not large schools of small ones, which proved to be true on day two where he weighed in a solid limit over 18 pounds.  During the day, Olliverson stayed in the same area but began to use the Curve 55 Finesse crankbait in the Ozark Craw color.  With many other competitors in the Niangua River, Eric was forced to fish behind several boats on each stretch of bank that he liked.  In order to catch his fish, the 6th Sense pro resorted to fishing shallower than his competition, he targeted depths of less than 3 feet of water and casted 10-20 inches off the bank.  He said, “the Curve Finesse Crankbait has balsa qualities which allow it to crawl over the jagged rock without getting hung up.”  This bait was also subtle enough to provoke reaction strikes from bass that were not particularly aggressive in the freezing cold water. The Lake of The Ozarks was so cold that each morning parts of it froze over, forcing the 6th Sense pro to break through ice going into his areas.  After seeing immediate success on day two, Olliverson decided to stick with his finesse cranking pattern going into the third day of competition. He arrived at one of his areas and as he fished his crankbait through a fallen tree, Eric stated that “it felt like he got hung on a log’. This log turned out to be the biggest bass of the tournament, a 7-pound 9-ounce beast. Olliverson finished up his day with a 16-pound limit which solidified his fifth-place finish in a field of over 120 professional anglers.

(photo by: Patterson Leeth, MLF)

During this tournament, the 6th Sense pro lived by the motto “less is more.”  While he was not around large numbers of fish, Eric found a way to get quality bites that his competitors simply were not getting.  Downsizing his presentation proved to be a huge move in the right direction. By throwing a Curve 55 Finesse on 8-pound test fluorocarbon, Olliverson was able to catch fish behind many of his competitors. The last key point of his approach was depth. Eric Olliverson was targeting transition banks in an extremely shallow water column that most of the other pros were overlooking. 

We want to congratulate Eric on his stellar performance and Team 6 wishes him the best of luck the rest of the season.