Walters Dominates at Murray with Soon to be Released Rapala Topwater Hero
Still a few months shy of his thirtieth birthday, Patrick Walters is building a lengthy list of professional angling accomplishments, and the latest came when he won the fifth Bassmaster Elite Series tournament of 2024 on South Carolina’s Lake Murray. Normally, a nearly 13-pound margin of victory would be unthinkable, except for the fact that when he won at Lake Fork in November of 2020 he lapped the field, beating his closest competitor by over 29 pounds. Indeed, he could have slept in the final day. He didn’t quite have that luxury this time around, but during his wire-to-wire victory, Walters made the game look easy. Burning just a few gallons of gas all week, he anticipated the movements of the herring-obsessed largemouths and offered them the right bait at the right time.
This marks the fifth professional win of his career at B.A.S.S., to go along with a major collegiate victory as well as titles on other tours. Furthermore, it pushes Walters well past the million-dollar mark in B.A.S.S. winnings, into the Top 50 on the all-time list.
Jowler Hits it Out of the Park
While the biggest bass of his 25-pound 8-ounce catch on Day One fell to a Rapala® Rocco® crankbait in Green Gizzard, a key element in his attack was the yet-to-be-released Rapala PXR Jowler 127. It’s a 5-inch sashaying surface lure with three #3 VMC RedLine Series™ 1X trebles, the rearmost of which is feathered. Besides its action and premium paint jobs, Walters likes the Jowler because it features a long-cast system and weighs nearly an ounce.
“It casts far, catches bigs, and calls them up,” he said. “It was critical to be able to cover a lot of water and get the attention of those fish.”
It’s easy to work, too, with a hard-cutting, splash-and-walk action.
“It walks amazing,” he continued. He fished it on 30-pound test Sufix® 832 Advanced® Superline braid in lo-vis green, a line that slices through the water and allowed him to get sure and solid hookups whether the fish ate at the end of a long cast or at boat side.
When Walters wasn’t throwing the Jowler he relied on a nose hooked fluke and a Carolina rigged creature bait. The nose-hooked fluke consisted of a size #2 Redline Neko hook tied to a 12-pound test Sufix® Advance® Fluorocarbon leader which was connected to 8-pound test Sufix Resolve braided line. Revolve® braided line is designed for spinning reels and will be introduced at ICAST in July, more to come on that soon.
Walter’s Carolina rigged creature bait setup consisted of a 20-pound test Sufix Advance Fluorocarbon mainline with a ¾-ounce VMC® Tungsten Flippin Weight which was connected to a 17-pound test Sufix Advance Fluorocarbon leader and a 4/0 VMC® Redline Hybrid Wide Gap hook.
More than Just the Win
Walters wasn’t the only Rapala pro to make good use of the Jowler. Cody Huff finished second with 81-4, including three days where he topped the 20-pound mark. He culminated that with a massive 25-3 limit on Championship Monday. The only other angler who had a bigger limit the entire event was Walters, who did so on Day One, and again on Day Four, when he brought an amazing 26-12 to the scales.
“I threw it whenever we got a little bit of wind,” he said. “I threw chrome and clear models hoping to get a big one. They were so dialed in on the baitfish that it was critical to have a lure that would get their attention.”
He also liked the fact that it has three treble hooks, and comes out of the package “ready to roll.”
“Whenever the fish are schooling, the more hooks the better,” he explained.
Huff also caught two critical bass on Day Three – a 5-pounder and a 6-pounder – on a Green Gizzard Rapala OG Deep Tiny 7. He chose that bait for exactly the opposite reason as the Jowler, its lack of noisemaking ability.
“It’s real quiet,” he said. “Those fish were so pressured and cautious, you had to get something down to them that wouldn’t spook them.”
Coming Soon to A Tackle Shop Near You
Clearly, Walters is good at sealing the deal on Day Four, but like many of his fellow Rapala® pros, he’s not so good at keeping secrets. Just as certain soft plastics have leaked out prior to their official introduction thanks to pros like Jacob Wheeler and Dustin Connell, now there will be an upswell in demand for the Jowler. Don’t worry – the factory will work overtime to produce them in 10 different colors, perfect for any baitfish or water clarity that anglers who demand the best will encounter.
The majority of the pundits, locals, and fans believed that no angler would top 80 pounds at Murray this week. The fish were too beaten up, too pressured, and too skinny. Nevertheless, two anglers hit that mark, and one of them even topped 90. What did they have in common? Besides being two of the hottest young stars in the sport, they both had Rapala’s newest sensation, the Jowler, on the deck of their boats, and they both put it to good use.