| Fag draggin' the Cal Delta for big money Pt. 1
Just got back from the FLW Series Western Division bass tournament at the California Delta. I got a wad of cash and some cool hardware. Clay (fishingsolo) asked me to post a report when I got back. If I fished shitty I would not have done it. But since I stroked em, I am going to post three. Here is my first report:
The tournament format is 200 boaters and co-anglers drawing partners for three days of fishing. Boaters are fishing for 125,000 first prize and co-anglers are fishing for 25,000. Each division fishes 4 tournaments earning points to qualify for the FLW Cup tournament with a 2 million dollar first prize. This is my second year in the series.
I travel with a local boater to share expenses and get practice time before the tournament. It helps both of us as we can fish complementing techniques with different colors and depths to fine tune our tournament strategy. The official practice is 4 days after a two week off-limits period. We head out on the water before sunrise and do not return until sunset during the pre-fish period. It can be a real drain. Especially if the fishing is tough. Our first three days of practice sucked. We fished all directions from the tournament take-off on Bethel Island west to the Sherman lake area and east to Stockton. Most days we were lucky to get 5 bites between us. We did find that our flipping pattern that we located a month before the off-limits had not changed too much and that a MM III Roboworm on the dropshot were working the best for us. On day four we came back to the marina that we were staying at and decided to work some empty berths as the wind had drove us off the open water. We tied on big swimbaits and started slow rolling them against the walkways and rock levees. FIRST CAST Dustin gets drilled on the Osprey. A 4 pounder comes in with the bait down it's throat. Guess they want the swimbaits. Other side of the walkway Dustin feels a pop and drop. He says be careful on that side I think there is a rope hanging under the walkway. Too late. I've got the rope hung good. Pull hard and the rope starts swimming. 6 pounder with the Baby E completely gone. We might be on to something. Worked down the slough for an epic swimbait session. Tearing up all our stock and sending us to the tackle store to buy a bunch of new baits for the tournament.
Tournament day one I draw last boat out with a local fishing his first big tournament. He is only fishing this one tournament in the Series. There are advantages and disadvantages to drawing one of the cherry-pickers. There local knowledge can put you on some great spots. The disadvantage is they are only fishing for a single win with no consideration for making points so they are usually swinging for the fence. Many times this approach will come up short. Even on a huge body of water 200 boats can leave a big footprint that they are not used to fishing against. When we get to his spot there are three other boats working the slough. We settle in to a short stretch of water and he grabs a Senko and starts tea bagging holes in the grass lining the rock slough. The water is not much more than solid grass that has been run over for me out the back so I pick up a horny toad and start skimming the top of the sub-surface grass. Cast after cast, nothing for both of us. We come to an old water pump that he carefully picks apart with the Senko. After his dissection I decide that I will flip a dropshot in there. Probably not a real smart thing as I had decided to go light with 6 pound test line. The worm drops and tightens up. No doink. No line jump just tight. I lift the rod tip and all hell breaks loose. I call fish and ask the boater to swing the boat bow out to the center of the slough where the fish has headed. She buries down in the grass and though much better to have her in deep water than old wood and piping, the fight is far from over. I keep pressure and lift a huge wad of grass wrapped around an 8 pounder. The local is devistated, I am pretty damn excited. We leave his hot spot for other water. I continue to whack em on the little purple worm as he changes from the Senko to the jig to the creature flip bait. I've got him down 5-0 and cull one when he decides to do a little dropshotting himself. By the end of the day he scrapes together a single digit four fish bag and I have 15 pounds. I settle in at 21st. My boater ends day one in 149th. I start thinking about making a check.
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