Angler of the Year Points Lead
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| Lucky Craft pro staff survives opening west coast swing. |
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“At Clear Lake for me it was swimbait, swimbait, swimbait, swimbait and … a swimbait.”
“It was knowing that on the lake this time of year, that’s the way to catch the 7- to 10-pounders. The lake fished differently because the water level’s a lot higher and the fish were more inside than outside (in deeper water).”
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“I knew a jerkbait probably would catch a bunch of them and it set up perfect for a Pointer 100 or a Slender Pointer 112. But knowing what lives here and the history, I had to with the swimbait. I ran a lot of my history and knowledge of where they live. But it didn’t start coming together for me until Day 2 when I realized they were positioned differently, on the inside (closer to shore) instead of outside.” |
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“I’ve been so conditioned to the lake being lower the last few years and the fish being out more on the points, breaks, docks and end of the tule areas. I tried to force that but it wasn’t going on. It’s high this year and they flooded inside already. I didn’t pre-fish the canals or creeks, and that’s my fault.”
“I caught a really good, big fish during practice off a dock that had some deeper banks nearby, some deep-water access. It really had me thinking that might be a good area and was my best bite in practice. I was using a Pointer DD 100 in Pearl Ayu, but I never had another bump from any direction at all in there the rest of the week."
“I pretty much threw swimbaits with very little success. Most of the fish I caught came on soft plastic stickbaits in green pumpkin or darker plum with blue glitter, and a Phoenix swim jig in green pumpkin with a Lake Fork Tackle Magic Shad as a trailer."
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“The first day I had 21-8 and had culled three times by 10 a.m. before throwing a swimbait the rest of the day without a bite. That was aggravating. The second day, I struggled and didn’t get many bites at all. I don’t know what was going on. I lost one that was about 4 pounds or more that might have helped me make the Top 12 cut. The last day I caught 20 pounds again and was about 3 pounds shy of making the final day cut." “I would have liked to fish another day but I picked up some good points in the standings. I was on the fish to make the Top 12. I just had a couple of bad breaks and made some wrong moves. But overall, it was a good event.” |
“The lake fished a little different from last time, with cold nights and temperatures in the 70s during the day. I caught a few during practice and the last day found some cruising around grass and docks.” “The first day I went to an area where I saw some big fish cruising around grass and threw a swimbait all day. But I stuck with it too long and then had to scramble. At 3:30 I had two fish and had to check in at 3:45, so I broke out the shakey head and caught five pretty quickly. I think I had about 15 pounds.” “On Day 2 I started on that spot and caught a 6-pounder on a swimbait, and caught about 19 pounds there in two hours. |
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| I left to look for more fish and caught some on a jig in about 10 feet of water, but they couldn’t help me any. I decided to save that spot for the third day.” |
“I didn’t get a bite in my first area on Day 3, where I’d caught them the day before, but went to the jig fish and caught about 15 pounds. I went back to my other spot, which was a long point, and moved around on the side of it into the mouth of a canal. They were suspended in the gut of the canal near that point.”
“I threw a Slender Pointer 112 in Misty Shad the rest of the day, firing it down the gut of that canal and then letting it sit. They were suspended and not biting right. California regulations prohibit us from keeping any fish caught outside the mouth, and I had to release three 4-pounders that were foul-hooked. But I culled three times in there, and Kevin Wirth said he caught about 20 pounds in there on a drop shot.”
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“The first day of practice I went to look for a flipping bite and had about 18 pounds, but I knew that would not be enough. So I started looking on the main lake for swimbait fish. I never found anything.”
“During practice I tried a Pointer 128 in Ghost Minnow looking for a deeper bite on some points. I caught a few, but not enough. I just never found anything going on with it.”
“On the first day of the tournament I had about 15 pounds and that killed me. I caught 18 the next day and made the cut, but never really got into anything.”
“I was not happy about it at all. I didn’t have much of anything going on in the main lake. But I learned a few things from the week and will move on.”
