Justin Lucas Wins Sacramento River
Justin Lucas' Winning Pattern, Baits & Gear
Stable, warm weather - "Typical California weather," Lucas called it - greeted the field for practice and held steady through the tournament. That set the stage for another wave of fish to make their way to their spawning grounds. While some anglers "just fished around" in areas where the water clarity was dingy and caught some fish they were fairly certain were bedding, Lucas tried to station himself around cleaner water so he could get a positive ID on the kind of fish that were in those bedding locales. He didn't come out of practice thinking he was on the winning fish, but he had pegged some quality fish on beds and also poked around the area he eventually fished on the final day of the event. "It was a terrible practice, but on the last day I had a few bites on that western stuff and I'd found a few big bed fish and felt like new ones were coming, so I knew how I'd be able to catch big ones," he said. "Those bites out west gave me confidence that I had something to fall back on at some point."
Competition:
The first 2 days of competition were dominated by sight-fishing and Lucas took advantage of the areas he was in. "You had to pick off the easy bedders on the first 2 days because if you didn't, someone else was going to," he said. Over the first 2 days, he weighed in five fish that were 5 pounds or bigger, which he knew would be a key to building a strong foundation as the tournament wore on and the bedding fish thinned out. He was one of five anglers to crack the 20-pound mark on days 1 and 2. His 21-13 on day 1 had him tied for 8th and he never slipped below that the rest of the way. He had his best day on Friday when he clobbered 25-14 to move up to 3rd. When sight-fishing, he focused on small, shallower canals with marinas and docks. "I focused on a low tide all week," he said. "I started in the west Delta every day except for day 3 and then followed the low tide east. "The low tide positioned the fish better and the water is always dirtier on the west side. Back east, where all the grass is, you were able to sight-fish better when the water dropped." While the other leaders started to give ground on day 3, he thumped 19-03 to take over the lead, but he couldn't have done it without a big assist from Ish Monroe to get back to the check-in point on time. Lucas ran out of fuel a few miles shy of check-in and Monroe, who was trailing him on the way up the river, stopped to give him a lift. "I need to give a big shout out to Ish for doing that," Lucas said. "Without him stopping, I don't know if I'd have made it back on time."
With a 3-pound cushion over 2nd-place Aaron Martens, he shifted his focused to going somewhere he could rack up some consistent bites on the final day rather that get hung up targeting bed fish that may or may not bite. He also sensed as the event wore on that the potential to catch a big fish off a bed was starting to dwindle. "It seemed like all the sight fish went away," he said. Sensing that, he opted to make a long run toward Collinsville in the west Delta. "It is as brackish as it gets before you hit saltwater completely," he said. He fished a stretch of wood pilings and quickly boated a limit for 14 pounds, flipping a Berkley Havoc Pit Boss. He culled a couple times later on to reach 16 pounds. "I knew going out there I wasn't going to catch a big one in the morning," he said. "The spot had mostly 2- to 3-pound fish and that's what I got. I think I culled one time out there." He endured the long, stressful ride back to Sacramento not knowing if he'd caught enough to hold off Martens and the other finalists. It wasn't lost on him that once the outcome had been determined, he'd beaten one of the anglers he looked up to as he was breaking into the sport. "Growing up watching Aaron and then going head to head with him was crazy," he said. "I look up to him as much as anyone in the sport. I pretty much followed the same path in life as he did growing up out here and moving to Alabama. It was just neat to have him up there for it."
Winning Gear:
Flipping/sight-fishing gear: 7'6" heavy-action Abu Garcia Veracity casting rod, Abu Garcia Revo Rocket casting reel (9.0:1 gear ratio), 50-pound Berkley Trilene Professional Grade braided line (main), 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line (2-foot leader), 5/16-oz. EcoPro Tungsten worm weight (black), Berkley Havoc Pit Boss (vampire orange). He said using a fluorocarbon leader gave him more confidence on hooksets against the voracious Delta bass. "Not a lot of guys do that, but one thing I've noticed at the Delta is the fish are so aggressive here and there's so much competition for bait that you needed a strong hookset and I was getting that with the braid-to-fluoro connection," he said. He also caught some fish casting a vibrating jig (red/black) with a Berkley Havoc Rockey Craw (black red flake) and punching with a Pit Boss in green-pumpkin green.
Main factor: "My decision-making on day 4 after burning up some of the obvious fish on the first couple days.
Performance edge: "This is my first year in a Phoenix and first year with a Yamaha and I'm in love with that motor. I total thing my boat and motor is the best combination you could possibly have. I wouldn't feel as confident in anything else. Also, my Power-Poles were vital. They're a must-have on the Delta, especially with how the wind is always blowing."
Sacramento River Winning Pattern BassFan 5/5/15 (Todd Ceisner)
Aaron Martens' Pattern, Baits & Gear
Sight Fishing gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Enigma Fishing casting rod, Shimano Metanium casting reel (8.5:1 gear ratio), 20-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, unnamed bobber stop, 1/4-oz. unnamed tungsten worm weight, 4/0 Gamakatsu heavy cover flipping hook, unnamed punch skirt (various colors), Strike King Rage Craw (green-pumpkin).
Dropshot gear: 6'11" medium-heavy Enigma Fishing spinning rod, Shimano Stella spinning reel, 12-pound Sunline SX-1 braided line (main), 10-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line (leader), 1/0 Gamakatsu Finesse Heavy Cover hook, 4.5" Roboworm Fat Straight Tail Worm (Aaron's Magic).
Main factor: "Paying attention to the details."
Performance edge: "My new rods worked really well for the way I was fishing."
Dean Rojas' Pattern, Baits & Gear
He was happy with his decisions throughout the event, especially his call toward the end of day 1 to duck into a canal off the San Joaquin River. He'd started the day in a crowded area around Mildred Island and Frank's Tract and didn't see how the fish there would hold up for the duration. "There was so much traffic and I knew there was no way to make it last for 3 or 4 days," he said. "I left there with 7 pounds and said to myself, 'I can't do this.' I had to find an area that away from everyone else." The canal off the San Joaquin turned out to be that spot. "It was open on both ends so it had water flowing through it and it's just a place where they can go to spawn. It's off the main river channel and it had nice grass and mats and reeds and tules. It had all the right ingredients. "Making the decsion to go into that area was more of a last-ditch effort. I was ready to concede. I had 20 minutes before I had to run back. I'd just got fuel. I was there 5 minutes and made a flip and cautht a 6 1/2-pounder and then caught one every 5 minutes after that. I couldn't get the bait back in the water fast enough." On the remaining days, he threw a frog as a search bait, then pitched and flipped soft plastics when he had to slow down. "I covered a lot of water," he said. "I saw some bedding fish, but I didn't think concentrating on that would pay off. Ish (Monroe) is a good friend of mine and he insists you can't win sight-fishing here for 4 days. I figured if I can catch them better just fishing, I'd do that. It's not you can go out sight-fishing on other lakes where the water stays the same. "In the area I was in, the water was dirty. I'd get certain bites where I was certain they were on a bed. I wasn't visually fishing for them, I was just fishing."
Frog gear: 7' medium-heavy Duckett Fishing Terex casting rod, Duckett Fishing 360R casting reel (7:1 gear ratio), 80-pound Sunline FX-2 braided line, SPRO Bronzeye 65 frog (clear chartreuse).
Pitching gear: 7'4" heavy action Duckett Fishing Terex casting rod, same reel, 60-pound Sunline FX-2 braided line, 3/4-oz. unnamed tungsten worm weight, Paycheck Baits punch skirt (brown/blue/black), 4/0 Gamakatsu EWG worm hook, 5" Big Bite Baits Fightin' Frog (tilapia and green-pumpkin).
Main factor: "Making the decision to move into that canal on day 1. That saved my tournament."
Performance edge: "Everything performed flawlessly. I had no issues at all with my equipment. It allowed me to do my job. It says a lot that I've been with these companies for so long. It's because their products are the best of the best ."
Ish Monroe's Pattern, Baits & Gear
Frog gear: 7'4" extra-heavy Daiwa Steez SVF-XBD frog rod, Daiwa Zillion casting reel (7.3:1 gear ratio), 65-pound Maxima braided line, Snag Proof Ish's Phat Frog (da man).
Flipping gear: 8' heavy-action Daiwa Steez SVF Compile-X flipping rod, same reel, same line, 1.5-oz. River 2 Sea Trash Bomb tungsten weight (black), 5/0 River 2 Sea New Jack flipping hook, Missile Baits D-Bomb (candy grass).
Sight-fishing gear: Same as flipping rod, Daiwa Steez casting reel (7.9:1 gear ratio), 25-pound Maxima fluorocarbon line, 1/2-oz. River 2 Sea tungsten worm weight, same hook, Missile Baits D Stroyer (watermelon red flake). During the course of the tournament, Monroe was flipping to fish that were holed up behind docks and he was able to get a couple in the boat on the 25-pound fluorocarbon. "I call is dock flipping," he said. "I caught an 8-pounder that way and literally bounced it over the dock and into my boat."
Main factor: "Experience on the Delta and knowledge of what to look for and knowledge of the tides."
Performance edge: "My Yamaha engine performed flawlessly. I logged nearly 1,000 miles during the week - 150 each day during the event and another 400 in practice. I covered every inch of the Delta and my boat and motor held up great."
Chris Zaldain's Pattern, Baits & Gear
Dropshot/sight-fishing gear: 7'5" medium-action Megabass Orochi XX Extreme Mission casting rod, Shimano Core casting reel, 12-pound Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon line, 3/0 Roboworm Rebarb hook, 6" Roboworm (color), 1/4-oz. unnamed tungsten dropshot weight. The 12-pound Tatsu was the same line he caught his 12-pounder on day 1 with. "It's super soft and limp," he said. He also flipped a Texas-rigged 4" Megabass Bottle Shrimp (uchida craw) and weighed a couple fish caught on a homemade wakebait. The Megabass I-Slide 185 was a productive bait as well, especially around bluegill beds on day 2, Zaldain said.
Main factor: "My experience on the Delta and confidence in knowing where the bigger fish would be."
Performance edge: "I have to give a big thanks to Dean Yoshizumi, the owner of Hi's Tackle Box. He let me stay at his house all week and any Megabass baits I'd run out of, I'd let him know and he'd bring them back from the store. That was a big help and he kept me calm and comfortable rather than doing the pizza box dinner in a hotel room."