Jacob Powroznik Wins MLF-PBT Raleigh Event

Jacob Powroznik was naturally pumped when the Raleigh, N.C. event was announced as part of the MLF Bass Pro Tour's inaugural schedule. The city is less than a two-hour drive from his home in North Prince George, Va. and he'd fished each of the three venues (Jordan Lake, Falls Lake and Shearon Harris Reservoir) on multiple occasions. The late-March timeframe meant the big bass in those lakes would either be spawning or just on the verge of it. Either way, a high percentage of them would be in shallow water. "With the time of year, I knew we'd either hit it dead on the head or miss it by a week," he said. "We really just missed it - it's about a week from really showing out."

After mediocre showings in the Shotgun and Elimination rounds at Jordan and Shearon Harris, respectively, Powroznik turned his game up several notches in the Knockout and Championship rounds to make the short drive home with his second tour-level trophy. He caught 20 fish for 63-04 in the finals to outdistance runner-up Jacob Wheeler by about 3 1/2 pounds. "It's like the best feeling in the world, but it's going to take a couple days to really sink in," he said a day after the conclusion of the event. "You work so hard to get that opportunity, and then on the drive home you're just worn out and tired. "You have all this adrenaline going through you when you're competing, and then suddenly it's over and it's a done deal and it's a big relief. That feeling is what it all comes down to."

Competitors got one practice day on Jordan and one on Falls. They were allowed to ride around (but not fish) on Shearon Harris on one of their off days during the event, but Powroznik passed on that opportunity due to his familiarity with that body of water. "I figured Jordan would pretty much be a flipping/ChatterBait type of deal," he said. "Falls was going to be kind of a 'run around and junk-fish' thing. They sucked so much water out (of Falls) that the fish got out and suspended." He narrowly made it out of the Elimination Round as his eight-fish, 20-01 haul at Jordan (compiled by flipping and pitching a V&M J-Bug of his own design and a V&M Trickster) and five-fish, 12-13 performance at Falls (homemade, flat-sided crankbait and a Livingston Shredder 53) combined to give him the final position inside the cut in Group A (20th place).

He fared much better in his second crack at Falls two days later, finishing 3rd in the Knockout Round with 10 fish for 39-10. The Shredder and the J-Bug were the biggest players that day. "The water had come up a little after I'd fished there Thursday and that allowed a few fish to get up on some stumps in a little depression," he said. "There were seven stumps and I caught a bass off every one of them. That's what got me to the Championship Round." At 4,100-acre Shearon Harris, a fish that came out and rolled on his wacky-rigged V&M Chopstick told him that fish were on the beds. He could see a few and tried a bit of sight-fishing, but deduced that it would be better to keep his boat farther back and make long casts to likely spawning locales. "I just ran all the spawning pockets and no one of them was better than any other Ð there were about 10 of them in all. I was fishing kind of slow, but fast - covering a lot of water."

He targeted small clumps of grass that protruded out into the water from the bank line, thus forming mini-points. He trailed Wheeler, who had a huge second period, but more than 13 pounds at one juncture, but put together a 32-pound final period to claim the victory. He moved into the lead with a little less than an hour remaining when he caught a 6 1/2-pounder and a 4 within three minutes of each other. He boated a 5 not long thereafter. "That one followed the Chopstick in and boiled right at the boat," he said of the 5-pounder. "I went back about 10 minutes later and caught it. I'd already taken the lead by then, but that ran it up there a little bit more."

Winning Gear:

Worm gear: 7' medium-heavy Quantum spinning rod, Quantum Smoke S3 size 30 spinning reel, 20-pound Hi-Seas braid (main line), 15-pound Hi-Seas fluorocarbon (6' leader), size 1 Mustad TitanX Wacky/Neko Rig Hook, V&M Chopstick (green-pumpkin).

Cranking gear: 7' medium-action Quantum KVD rod, Quantum Smoke S3 casting reel (6:1 ratio), 15-pound Hi-Seas fluorocarbon, homemade flat-sided crankbait or Livingston Shredder (shad colors).

Flipping gear: 7'10" heavy-action Quantum Tour PT flipping stick, Quantum Smoke S3 casting reel (8:1 ratio), 25-pound Hi-Seas fluorocarbon, 3/8-ounce Elite Tungsten weight, 5/0 Mustad Denny Brauer Grip-Pin Max Flippin' Hook, V&M J-Bug or V&M Trickster (green-pumpkin).

BPT Raleigh Event Winning Pattern BassFan 4/3/19 (John Johnson)

Wheeler spent the shorter of his two practice days on Jordan. He flipped bushes for half the day and never got bit, then threw a prototype Googan Baits vibrating jig around the same vegetation with only moderate success. Things started to come together when he ventured into some pockets and targeted hardwoods with the vibe jig. That's what he employed throughout the day in the Shotgun Round, resorting to flipping a Googan Baits Bandito Bug only when a fish had swirled on but missed the faster-moving offering. "The biggest thing was that, being in the first group that fished Jordan, I knew I could cover a lot of water and everything would be fresh," he said. "I didn't care if there were 30 fish in a pocket, I just wanted to catch the five easy ones and move on." He threw the vibe jig in the Elimination Round at Falls, but shrink-wrapped to hook to keep from catching the fish that bit - most of which were in one spawning pocket. He estimated that he shook off 40 pounds worth, so his confidence level was high for his second day on that body of water.

He used the Bandito Bug as a trailer in the Knockout Round to give the bait some buoyancy in the extremely shallow water and put together another massive haul to advance to the Championship Round. With Shearon Harris being a power-plant lake that experienced several warm nights in a row prior to the finals, he correctly surmised that a topwater offering would be effective. He tied on several and got a good bite early on a frog imitation, so he stayed with that all day. "I was pretty sure those fish would be further along and more into the spawn than the ones at Jordan or Falls," he said. "The first fish I caught was post-spawn, so some were probably feeding up to go out and get on their summertime holes." He had a huge second period (35 pounds) and possessed a double-digit lead at one point, but winner Jacob Powroznik had a similar final period and eventually overtook him. "I caught about 90 percent of the fish that blew up on that frog," he said. "That's a pretty dang good day."

Gear:

Frog gear: 7'6" heavy-action Duckett Fishing Jacob Wheeler Signature Series rod, Duckett Fishing 420R casting reel, 50-pound Sufix 832 braided line, unnamed black popping frog.

MLF Tour Raleigh 2-5 Patterns BassFan 4/4/19 (John Johnson)

Takahiro Omori said he fished Jordan and Falls in a very similar manner, mostly flipping and pitching a Zoom Brush Hog or Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver or throwing a half-ounce spinnerbait. "I fished the buck brush, willow trees or any wood cover," he said. "Jordan had a lot more of it than falls because the water level was higher, but I stuck to woody stuff the whole time at both lakes. He caught all his fish in the Championship Round on a Z-Man ChatterBait with a Z-Man RaZor ShadZ trailer. "I had enough bites to win," he said. "I jumped off two good fish and missed like four or five more. I only caught two keepers in the first period, so I wasted a lot of that time. Losing or missing fish happens to everybody, but I didn't adjust fast enough." He started the day throwing a spinnerbait at pad stems in the back of a creek and pitching the Sweet Beaver to anything that protruded from the bottom. Neither tactic was productive.

He eventually determined that a lot of fish were spawning at the base of sawgrass clumps. Some of those were in wind-protected pockets, but the overcast conditions made it all but impossible to sight-fish, so he started paralleling the bank with the ChatterBait. He was in and out of 10 or more pockets and worked his way toward the top of the leaderboard in the second period, then remained within striking distance of the top position for the remainder of the day. "I never caught a giant - they were all 2- to 4-pounders," he said. "I never even had a 5-pounder hooked up." He said he's been wearing Glacier Gloves for a couple of years and they were a big benefit in this event, when he handled a large number of fish. He recommended that BassFans try them (or a similar product from one of various other manufacturers). "Even after catching so many fish in a week, my hands aren't beaten up by their teeth," he said. "Now I can't go without that glove."

Gear:

Vibrating jig gear: 7' medium-heavy Daiwa Tatula Elite Takahiro Omori Signature Series rod, Daiwa Zillion casting reel (9:1 ratio, sold only in Japan), 20-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon line, 3/8-ounce Z-Man ChatterBait (white/chartreuse), Z-Man RaZor ShadZ trailer (pearl).

Flipping gear: Same rod (7'3" heavy-action) and reel, 56-pound Sunline FX2 braided line, 1/4- or 3/8-ounce tungsten weight, 5/0 Gamakatsu EWG Superline hook, Zoom Brush Hog or Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver (various colors).

MLF Tour Raleigh 2-5 Patterns BassFan 4/4/19 (John Johnson)

A few of Edwin Evers' 46 fish for the event were enticed by reaction baits, but flipping was his main program at all three lakes as he recorded his third straight finish of 4th or better in three BPT events. "My practice day at Jordan was the short day and I ran from one end of the lake to the other, jumping around in the main river and up in the pockets," he said. "I was throwing reaction baits - spinnerbaits, vibrating jigs and crankbaits - and I realized the day was almost over and I'd hardly had any bites. I figured I'd better slow down." He got several bites over the last couple hours of the day flipping a Berkley PowerBait Pit Boss and parlayed that program into a 50-pound haul on the first competition day. "It eventually evolved from the Pit Boss to a jig. I lost one at the end of the first period and after the break, I thought I'd show that fish something new, so I pitched back in with a half-ounce jig with a (Berkley) MaxScent Meaty Chunk and caught it, and it was a 4-pounder. "After that the bites went through the roof. I think they could smell it."

He was determined to catch a few fish in the Elimination Round at Falls just to ensure he'd make the top-20 cut. One was an 8 1/2-pounder on the Pit Boss and he described the super-shallow strike as "like pulling the plug on a giant swimming pool." He picked up a few more by throwing a jerkbait on secondary points. For the Knockout Round at Falls, he headed straight for the pocket where he'd caught the giant, but found the water level had dropped and it wasn't harboring nearly as many fish. Nonetheless, he managed to boat eight that put him in 6th place for the day and earned him a berth in the finals. He caught a couple of early fish at Shearon Harris on a vibrating jig, but that action quickly died off. He saw a few fish on beds, so he started blind-flipping likely spawning areas, and that tactic put him in the lead at the end of the first period. He alternated between the Pit Boss and a Berkley MaxScent Creature Hog. "It was weird," he said. "You'd go and go and not get any bites, then you'd hit a 20-yard stretch and get three bites. Looking back, I figured it out - the good-looking stuff like the backs of the pockets, I wasn't getting any bites. There'd been a tournament there the day before and I was getting my bites from the front halves of the coves where I don't think the locals had fished the previous day."

Gear:

Flipping gear: 7'6" heavy-action Rod, casting reel (8.3:1 ratio), 25-pound fluorocarbon line, 3/8-ounce tungsten weight, 4/0 Berkley Fusion 19 Heavy Cover hook, 4" Berkley PowerBait Pit Boss (black/blue), 4" Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Critter Hawg (blue sapphire) or 1/2-ounce Andy's Custom Old School Flipping Jig with Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Meaty Chunk trailer (sapphire blue).

Jerkbait gear: Same rod (6'9" medium-heavy), reel and line (10-pound), Berkley Skinny Cutter 110 Shallow (sexier shad).

MLF Tour Raleigh 2-5 Patterns BassFan 4/4/19 (John Johnson)

Mark Daniels Jr. qualified for the Championship Round with one position in the standings to spare, but it was nonetheless an extremely close call. He was 3 1/2 pounds out of the top 10 with six minutes left in the Knockout Round when he caught a fish that weighed 3-13. His big weight in the Shotgun Round at Jordan was compiled with a flipping stick with a Z-Man Turbo CrawZ. His average fish weighed well over 4 pounds. "The fish were in the bushes and also on the bases of willow trees," he said. "That lake was incredible, man. If you caught 10 fish in the pre-spawn or spawning areas, three of them were going to weigh over 5 pounds." He used the Elimination Round at Falls as a practice day. He deliberately avoided catching any fish, but was greatly concerned after getting only three bites. "I ran around and looked at some areas I hadn't seen previously and late in the day I ran up the river to where it splits. On the way back down I noticed a big, wide creek - it's called Knob Creek. It looked good, but it was really shallow."

In the Knockout Round, he had no action in the areas where he'd gotten the three bites, but caught a 3-10 late in the morning from a place where he'd gotten a few bites on his initial practice day prior to the event. He later cranked a 2-10 from a bridge, but had no more success with that program. "I had nothing to lose, so I ran up to that flat creek in the final period. It was slow fishing and I had my trolling motor raised as high as it could go because I was flipping bushes that were in 8 to 10 inches of water. My first fish was a 4-something and I caught five more after that. Whenever I came to a decent-size bush or a willow tree, I'd get bit. He threw a vibrating jig exclusively in the Championship Round at Shearon Harris. He used a green-pumpkin bait in the clearer water toward the main lake and bruise/green-pumpkin in the backs of creeks.

Gear:

Vibrating jig gear: 7'2" Favorite Fishing Big Sexy Mark Daniels Jr. Signature Series LFG rod, casting reel (6.8:1 ratio), 20-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, 3/8-ounce Z-Man/Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer (bruise/green-pumpkin or green-pumpkin), Z-Man RaZor ShadZ trailer (green-pumpkin or hot snakes).

MLF Tour Raleigh 2-5 Patterns BassFan 4/4/19 (Todd Ceisner)