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| From L-R: 4th Brian Day, 3rd and Big Bass Dejon Lewis 1st Gary Collins 2nd Jason Hemminger Pic ctsy of Mike Landy |
The second of four California
BASS Nation qualifying tournaments, held August 24-25, 2014 at Lake
Nacimiento, CA, was an exercise in persistence and tolerance for most. The numbers were there even if the sizes were
not.
Anglers undoubtedly like to catch a lot of fish,
and the bigger the better, especially in a tournament, but at Nacimiento the
numbers and the size available was certainly a challenge for some. But Gary Collins of Zero Limit Fishing, a Castaic based
BASS club, culled his way to the top one quarter of an ounce at a time to win
the tournament and qualify for the 2015 California
BASS Nation State Team in a boater position.
It is often said by anglers that when traveling
away from home they would like to at least have a chance of catching some nice
bass. But, it is just as often said that
in any tournament, under specific conditions at any given lake, that all the
anglers are “In the Same Boat” as it were.
Meaning, no matter what the conditions are, that all of the anglers are
fishing for the same fish, on the same day.
Those anglers that figure out what works best, no matter if it is for
skinny one-half pound spotted bass or massive 10 pound largemouth, will be the
anglers in contention on that day.
This time Collins figured it out better than
everyone else. His two-pronged approach
at Lake Nacimiento was to fish a shaky-head worm and a jig. “The key was to fish it painfully slow,”
Collins reports, “When you found some rock, just shake slack line to tap it on
the rock and then wait for a thump, or for it to swim off.” Collins managed a
limit each day for a total of 10 bass weighing 10.97 pounds.
When the conditions get tough often the best
approach is to rely on the confidence baits you have. Collins stated that he had confidence in the
shaky-head on this lake that he had not been to in many years. “I primarily
just fished a technique I have years of faith in. I just kept castin’ and
shakin’, and lots of patience. Especially
on Day 1,” he said, when boat traffic and wakes made for muddier water and even
more finicky bass. “I pretty much caught
my limit in the last 45 minutes when things started to settle down,” on the
first day of the two day event. “On
Sunday, I consistently caught them all morning as there wasn’t as much boat
traffic.”
Gary Collins’ choice of equipment for the winning
pattern was using a Zoom watermelon candy trickworm on a Buckeye Spot Remover ¼
ounce shaky-head jig (green pumpkin), cast with a G. Loomis (MBR 782 GLX) rod
and Wright & McGill Victory reel (6.2:1) spooled with 12- pound Sunline
Shooter fluorocarbon.
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| Pic ctsy of Gary Collins |
Collins added that, “I did catch my biggest fish”,
a 1.22 pound kicker, “throwing a Pro Gold CRL Spider Series Jig into a ‘nervous’
school of shad.” For the ½ ounce jig he
used a Steve’s Custom Rod, the same W&M Victory reel, but with 14- pound
fluorocarbon.
“It turned out to be a much tougher bite than I
anticipated… It was a real grind out there.”
For the win Collins earns a coveted ‘Boater’
position on the 2015 California BASS Nation State Team that will represent the
state at the 2015 BASS Nation
Western Divisional event for a chance to attend the National Championship and
to earn a spot in the Bassmasters Classic.
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| Gary and Jason Pic ctsy of Mike Landy |
Second place, and locking up a non-boater position
on the team, was Jason Hemminger of the Ventura
County Bass Club. Hemminger also
landed a limit totaling 10.42 pounds, just .55 short of the winning
weight. Jason reported that finesse
worms were also his primary lure. Jason
and Gary are the only two anglers with a limit on both days.
Ventura County Bass Club’s Dejon “Carhartt Big
Bass” Lewis upped his game enough to take this tournament’s Dobyn’s Big Bass Award, winning a new Dobyn’s
Rod with a 2.48 pound bass, 3rd Place overall and a total weight of
9.63 pounds. This tournament’s Dobyn’s
Big Bass was the only fish brought to the scales that weighed over 2 pounds,
although it should be said that Lake Nacimiento produced a giant 11-14 pound
largemouth bass just a few months ago!
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| Dejon Lewis wins Big Bass with a 2.48 spot pic ctsy Mike Landy |
The next event for the California BASS Nation
State Team Qualifying Tournaments is September 27-28, 2014 at Lake Shasta,
CA. Visit the California BASS Nation website for more
information. At each event the top
angler earns a spot on the team as a boater, the second place angler as a
non-boater, and the rest of the participants are awarded points based on
standings that will fill out the 13 person State Team.
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