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Lester’s Bluegill Tip
The dog days of summer are upon us, but you don’t always need to fish deep. Elite Series pro Brandon Lester shares a tip that will keep you shallow through out the heat.
Vaughan Stakes His Claim on the James
RICHMOND, Va. – He couldn’t figure out the entire puzzle, but the pieces that Wayne Vaughan mastered earned him the day-one lead with 23-7 at the Rayovac FLW Series Northern Division event on the James River.
A tidal fishery, the James River sees daily water level fluctuations that position fish and greatly influence their feeding tendencies, much the same as dam current stimulates impoundment bass. Today, Vaughan and the rest of the field started with about an hour remaining in the outgoing cycle.
That falling water is typically a key fishing period for a lot of reasons. First, diminishing water concentrates bass into remaining depths and thereby makes them easier to target. Also, with all the baitfish and crustaceans pulled out of shoreline cover, those bass are keen to feast on all that vulnerable forage.
On the other hand, incoming tides deliver more challenging scenarios as bass have increasingly vast areas in which to hide. Add to this the reality that strong James River tides tend to scream on the rise and that water momentum discourages bass from venturing far from current-breaking cover.
Because of his later flight, Vaughan missed most of the key early morning bite, so he struggled through much of the morning but finally got going in the afternoon when the tide started to fall again.
“Once the tide started moving out, that was the key for me,” Vaughan said. “I caught some this morning but out of the ones I caught this morning, I only weighed in one today.”
Vaughan said he started his day by catching a limit south in the Chickahominy River and then came out to upgrade in the James. The decision to change areas, he said, was prompted by a gut feeling that better quality awaited him elsewhere.
“Practice has been super, super tough,” Vaughan said. “I felt like I had a good little bag, but I didn’t want to sit around there (in the Chickahominy) and fish anymore, so I ran out to the James and I ended up catching some nice fish there.”
Vaughan said he caught his fish on plastics of a particular color, but declined to elaborate on rigging and presentation. He did say that his success was due to particular grass scenarios with strategic tidal influence. This, too, was too specific for him to reveal, but Vaughan did say that paying close attention to surroundings was essential.
“It’s a mixture of the vegetation and what the tide’s doing,” said the pro from nearby Chester, Va. “I had three or four spots that I knew were pretty good and then I just went fishing around to see if I could find something else.”
As it turned out, Vaughan did most of his damage on a single spot. When he got on the key bank, he said he instantly recognized the winning combination of habitat and tidal flow.
“I live here, so I fish the river a fair amount,” he said. “What I figured out was that this was a timing deal. These fish are not eating like that continuously. The water’s hot and it’s summertime. If you can get the timing right and you’re around the right thing, anybody out here can catch them.”
Pratt places second
Kelly Pratt, of Williamsburg, Va. trails Vaughan in second place by a pound and 5 ounces at 22-2. He was one of the few anglers who reported catching fish throughout the day’s tidal range.
The morning’s low period and then the late-afternoon outgoing cycle proved most productive, but he also caught fish during the incoming water, which dominated the day.
Pratt said he caught his fish on crankbaits and plastics. The latter was his main offering during the less productive midday period. Presentation strategy, he said, was essential.
“The key is fishing very slowly,” Pratt said. “These fish are not very active during that incoming tide, so you have to fish really slowly.”
Schmitt takes Third
Bryan Schmitt, of Deale, Md. has plenty of experience on tidal fisheries, but for much of today, the James River gave him fits. Fortunately, when he found bites, they were good ones and his 18-13 earned him a third-place finish.
“I caught two quality fish in the first 30 minutes and then it just died,” Schmitt said. “The last hour, I caught about 10 more fish and upgraded.”
“There’s a certain thing I’m looking for and if I see it, I can usually catch a couple,” he said. “It’s depth and habitat that I’m looking for. It has to be a mix of things.”
Schmitt said his best bites came early and late, with a lot of frustration in the middle.
“I ran north, south, east and west and everything in between,” he laughed. “I couldn’t catch nothing. Today, I just got a few big bites.”
Timing takes Shelton to fourth
William Shelton III, of Lacrosse, Va. caught a limit that weighed 16-14 and took fourth place. His productivity he said was a matter of knowing when to stay and when to go.
“For once today, I timed things right with the tide,” Shelton said.
By that, he referred to his strategy of “running the tide” – progressing farther along the river to stay with a certain period in which his bites were coming.
“I took advantage of the tide we had here and then I took advantage of the tide we had south in the James River and the Chick this afternoon,” Shelton said. “Of all the tidal rivers I fish, this one is the most tide-influenced so I was just fortunate today time things right. I burned 47 gallons of gas today running around and trying to figure out what tide situation we had.”
Shelton caught his fish on wood with a flipping baits and topwaters.
Baumgardner takes fifth
Snickers pro Chris Baumgardner, of Gastonia, N.C., sits in fifth place with 15-2. He, too, struggled with the midday doldrums, but he took advantage of his opportunities early and late.
“This morning it was good for about an hour and a half and that’s when I caught most of my fish,” Baumgardner said. “Then it was good for about an hour after (the tide) had come in.”
Targeting blowdown trees, he caught his fish by flipping and fishing chatterbaits.
Wil Hardy earned Big Bass honors for his 9-pound, 1-ounce largemouth.
Best of the rest
Rounding out the top-10 pro leaders at the Rayovac FLW Series James River event:
6th: Wil Hardy, of Harlem, Ga., 15-0
7th: Chris Dillow, of Waynesboro, Va., 14-7
8th: Frank Poirier, of North Prince George, Va., 13-13
9th: Shayne Berlo, of Fairfax, Va., 12-14
10th: Bo Boltz, of New Kent, Va., 12-6
Knocking tree stumps key for top co-angler Crocker
In the co-angler division, Michael Crocker reached into his bag of local tricks and ended up catching a bag of bass that topped his field at 12 pounds, 12 ounces. He basically flipped a 4-inch Texas-rigged Dead Ringer worm around cypress knees and did his best to make his presentations as irritating as possible.
“We went back in a couple of little creeks hitting the trunks of the trees,” Crocker said. “That’s a local favorite – an old-timer secret.”
Crocker rigged his purple/blue flake worm on a 2/0 round bend hook and a ¼-ounce weight. He was catching most of his fish in two to four feet of water.
“I only had five bites but at least four of them were the right ones,” he said. “The very last part of the incoming tide and I even caught some on dead slack tide. I think the smaller finesse worm helped and getting it right up in the trunks of those trees.”
In second place, Manuel Cruz, of Clifton, N.J., had 11-4, while Dennis Burdette, of Lindside, W.V., placed third with 10-4. Fourth place went to David Williams, of Fredericksburg, Va., who had 10 even. David Ball, of Durham, N.C. was fifth with 9-8.
John Shultz took Big Bass honors with his 6-pound, 10-ounce largemouth.
Best of the rest
Rounding out the top-10 co-angler leaders at the Rayovac FLW Series James River event:
6th: Robert Bruguiere, of Mechanicsville, Va., 9-6
7th: Stephen Semelsberger Jr., of Mr. Airy, Md., 9-2
8th: Terry Chapman, of Newberry, S.C., 9-1
9th: Junior Allen, of Biscoe, N.C., 8-3
9th: Corey Bechtel, of Macungie, Pa., 8-3
Day two of Rayovac FLW Series Northern Division action on the James River continues at Friday’s takeoff, scheduled to take place at 6:30 a.m. (Eastern) at Osborne Landing located at 9680 Osborne Turnpike in Richmond, Va.
Vaughn Leads Rayovac
Here is a quick (raw) video from the James River Rayovac leader and Green Top Sporting Goods pro Wayne Vaughn. Vaughn currently leads with a five bass limit that weighed an impressive 23lbs and 7 oz. Kelly Pratt sits in second with 22-2. According to most of the anglers the daily change in the tide should prove for better fishing through out the event.
Palaniuk Works His Magic To Lead Tight Field In Bassmaster Elite Series
UNION SPRINGS, N.Y. — August is Brandon Palaniuk’s charmed time of year. New York is his state of magic.
Last August, the pro angler from Rathdrum, Idaho, won a Bassmaster Elite Series event on the St. Lawrence River in upstate New York. At age 25, he pocketed the $100,000 prize and achieved his goal qualifying for the 2014 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by Diet Mountain Dew and GroPro.
Thursday, just as focused on ensuring he’ll get into the 2015 Classic, Palaniuk led the 106-angler Elite field in the A.R.E. Truck Caps Bassmaster Elite at Cayuga Lake out of Union Springs, N.Y., where, once gain, the first prize is $100,000 and an automatic qualification for the Super Bowl of Bass Fishing.
Palaniuk brought in 20 pounds, 10 ounces, enough to stay 3 ounces ahead of the pack in the first of four rounds.
“It was a magical day,” Palaniuk said. “I caught fish pretty early. I think I had a limit within the first 45 minutes, and slowly culled up from there. Every move I made, I seemed to catch a good one.”
The 26-year-old does not have one challenger behind him in second place, but two. In a tournament peppered with ties throughout the leaderboard, Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Ark., and Mike Kernan of Wylie, Texas, were neck-and-neck at 20-7 for second place.
Greg Hackney of Gonzales, La., claimed fourth place by himself at 20-5. It was more than good enough to help him in the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year points race, and an important move in keeping the lead he took over from Davis about two weeks ago.
Fifth place was yet another tie at 20-4. The co-owners of the spot were Jacob Powroznik, the pro from Port Haywood, Va., who won the fourth event of the 2014 Elite season; and Casey Scanlon of Lenexa, Kan.
Less than 2 pounds separated 12th place from first. There were 18 two-way ties and two three-way ties.
The standings weren’t the only things that were tight in the tournament. Many of the pros were bunched up Thursday on the most productive areas of Cayuga Lake, sometimes fishing within casting distance from one another.
Palaniuk said he has something going on his own. And he wasn’t in the least forthcoming about how he was catching bass.
“I’m keeping that locked down for now, “said Palaniuk, who said he had never before fished Cayuga Lake. Palaniuk said he learned from his Monday-Wednesday practice sessions.
“I had a couple patterns going (in practice) and those all came together for me to make for a really good day,” he said.
Davis attributed his good day to staying focused and keeping it simple.
“I went to a group of fish I felt were the best quality fish I found in practice, and they were hard to catch, but I had a limit by 8:30,” he said. “I feel good about going forward, even though another one of the leaders and I are sharing fish.”
Davis called the bass of Cayuga “fickle.”
“You can be right dead-on them at the wrong time and you will not get a bite,” he said.
Kernan built his 20-7 on top of a 6 pound, 2 ounce largemouth he boated early.
“I was fishing in the crowd this morning, throwing something a little different. I went there for keepers, mainly, because I wanted to flip the rest of the day (for larger bass). The second fish was that 6-2. I ended up catching four keepers there.”
Kernan did turn to his flipping plan. He was able to replace three of those early keepers with heavier bass. In the afternoon, heading to the check-in point with a solid limit, he noted he was a few minutes early, so he put down his trolling motor for one more go at the bass. In three casts, he landed a 3-pounder, and he was able to cull up again.
Besides a win, the goal of all pros at Cayuga is to earn enough points to be one of 50 who qualify for the $900,000 Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship, Sept. 18-21 on Bays de Noc out of Escanaba, Mich. That’s where they’ll have a chance at securing a Bassmaster Classic berth if they didn’t earn one by winning an event.
Palaniuk came to Cayuga ranked 33rd in points. His goal was at least a Top 50, he said.
“I really wanted to make the Classic on points. But now maybe I can go for another trophy,” he said.
When the Michigan event wraps up the Elite season, the 2014 Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year will be crowned and handed $100,000 of the $900,000 total purse.
Davis’ stellar Day 1 put the brakes on his downhill slide in the AOY points standings. Davis had led the AOY race for five consecutive events until the Delaware River event ended on Aug. 10, when he fell to seventh place. After Thursday catching more than 20 pounds, he was in third place in points.
“I let Angler of the Year get by me in those last two events, so whatever I do here will be nice,” Davis said. “It’s hard to play catch-up.”
Although points are posted after each day’s competition, AOY standings are not official until the end of the tournament.
Powroznik brought the largest bass of the day to the scales. A 6-6, the largemouth put him in the lead for Cayuga’s Carhartt Big Bass bonus of up to $1,500. Palaniuk set the bar for the event’s Berkley Heavyweight big-bag award of $500.
Fishing fans can catch the tournament as it continues Friday through Sunday at Frontenac Park, 26 Chapel St., Union Springs, N.Y. The pros will leave the docks beginning at 6:15 a.m. Start time for the weigh-ins each day is 3:15 p.m.
Also at Frontenac Park is the Bassmaster Elite Series Expo, which features Elite sponsor products and services. Running concurrently with the Expo is the Fish Cayuga Festival with food and merchandise vendors.
Highlights of the Expo include the screening of the newest Costa GeoBASS film preceding Saturday’s weigh-in; free demo boat rides beginning right after the morning launch in Triton, Skeeter and Nitro boats powered by Mercury or Yamaha engines; the Berkley Experience trailer; and games and prizes offered by Carhartt, Toyota, Minn Kota, Shimano and many others.
All Bassmaster events are free.
Hosting the Elite Series at Cayuga are www.FingerLakesTravelNY.com, www.ILoveNY.com, www.TourCayuga.com, and the Union Springs Chamber of Commerce.
The Bassmasters TV show on ESPN2 will feature the Cayuga event on Sunday, Sept. 27, in the 2:30-3:30 p.m. time slot.
All times are Eastern.
2014 Bassmaster Elite Series Official Sponsors: Toyota, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, Evan Williams Bourbon, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Skeeter Boats, Triton Boats, Yamaha
2014 Bassmaster Elite Series Supporting Sponsors: Booyah, Carhartt, Diet Mountain Dew, Livingston Lures, Lowrance, Plano, Power-Pole, Rigid Industries, Shimano
About B.A.S.S.
B.A.S.S. is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the 500,000-member organization’s fully integrated media platforms include the industry’s leading magazines (Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times), website (Bassmaster.com), television show (The Bassmasters on ESPN2), social media programs and events. For more than 45 years, B.A.S.S. has been dedicated to access, conservation and youth fishing.
The Bassmaster Tournament Trail includes the most prestigious events at each level of competition, including the Bassmaster Elite Series, Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Open Series presented by Allstate, B.A.S.S. Nation events, Carhartt Bassmaster College Series, Bassmaster High School Series, Toyota Bonus Bucks Bassmaster Team Championship and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by Diet Mountain Dew and GoPro.
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The Original Pepper Jig
Meet the jig that started it all…the Original Pepper Jig. Justin Covello shares the features of the original Pepper Jig from Peeper Custom baits.
see the full Pepper line up here.