Davis dominates again
California pro maintains 4-pound lead heading into the final day of FLW Series Western Division competition on California Delta
STOCKTON, Calif. – Despite the incessantly windy conditions, fickle bass bite and stiff level of competition, Donald Davis of Discovery Bay, Calif., proved once again that he is the angler to beat. Bolstered by a total catch of 59 pounds, 15 ounces, Davis walloped the field and maintained first place in the pro standings for the second consecutive day.
Obviously, Davis was happy with his performance … right?
“I had a chance for a really big bag today so I’m disappointed,” said Davis, who only recorded an 18-pound, 2-ounce stringer during today’s competition. “Conditions were a lot tougher today and I missed three or four good fish. I really didn’t execute today. I really wish I was doing better. But if you would have told me that this is where I’d be after the third day of the tournament, I would have taken it.”
While you don’t often see people disappointed with a 4-pound lead on the California Delta heading into the final day of competition, people like Davis are a rare breed. Davis, who has fished the Delta for the better part of 30 years, has been averaging nearly 20 full pounds a day and is clearly an old-school fishing machine when it comes to California waters.
And speaking of machines, Davis acknowledged that the secret to his success has been, well, a machine. According to Davis, about three weeks ago, he began constructing a homemade contraption consisting of a series of pulleys, winches and assorted ropes in an effort to help him get his boat in a few secretive backwater areas of the California Delta. Assisting him in his efforts was Leon Knight, who not coincidentally sits in second place overall in the pro standings.
“We’ve worked on this on and off for about three weeks,” said Davis. “But today we had a total mechanical failure (with the contraption). Because of that it took us about an extra hour to get into our spot. I don’t think we got into our spot until about 10 a.m. today and because of the tides we only had two hours to fish. We knew we had to get out of there at noon or it would have been trouble.”
While Davis wouldn’t get too specific, the entrance to his primary fishing location is filled with debris and obviously extremely shallow. And with low tides, entering is nearly impossible.
“I’ve been going to this spot for many years so I know how difficult it is to get in there. It actually takes a degree of insanity to go in there in the first place,” said Davis. “But tomorrow the tides will be a little more in our favor,” he said. “We should get to fish there until about 1 p.m. But after we leave that area, we’re pretty much done. I’ve tried to fish other places but they’re just not as good.”
Davis said the area is approximately 3/8 of a mile by 2 miles in size.
“I’ve been fishing top-water baits, worms and Chatterbaits,” he said. “I’m also fishing way off the bank, anywhere from 65 to 100 feet, keying on sparse grass.”
Not surprisingly, Davis plans to do the same thing again tomorrow.
“There are big fish in there. And I’m not worried about running out of fish,” said Davis. “I think I have a good chance to win. I think (Knight) has a good chance to win. Any of the top-five guys will have a good chance to win tomorrow. We’ll just have to see what happens.”
Knight rebounds for second-place finish
Despite a small stumble in yesterday’s competition, Leon Knight of Discovery Bay, Calif., bounced back in today’s action, recording a whopping 21-pound, 15-ounce bag to bring his total catch to 55 pounds, 14 ounces. After leading the tournament on day one, Knight rebounded from a fifth-place finish in Thursday’s competition to finish second heading into the finals.
“I was a little bummed out yesterday but I’m feeling a lot better today,” said Knight. “I’m pretty confident that a 30-pound bag is possible if I can get the right bites tomorrow.”
Like Davis, Knight acknowledged that getting into his primary fishing spot is not for the faint-hearted.
“It’s definitely tough to get in my area,” he said. “It’s a 40-minute run and I put my Ranger boat through a real battle today. It was tough out there. I had to change a prop, my strap broke and it took me an extra hour to even get into my spot. I’m just blessed that the tide was a foot higher today than yesterday.”
Knight says that he continues to target largemouth bass with a combination of Spro frogs in a toad color and Stanley Ribbit top-water weed-less frogs. He also said that he’s fishing in shallow water, focusing on spots in 3 feet or water or less.
As for tomorrow, Knight says he’s on the right fish to challenge for a title.
“It’s very exciting,” said Knight. `This is the first time I’m managed to be in the cut for an entire tournament. I have the fish to win this tournament, guaranteed. Whether I put them in the boat tomorrow is another story.”
Strelic keeps tabs on the leaders
Jon Strelic of El Cajon, Calif., continued his quiet march to the title, recording a three-day catch of 54 pounds, 1 ounce to finish the day in third place.
“It feels great. It feels really good,” said Strelic. “The fishing just keeps getting better and better for me as the tide gets higher and higher each day. And that gives me more time each day to fish.”
Strelic said that he’s throwing reaction baits and targeting fish in “clean” hydrilla.
“That’s the key,” he said. “Finding good clean hydrilla without any angel-hair grass is really important. Right now the Delta is covered in (angel-hair grass). It gets all over your baits and in your line. There could be all of the bass in the world in a spot but if there is angel hair, you can’t effectively work your bait.”
Strelic said that he has no plans to change things up heading into the final day of competition.
“I’ve been doing the same thing all week,” he said. “I have two or three good areas. And I try to hit each of those areas two times a day – one at high tide and one at low tide. If you do that you get to target two different groups of fish. I’ve had a limit early each day and I’ve gone practicing for the rest of the afternoon. I’ve tried to find other areas but so far I can’t find anything better. That’s why I keep going back.”
Rossetti mounts massive charge
Sitting in 31st place with only one day of competition remaining before the top-five cut, Lorenzo Rossetti knew he’d have to do something dramatic to fish another day. And that’s exactly what he did. Heading to the weigh-in podium, Rossetti produced a staggering 28-pound, 4-ounce stringer – by far the largest sack recorded at the Delta this week – and bounded all the way up the leaderboard to fourth place.
“I really didn’t think there was any way possible of making the cut today,” said Rossetti, who shared his disbelief with the crowd as he weighed in his catch. “But I caught a lot of fish today, a lot of big ones and had a lot of fun. I’m really excited right now. I’m ready to go.”
Rossetti, a native of Stockton, Calif., said that he has about six or seven good areas and is targeting fish in deeper water, throwing at tules, weeds and spawning flats. He said that he’s also using a combination of top-water frogs, swimbaits, Senkos, Revenge Vibrator baits and flipping techniques to land the majority of his catch.
“I’m not fishing any secret areas, I’m just doing something a little different,” he said. “It didn’t work out the first two days but it worked today. But it’s June so things are very temperamental on the Delta right now. You just have to adjust and keep moving around.”
Tosh grabs final qualifying spot
Bolstered by a catch of 53 pounds, Stephen Tosh, Jr., of Modesto, Calif., finished the day in fifth place which was good enough to reach the finals. And he couldn’t have been happier.
“Bro, I fished so hard today,” said Tosh. “The wind was just brutal. I’m just so happy to have caught what I did today because it was rough out there.”
Tosh said in addition to the wind, the presence of other boaters on his prime fishing location really threw a monkey wrench into his day.
“I waited all day for the tides to be just right,” he said. “But when I finally went to my spot there were five other boats on it so I just drove away. I decided to throw caution to the wind and move to a new spot and it worked out awesome.”
Tosh said that he continued to throw his custom Bub Paycheck Bait Punch Skirt in a blue/chartreuse color, targeting post-spawn bass hiding under dense grass mats.
“I’m living the dream right now,” said Tosh. “I’m so excited I can’t even sleep at night. It’s the biggest stress right now. But to know what you need to do every day and to be able to keep on doing it is just insane. It’s great.”
FLW Series final takeoff will commence Saturday at 6:30 a.m. Pacific time at Weber Point Event Center, located at 221 North Center Street in Stockton, Calif. Free coffee and donuts will be available to the public during takeoff.