Rojas holds serve as conditions stabilize on Lake Eufaula
EUFAULA, Okla. – After a week of erratic weather and fluctuating water levels and clarity, conditions are finally stabilizing on Oklahoma’s Lake Eufaula at MillerTech Stage Four Presented by REDCON1. Judging by the numbers on SCORETRACKER® on Thursday, both the bass and competitors appear to be settling in.
Arizona pro Dean Rojas figured out the rapidly changing puzzle the best in Group A and heads the list of 10 anglers from the group who qualified for Saturday’s Knockout Round. Rojas finished with 16 bass for 44 pounds, 11 ounces over two days of qualifying competition.
The 26-year veteran has shown consistency throughout a week of fishing defined by massive swings on SCORETRACKER® from day to day. Rojas found himself in third place after Day 1 with seven bass for 20-8 and added nine more for 24-3 Thursday to clear second-place finisher Nick LeBrun by more than 5 pounds, eventually spending a good portion of his day on Thursday looking for more areas on Oklahoma’s largest lake.
Rojas runs with experience
Although he’s never fished Oklahoma’s Lake Eufaula, Rojas is relying on his years of tournament experience to combat the changing conditions. In short, he’s seen this movie before and knows how it will end.
“It’s my first time (at Lake Eufaula), but I’ve seen this scenario play out so many times,” Rojas said of the quickly changing water levels. “Going into the event, I had a good practice before the rains came and flooded everything out. That bite was done on the last day of practice, and I couldn’t get a bite. I started the tournament where I had the most bites in practice and had to change my approach based on how the fish were positioned with the changing water levels.”
With water levels now stabilizing, Rojas is confident that he knows what to look for when he returns to action two days from now in the Knockout Round.
“When the water first comes up that fast like it did, the fish are in shock. You don’t know where they’re at because they are spread out everywhere,” he said. “I’ve been checking the water every night, and it’s starting to come down a little. You can see gaps between the leaves with water on them on the first day. Now things are beginning to settle, and I feel like I know what’s going on.”
Rojas has been catching fish “doing a little bit of everything” and simply fishing what the lake gives him.
“I’m catching some in a foot of water and some as deep as 6 feet,” he said. “Some are super shallow, and some are out deeper; you just have to fish everything in front of you. As much as I’ve done this, I recognize when I have to ‘do this here’ and ‘do that there’ based on the cover and structure in front of me.”
Rojas is running the same pattern in several areas around the lake, and it appears to work everywhere he goes. Once he felt safe inside the cut on Thursday, he expanded areas and continued to fish.
“I wanted to make sure I had enough (weight) to get inside the Top 10 and then was able to look for more likely areas,” Rojas said. “I would get a bite and then roll out and try to find more stuff. Then I’d catch another and leave. That told me what to do the rest of the tournament.”
Comeback kids
The one benefit of a challenging, changing fishery is that you’re never really out of it. That point was proven loudly Thursday as a handful of pros turned the tables on SCORETRACKER® and will live to fish another day.
Five anglers started competition Thursday in 28th place or lower and rocketed to the Top 10 thanks to banner days. The quintet of Marty Robinson, LeBrun, Brent Chapman, Jacob Wheeler and Luke Clausen managed just six bass between them the first day of fishing and 58 today.
Robinson made one of the most dramatic moves with several clutch catches late in the day. He entered with zero and bagged 27-2 Thursday to leap into ninth place. LeBrun soared from 34th to second, Chapman jumped from 32nd to fifth, Wheeler sprang from 30th to 10th and Clausen rose from 28th to seventh.
What’s next for Stage Four
Group B heads back to Lake Eufaula on Friday for its second day of fishing. Their Top 10 will join the Top 10 from Group A in Saturday’s Knockout Round.
Gary Klein is currently 10th in Group B with 16-4 and four anglers are within 4 pounds of his total. If Group A’s shakeup was any indication of what’s to come, anyone in the field Friday has a shot at rallying into the Knockout Round.
Watch all the action daily through Sunday on MLFNOW! on MajorLeagueFishing.com, on the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and on Rumble. The livestream will run from 7:45 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. CT each day.
Fishing Clash Angler of the Year
It appeared that the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year standings would shift significantly after Wheeler’s struggles on the first day of Stage Four, but his rebound put him back up top.
Wheeler holds a 10-point lead over Alton Jones Jr. in the race to claim the $100,000 payout. Both anglers made the Knockout Round and things could get tighter by the end of this event.
Fishing Clash, an interactive 3D fishing simulation game that’s played by more than 80 million people worldwide, is the official AOY sponsor of the Bass Pro Tour, Tackle Warehouse Invitationals, Toyota Series and Phoenix Bass Fishing League. You can download Fishing Clash for free in the App Store and on Google Play or log on to www.fishingclash.game for more information.