Top 5 Patterns from the Delta Day 2
Flipping bite takes off in the second round
Joe Uribe Jr. is out in front on the California Delta with a chance to be the second pro of 2015 to win back-to-back Rayovac FLW Series events. Ray Hanselman was the first en route to sweeping the Texas Division.
Uribe won the Western Division opener on Lake Havasu in February by almost 15 pounds, but to follow it up this week, he’ll need a big bag on Saturday.
Uribe leads second-place pro David Valdivia by just 1 ounce, and he has a lead of only 1-6 over 10th-place pro Wade Curtiss.
Overall, the standings shook up today after an extreme weather change, from windy and cold to sunny, warm and slick. The conditions helped the morning topwater bite and the flipping bite, which showed in an increase in the number of 6-pound-plus bass brought to weigh-in today.
Here’s how Uribe’s closest competition got it done.
2. David Valdivia – Norwalk, Calif. – 40 pounds, 15 ounces
David Valdivia shocked the crowd in the final minutes of the day-two weigh-in when he pulled a 10-pound bass out of his weigh bag. That brute, which is the biggest of the tournament so far, boosted his limit to 26-3 and rocketed the Norwalk, Calif., pro from 48th to second place.
The crazy part about Valdivia’s limit today is that he had a pair of 2-pounders in his limit that he just couldn’t cull. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that he just got one lucky big bite, though. Valdivia had on two more bigguns, including another giant, that could have pushed him easily past 30 pounds.
That’s fishing though, and Valdivia thinks he’s finally figured out the tidal timing in his best spot well enough that he can duplicate his good fortune tomorrow and not have a repeat of day one, when he weighed in just 14-12.
Whatever happens, Valdivia is just thrilled to have had such a great day in front of some very important people in his life.
“This isn’t my home fishery,” Valdivia says, “but it’s almost my home because my family lives out here. I’m able to see my cousins and stay close to the ramp.
“I didn’t make any drastic changes today,” he adds. “The only difference is that I didn’t go to my best area at the right time yesterday [day one]. I did today. The tide has to be perfect – an outgoing tide.”
The 10-pounder that he caught today was a mammoth of a bass, but Valdivia wasn’t surprised at all when she bit.
“I knew that fish was there,” he says. “I saw her two or three days ago [in practice]. I fished for her yesterday but couldn’t get her to bite. I couldn’t see her today because I was staying way far away and casting to her. I threw my bait out there, and as soon as I felt pressure I knew it was her, and she started running. It was sick. Then right after that I went around the corner and caught a 6, and then I caught a 5.”
Valdivia is relying on his primary area because he knows it’s full of big fish. The other spots he fished produced a lot of bites, but none of any real size. With tomorrow’s late high-tide switch, however, and an early check-in at around 1:45, he’ll have to make hay quickly when the tide is right and rely on getting a few other bites with reaction baits before and after.
3. Chris Parks – Eugene, Ore. – 40 pounds, 10 ounces
Chris Parks is one of the most consistent pros in the tournament. He caught 19 pounds, 15 ounces on day one and 20-11 today, but his good fortune really began in the afternoon on Thursday.
“Yesterday at 10:30 I had four small ones in the boat,” he says. “Then the pattern changed, and I caught a 4 and started culling right away. The tide changed, and I got on them. I caught a 7-pounder and culled four more times in the last half-hour.
“This morning we changed it up a little and went to reaction baits, and we were culling by 7:15,” he continues. “I got back to being able to read the tides.”
Parks figured out that he could get the reaction baits going early, but as the tide drops he can catch fish with a frog. If it works again tomorrow, he’ll be right there on Uribe’s tail. He’s currently only 6 ounces off the leader.
4. Ken Mah – Elk Grove, Calif. – 40 pounds, 6 ounces
Ken Mah’s goal all week has been to catch 22 pounds a day. Today, he came up a little shy with 18 pounds. His limit included one Cal Delta kicker.
“Where I started was not happening. My reaction bite wasn’t happening,” Mah says. “I’m not saying the fish weren’t there, but hyacinth blew up on my bank, and I couldn’t present my bait properly. I went to my backup area and only caught little ones.”
From there, Mah left and ran to a spot where he’s been fishing a “painstaking” pattern – he’s fishing very slowly, targeting big fish, but without many bites.
“The afternoon is killing me,” he adds. “I haven’t been able to upgrade, but I did a tackle change today that made a big difference. I went lighter, and that helped. Plus I’m still catching a few topwater fish.”
Mah suspects that the chilly weather at takeoff this morning is partly to blame for the slow fishing today. It was 49 when many anglers crawled out of their beds this morning.
“When it gets cold here, they’re Florida [strain] fish, so it hurts them,” he says, adding that the bass were a bit sluggish in the morning. “I had six or seven fish bump my bait this morning and not get it.”
The Elk Grove, Calif., pro says he has a few areas that he’s been saving for the final day and hopes that the unpressured fish in those spots will be willing to bite, even in what could be tough conditions tomorrow – north winds on the second day after a cold front. One good kicker is all he’ll need to catch Uribe in this incredibly tight top 10.
5. Bub Tosh – Turlock, Calif. – 39 pounds, 13 ounces
Even though Bub Tosh is only 1 pound, 3 ounces off Uribe’s lead, he wasn’t in good spirits at weigh-in. Unfortunately, Tosh was kicking himself for lost opportunity and wondering about what could’ve been.
“I have three good spots,” Tosh says. “I went to my best spot today, and my first two fish were 5-pounders. Then I lost a 10-pounder at about 7:30. I just never recovered.”
Tosh says the fish surfaced a couple of times and actually came down on a limb that somehow just pulled the hook free as the co-angler waited with the net.
“I caught about 25 more fish after that, but no more good ones,” he says.
Yesterday Tosh relied on a trio of baits, but today he spent most of his time winding a ChatterBait or punching. Three of his five keepers that came to weigh-in were caught by punching.
“The grass where I’m fishing is further along than what a lot of guys are trying to punch,” he says. “The grass isn’t really ready everywhere. My grass is almost matted.”
Despite the lost giant, Tosh still weighed in 18-11 today.