Strelic grabs lead at Clear Lake with 27-5 Day 2 bag
LAKEPORT, Calif. – “When it’s your time, it’s your time.”
Perhaps no bass fishing truism is as widely proliferated as that, but there’s certainly good reason for it. For Jon Strelic, there’s hope that axiom applies to him on Friday.
On Thursday, Day 2 of the Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse season opener at Clear Lake, Strelic put in the work to put himself in position to see his 20-plus-year dream come to fruition. The El Cajon, California, plumbing contractor followed up a 24-pound Day 1 with another 27-5 on Day 2, jumping 9 ounces ahead of another longtime Western Division veteran in Ken Mah to take command in pursuit of his first MLF win.
Strelic has six Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Top 10s to his name and another three on the then-FLW Tour. He’s been fishing FLW/MLF events since 2004 and, despite considering himself a “wannabe pro bass fisherman,” his résumé speaks for himself. He’s as good as anyone else doing it out West, and he’s hoping Friday is finally his time.
“I have a lot of great friends who have won these tournaments, and it’s something I’ve always dreamed of,” he said. “I just can’t put that much time in on the water, unfortunately, so I come out and if I’m able to compete with these guys, I think it’s great.”
He’s certainly competed so far this week, consistency being the key. While Strelic hasn’t elicited a ton of bites, he’s gotten the right ones and gotten most of them in the boat – even after getting just six bites and landing five fish on Day 2, those five went for over 27 pounds.
“Today was much slower,” he said. “I didn’t get as many bites as I got yesterday, but they’re still good bites if you can get one. I only got six bites all day and caught five. I had a big one hooked and it came off.”
With an average of about 5 1/2 pounds per fish, a “big one” would have put Strelic in megabag territory, which is what he’s after tomorrow. That might all come down to weather conditions, timing and a little luck.
Strelic has no control over the weather, though he expects it to be better than it was the first two days, at least in terms of what he’s trying to do.
“The wind direction was really bothering the way I was fishing,” he explained. “I’m fishing down south and I’m fishing isolated rock piles in 15 to 20 feet, just looking for those prespawn females. The wind direction and the amount of wind I got (today) was messing up my presentation. I wasn’t able to put the bait where it needed to be.”
Assuming the wind cooperates on Friday and the warming trend keeps new fish moving up into those prespawn areas, Strelic simply needs to figure out his timing. He has a number of rock piles to run with little indication of when to hit each one.
“I have eight or nine rock piles that I’ve been fishing, and I have a milk run of them,” he said. “When I get to the eighth or ninth one, I go back and start over again. They seemed to bite at kind of the same times (both days). I don’t know if I really have the exact timing down. I wish I did.”
As for techniques and presentations, Strelic is leaning on a bevy of baits from swimbaits to crankbaits to jigs and said he’s gotten bigger bites on the swimbait to this point. He’s utilizing forward-facing sonar a bit, though he hasn’t really been seeing fish eating his baits – simply using his electronics to spot fish and cast in their general direction on those rock piles.
It’ll be the same program for Strelic on Championship Friday. He’s done the work and he’s seen some results. Now it’s just a matter of timing and a matter of time.
“I really love these MLF tournaments,” he said. “I started fishing the EverStarts (Series) back in 2004 when they first came out West… I fished with some of the best fishermen in the country, Brent Ehrler and Brett Hite. I’ve had a lot of fun in the last 20-plus years doing this.”
With as much time as Stelic has put in, it certainly seems like this could very well be his time.
Top 10 Pros
- Jon Strelic – 51 – 5 (10)
- Ken Mah – 50 – 12 (10)
- John Pearl – 49 – 15 (10)
- Jd Blackamore – 48 – 15 (10)
- Cristian Melton – 47 – 5 (10)
- Joe Mariani – 47 – 3 (10)
- Nathan Phillips – 42 – 5 (10)
- Michael Caruso – 41 – 11 (10)
- Daniel Shelton – 41 – 2 (10)
- Juarez Jackson – 41 – 1 (10)