Water Temp: low to mid 70s
Prefishing for the MLF Toyota Series event on the delta went well. I Had developed a good pattern throwing chatterbaits, punching and also some dropshot. Day 1 of the tournament started off with the wind blowing bad right out the gate. Got to first spot and started off throwing topwater for about 5 to 10 mins. Knowing that this was only a 6 hour tournament I had to go with what I knew was working for me in practice. I switched over to throwing the Strike King Thunder Cricket paired with a Strike King Structure Bug in the falcon craw color. I was catching fish just not the size I was in practice. Also did some punching which had produced a nice bite that had me hooked up to a 7+ pounder deep in a mat that ended up coming unbuttoned. That one hurt. Ended up coming in with 8.o7 pounds for my day 1 total. Day 2 wind blowing again I decided to run some new water. Continuing to throw the Strike King Thunder Cricket, a punch rig and a dropshot, I targeted areas with current like drain outs near flooded islands and river channels. An adjustment I had to make during the tournament was punch weight size. During practice I was using a one and a half ounce weight, During tournament I had to move up to a one and three quarter or two ounce punch weight to get bit. I was punching shallow primrose during high tide and deep hyacin mats at low tide. I managed a better limit on day 2 bringing 14.11 to the scales for a two day total of 23.02 which put me in 24th place overall for the event, I missed the cut by 3 pounds 15 ounces and missed a check by 2 pounds.
In general for this tournament fishing was difficult for most anglers as the weights reflected this. As if it wasnt enough that it was only a 6 hr tournament then throw in high winds and not so good tides makes for very difficult fishing. For the 59 boat field weights were way down from previous events in past years. There were only three 20 pound or bigger bags for the entire event. One 20+ pound bag each day. Delta is definitely fishing tough right now.
I would like to thank my sponsors for helping make this possible Powell Fishing Rods, Strike King Lure Company, Lew’s, Simms Fishing Products, RB Bass, Safe and Easy Boat Care, FINS Fishing, Gamma Fishing, River2Sea, USA Outdoor Pro Shop/ Monsterfishingtackle.com, Prudent 401 k and PK Tire Pros
