Date: July 13
Time: safe light
Location: CA Delta
Air temperature: Hot
Water temperature: 70’s
Tidal influence: high outgoing
Seasonal fish pattern: post spawn and spawn
Wind direction speed: 0 flat calm
Water clarity: stained to 2 feet
Here it is a bright blue warm Saturday morning and you find the team of Mark Gomez and Juan Acosta sitting in blast off boat #32, waiting for the field of 60 to accumulate, to get the NewJen Delta Tournament underway.
Were they excited? Heck ya! They just finished a prefish the week before, and were amped about their prospects of winning Angler of the Year, even though its a tight race. Blast off happens at Russo’s Marina, they are first flight, was hoping for a later one, but you know how that goes. We find them streaking across Fracks Tract heading South, not just South, but Deep South, to Victoria and Middle River and then to the Tracy O area.
After a long run, they come upon their first spot and started plugging away, the usual top water and Frogs, chatterbaits, then bottom gear, with no results. What? Nothing the first hour? Nada, zip, nothing, a whole hour plus and nothing. Something is wrong, it’s an outgoing tide, just what they want. Adjustment time.
After making some adjustments, boom….3+ lber in the boat, then minutes later a 5+, then a 5.60 lber their biggest. Time to chase the tide and keep moving. They did this the rest of the day and finished at Franks Tract flippin senkos with 19.78 lbs in the livewell, hoping to cull that last “Small” fish. At least they are close to weigh-in, so they can fish a little bit longer.
Tensions a little high. with so much on the chopping block. Was it enough for the win and AOY? Being first flight in, it was agonizing waiting for all the other flights to come in and weigh. In the end……dang it missed first place by 1.78 lbs, but they got 2nd place and…..wait for it…… Angler of the Year, with a weight of 19.78 lbs and total points of 782, beating the 2nd place AOY hunters by a slim 10 points! How awesome is that.
Congratulations RB Angler Mark Goez and Juan Acosta for a great tournament and year! You set the bar high!
RB Bass Angler
Mike Rogers