Lake Berryessa FPT TOC recap
Event dates March 3-5
RB Bass Team of Danny Cross and Danny Sozzi win it!
Day 1
Due to work schedules and other events the team was unable to take advantage of any
of the official pre-fish days. Day 1 mindset was just to cover water, junk fish, get a limit and to
get a pattern together. As the event neared Sozzi was out sick on day 1 so the plan changed…
With the weather conditions and recent tournament results the team knew the bite was going
to be tough. As Cross headed out on day 1 solo the plan changed, cover water and throw big.
He wasn’t even going for a limit anymore, the mindset was 1 or 2 big bites and that’s all he needs,
if he gets more then it’s just bonus lbs and a big glide is also a great search tool to find and expose
fish they might need tomorrow. As many know throwing big baits can be a hero or zero day, and
zero was where it was headed. Cross had point hopped all over the main body with no results.
As he was at one of the last stops around 2pm just inside the point where he was throwing a
swimbait he found a school of fish on the graph. At this point desperation was setting in and he
knew the fish were there so he had to dig out the drop shot. First cast in and a 3.89 was now in
the livewell, next cast a 3 pounder, then another 3 , then another 3. Day 1 total was 15.8. He had zero
bites until 2pm then 6 fish in less than 30 min! 15.8 had the team in 2 nd place after day 1
Day 2
Sozzi was on the mend and was able to meet up with Cross and tackle day 2 together.
15 yr old Cayden Cross was also joining them on the boat that day as he fished the youth
division TOC. The team knew where they were headed to that morning and no amount of wind
rain or any weather that was forecasted was going to stop them. They said “even if it takes us ALL
day to get back we just want an hour on that spot”. As they headed to the spot the weather was
very calm in the morning so a stop was made on a history spot that they had fished in the past
together and done well. About an hour was spent there and both Cross/Sozzi and Cayden had 2
fish in the livewell. The rest of the limit was filled at the spot from day 1. Since they spent so
much time there they mixed things up and caught quite a few on the FMTC baits Possee A-rig and
some on the drop shot. Their day ended with another 15lb bag and had them in the lead going
into day 3. Cayden Cross had 13.24 with a big fish of 3.44 and was enough for him to take home
the win for the youth division and big fish award.
Day 3
The final day was rounded up on the same 2 spots. A lot more time was spent on the
first spot from day 2 this day as we had put a lot of pressure on the other. Fishing was a lot
slower and they had to slow things down a lot, but managed to put 16lbs in the boat by 9am. As
the day progressed, the bite slowed even more. One final cull was made when they proceeded
to the 2 nd spot and ended the day with 16.52 and a total for the 3 days of 47.45 which was good
enough for the WIN.
Advice from the team if heading out soon. Cover water and fish SLOW when you find them.
