Albert Collins weighed a 17-12 sack on Saturday to win the Sam Rayburn Reservoir Texas Rayovac with a 3-day total of 52-07. His winning margin over runner-up Rich Dalbey was just an ounce shy of 11 pounds.
“Going into day 3, it wasn’t a sure thing that I would win,” he said. “I wasn’t even sure that I would catch a limit because of that cold front that came through. Luckily the first three fish I caught in the morning were my biggest and I got to cull a couple of times throughout the day, so it all worked out really great.
“I have a lot of knowledge about Sam Rayburn and it helped. Once I keyed on something, I knew where more like it was. I didn’t have to spend my practice finding spots, I just had to run and check them."
His primary focus was on main-lake points and channel swings and he threw Texas-rigged worms.
“I was targeting breaks. Most of the breaks had stumps and brush on them, but that was just for a target. I think the fish were relating to the drop-off. I fished some areas that ranged from 8 to 12 feet deep, and some areas that were from 20 to 22 feet deep.
“It feels great to win. I’ve been to Wheeler Lake before and I’m looking forward to going back for the Rayovac Championship.
Collins said his primary bait was a blue fleck-colored Missile Baits Tomahawk worm, but he also threw a Mister Twister HANG 10! worm. He Texas-rigged both with a 1/2-ounce weight.
Full details of his winning pattern will be published soon.
Here are the final totals for the Top 10:
1. Albert Collins: 52-07
2. Rich Dalbey: 41-08
3. Clark Reehm: 41-01
4. Nick Prvonozac: 40-09
5. Charlie King: 39-11
6. Nick Lebrun: 39-01
7. Randy Despino: 36-10
8. Andrew Upshaw: 36-04
9. Philip Crelia: 36-00
10. John Hatton: 33-14
