Clifford Pirch thought he had enough late-spawning bed-fish pinned down to get him through day 1 of last week's Toledo Bend Bassmaster Elite Series. Those fish had other ideas, though – none were around when he went looking for them on the first day of competition.
"The one I went to start on was a giant – close to double digits," he said. "It wasn't there and I fished around the area a little trying to catch it, but it was gone."
With all of his other ones having pulled a similar disappearing act, he ran to a spot where he thought he could quickly catch 13 pounds or so.
"When I got there, (Dean) Rojas was sitting there, just roping them."
He fished some smaller points on his way back toward the launch and cobbled together a 10 1/2-pound stringer that put him in a tie for 87th place. The next day, however, he caught twice that amount and moved up 52 places to make the 50-cut.
"I was totally spun out, wondering how in the world (his misearable day 1) had happened," he said. "When I'd gotten up the next morning I prayed for guidance and when I got to the ramp I saw that the flags were blowing in the other direction (than on day 1). I had one stretch that would've been fishable the first day, but not in that heavy south wind, and the place where I'd caught them good last time at Toledo Bend had just been getting pummeled."
He opted to go try some places where he'd found a lot of shad on a previous visit, and they were at it again. He hammered the bass that were feasting on them to the tune of a 21-02 stringer.
He fished pockets, points, hay grass and an occasional cypress tree.
"Every time I thought it was slowing down, it'd just get better. I started out with a topwater, and then a little breeze came up in the middle part of the day and I switched to a jerkbait. Then it flattened back out in the afternoon and I caught some more on the topwater late in the day."
He expected to pound them again on day 3, but the boat pressure from locals increased dramatically and he had to settle for a 14-pound bag that left him in the same position (35th) in which he started the day.
"I could tell by the way the fish were biting that they weren't getting the bait good and the shad absolutely were not there. There was a boat every 25 yards and in 2 to 3 feet of water, that just spooks them off.
"I caught my three best fish in the last 20 minutes after most of the people went in to watch the weigh-in. That saved me from falling all the way back to 50th."
The Sunline Strong Performer, which focuses on the angler who makes a significant single-day move in the standings at each tour-level event, is brought to you by the great people at Sunline.
