Bassmaster Elite Series pro Cliff Crochet cashed in on his home-waters advantage Saturday to claim his first B.A.S.S. victory at the Atchafalaya Basin Bassmaster Central Open in Louisiana.
Sitting in 7th place after the second day of competition Friday, Crochet rallied with an 18-04 stringer earn the grand prize of a $45,000 Skeeter ZX200/Yamaha VF200LA rig and $6,741 in cash. The Pierre Part, La., angler finished with a three-day total of 46-06 en route to claiming a berth in the 2017 Bassmaster Classic.
Fred Roumbanis, who'd led after the first 2 days and carried an advantage of more than 6 pounds into the final round, managed just two fish for 3-08 Saturday and ended up 7th.
Crochet described Saturday's fishing as “slow and steady.” Mixing in some small keepers with some kicker bass, he steadily caught fish throughout the day. He finished his limit by about 11 a.m., and then caught his biggest fish of the day – a 5-12 largemouth – at about 1:45 p.m.
Since he knew the waters so well, Crochet decided to “fish history” during his practice to either confirm or rule out fishing spots. “I practiced really hard,” he said. “(Eliminating water) made for some long, boring practices.”
The strategy paid off, though, as he was able to narrow the vast waters of the basin down to three areas for the tournament. “But two of them didn’t shine, so that just nailed me down to one area,” he said.
His key bait was a Luck-E-Strike Ringmaster creature bait that he punched through mats with a 1 1/2-ounce weight.
Another local favorite, Greg Hackney of Gonzales, La., retained 2nd place with 42-4. Each day he caught fish early but lost a big one early on day 3 that he said “kind of hurt my feelings.”
His two key lures were a black/chartreuse Strike King 1.5 Square Bill crankbait and a black-and-blue Strike King Hack Attack Jig witha Strike King Rage Craw.
“I basically caught everything off of cypress trees,” he said. “The area I fished had a lot of logs and big stumps, but I didn’t catch any fish off of those. Every fish came off a green tree.”
Here are the final totals for the Top 12:
1. Cliff Crochet: 46-06
2. Greg Hackney: 42-04
3. Cody Bird: 42-02
4. David Cavell: 39-15
5. Toby Hartsell: 39-14
6. Derek Hudnall: 39-09
7. Fred Roumbanis: 39-07
8. Travis Kelehan: 37-04
9. Billy Billeaud: 37-01
10. Brandon Lee: 35-15
11. Chris Babin: 34-02
12. Cliff Pace: 32-15
