BassFan Senior Editor
Albert Collins says there's no way he could even estimate the number of tournaments he's fished at Sam Rayburn Reservoir over the past three-plus decades.
"I grew up on Rayburn and I started fishing it when I was about 5, and I'm 49 now," he said. "I started fishing tournaments when I was in high school. How many tournaments that's been, I wouldn't even know where to start counting."
He's won more than his share of those derbies, too, including last fall's Bassmaster Weekend Series Championship, which gave him a berth in this year's Bassmaster Classic. His most recent victory was in last week's Texas Rayovac, in which his winning margin was just an ounce shy of 11 pounds.
He averaged 17 1/2 pounds per day en route to topping the 100-angler field that included most of the well-known east Texas aces. He took over the lead on day 2 and closed out the triumph with a strong final-day stringer under tough post-frontal conditions.
The victory earned him more than $31,000 and a slot in upcoming Rayovac Series Championship at Wheeler Lake. Following are some of the particulars of his triumph.
Practice
Collins is a plumber by trade, but doesn't do a lot of work in that field these days. When he's not competing in tournaments, he conducts guide trips on his home lake.
He spent his practice time in the northern portion of Rayburn.
"I was expecting that about half the fish I caught in the tournament would come off points and channels and the other half would come from the grass," he said. "The way it worked out, though, I never even looked at the grass. I built up my confidence on the other stuff and just stayed with it."
He said some of Rayburn's bass were in the early stages of transitioning to the fall phase, when they gang up in creeks to feast on baitfish. However, most remained in the mode they've been in all summer and were scattered here and there, feeding up on shad when the opportunity arose.
"I stayed mostly on the main-lake points and drop-offs and most of them had a creek or river channel real close. Most of them also had scattered stumps, with maybe a brush pile here or there."
Some of the congregations of fish he located were as shallow as 9 feet while others were as deep as 22. Most were in the 10- to 15-foot range.
"I threw a crankbait at them just a little bit, but they weren't eating it so I stayed with a worm. I threw what I had confidence in."
Competition
> Day 1: 5, 16-12
> Day 2: 5, 17-15
> Day 3: 5, 17-12
> Total = 15, 52-07
Collins' day-1 stringer was his lightest of the event and it put him a little more than 3 pounds off the pace set by Andrew Upshaw.
"That day was probably my toughest grind – I really fished hard," he said. "I went back to one spot where I'd gotten a really good bite in practice and caught one that was almost 7 pounds, and that really saved the day for me."
He caught a big fish right off the bat on day 2 and another in the final hour as he moved into the lead. He knew the post-frontal conditions were coming, though, and that had him concerned about the final day.
"I was afraid I was going to zero. I couldn't sleep because I knew how it was going to be – they weren't going to bite and I wasn't going to catch them and I'd end up in 8th place. That whole night I was stressed."
Compounding matters, there was a boat on the place where he wanted to start when he arrived the next morning.
A Missile Baits Tomahawk worm in blue fleck was Collins' primary bait at Rayburn.
"When I pulled up I stopped a little shy of him and hollered over and asked him if he was fishing a tournament. He said he was – I think it was some kind of oil field tournament – and he asked me if I was fishing one and I told him I was leading the Rayovac and I was hoping to start there. He asked if I'd fished there yesterday and if I'd caught some good fish, and when I told him I had, he said he'd pull off and let me have it.
"I wish I'd gotten the guy's name because I'd sure like to thank him again."
He pulled three big fish off that locale within the first 10 minutes, which gave him 13 to 14 pounds. That settled his nerves considerably.
"I was feeling pretty good at that point, but you don't get too comfortable on this lake because somebody could catch 30 pounds on any day. Because of the kind of fish that live here and the way the guys around here can catch them, there's always that doubt. I've had a 10-pound lead before and gone out and caught 15 pounds and lost.
"I had to keep fishing as hard as I did on the other days."
He went on to catch five more fish throughout the day to win by a double-digit margin.
Winning Gear Notes
> Worm gear: 7'6" heavy-action Tour Star rod, Lew's Super Duty or Lew's Tournament Pro casting reel (6.4:1 ratio), 20- or 25-pound Vicious Pro Elite fluorocarbon line, 3/8- or 1/2-ounce cylindrical lead worm weight, 5/0 Gamakatsu offset-shank worm hook, 8 3/4" Missile Baits Tomahawk or 10" Mister Twister Hang 10! worm (blue fleck).
The Bottom Line
> Main factor in his success – "Experience on the lake played a big factor, but I think the biggest thing was having total confidence in what I was doing. I knew I was throwing the right baits at the right depths and I went strictly with my gut – if I was on one spot and something told me to go somewhere else, I'd lay down my rod and pick up and go."
> Performance edge – "I'd say it was a combination of the Tomahawk worm, the MotorGuide trolling motor that let me hold the boat in the wind and the Vicious line. I had to pull a couple of big fish out of brush piles without breaking them off."
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