By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
Quality bass could be caught at any depth ranging for dirt shallow to below 20 feet during last week's Sam Rayburn Reservoir Texas Rayovac. Albert Collins, who won the event by more than 11 pounds, stayed primarily in the middle of that spectrum while his two closest pursuers, both FLW Tour pros, went to the extremes.
Runner-up Rich Dalbey did his best work in the 16- to 23-foot range. Clark Reehm, the 3rd-place finisher, made just a single cast (albeit a productive one) to a depth greater than 6 feet.
Here are some of the details on how those two went about their business.
2nd: Rich Dalbey
> Day 1: 5, 12-12
> Day 2: 5, 18-14
> Day 3: 5, 9-14
> Total = 15, 41-08
Dalbey's residence in Greenville, Texas is about a 4-hour drive from Rayburn.
"It's not my home water, but it's probably my favorite water," he said. "Every chance I get I spend as much time on it as I can.
"I've won a (Rayovac) there as a co-angler and done I've done pretty done pretty good in different types of championships. I like the way it fishes – it's got grass, but you can also get out and fish deep. Something about it just clicks for me, but that doesn't mean that I always do well."
He spent his first 2 practice days in the shallow grass, trying to get something going on a frog or a lipless crankbait, or perhaps with a flipping stick. He could catch fish, but they weren't the size he sought.
He remembered some brush piles that had yielded some 4 1/2- to 5-pounders a couple years before and decided to take a look at them.
"When I got there and started graphing, the screen looked like lasagna," he said. "The screen was just lit up with fish streaking all over the place in an area about the size of a football field."
He hit four places that were adjacent to drains on the final practice day and found fish on three of them. At one he got bites on seven consecutive casts.
He fished the entire tournament within 3 miles of the launch ramp. His high finish was the result of a giant bag on day 2.
He couldn't ply his best deep stuff on day 1 due to the fierce wind. The wind slacked off about midway through the second day and he caught his entire stringer over the span of an hour and a half.
Most of his weight came on a big worm that he rigged both Texas-style and on a shaky-head. He picked up a few on a jig and one or two from shallower water on a small swimbait.
> Worm gear: 7'2" heavy-action Denali Covert rod, Lew's Tournament Pro casting reel (6.4:1 ratio), 20-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, 1/2-ounce tungsten weight, 4/0 Gamakatsu offset-shank worm hook, 10" Zoom Magnum Trick worm (watermelon candy).
> The shaky-head was a 1/2-ounce Picasso model. "It would stand up the worm a little bit and give them a different look," he said.
> Jig gear: Same rod and reel, 17-pound Seaguar InvizX, 1/2-ounce Jewel jig (green-pumpkin/candy flash), Strike King Rage Craw trailer (green-pumpkin).
> Swimbait gear: Same rod and reel, 15-pound Seaguar InvizX, 1/8-ounce unnamed tungsten weight (pegged), 4" Strike King Caffeine Shad (ghost shad).
Main factor in his success – "The decision to fish deep because I knew that was my best chance to do well. I was either going to be a hero or a zero.
Performance edge – "My Ranger/Mercury was real stable running in that stuff and my Minn Kota trolling motor kept me in place, but I think the real key was my Lowrance units. They helped me find the brush piles and I could mark my waypoints and then just sit on that area and start casting."
Clark Reehm had 15 rods on his deck at all times and caught weigh-in fish on a variety of baits.
3rd: Clark Reehm
> Day 1: 5, 14-13
> Day 2: 5, 14-01
> Day 3: 5, 12-03
> Total = 15, 41-01
Reehm guides at Rayburn during the off-season and also teaches classes on using high-tech equipment to become more efficient on the water through his Elite Angler Academy. From his home in Huntington, Texas, he can get to any of six launch ramps on the lake within a half-hour.
"I've probably got more waypoints on that lake that anybody, and some were useful and some weren't," he said. "I've got both deep and shallow milk runs, but with the lake starting to turn over in about the last week and a half, I though the deep bite might be screwy so I opted to run shallow stuff."
He junk-fished throughout the derby, catching fish from brush piles, isolated rocks, laydowns and other types of cover. He went through a couple dozen keepers on each of the first 2 days, then went on an unproductive quest for huge bites on umbrella rigs, swimbaits and Spooks during the early part of the final day in an effort to pull out a come-from-behind win.
"I knew that even if I dropped to 10th place it wasn't going to be that big of a deal, but I ended up wasting that time," he said.
He bounced around among as many as 60 locales on days 1 and 2, hitting some multiple times during the day.
"Execution-wise, it was one of the worst tournaments I've ever had," he said. "Sometimes when you're getting a lot of bites you start to take it for granted. I could pretty much call my shots, but at the same time, stuff would happen."
He had 15 rods on his deck at all times. The majority of his weight was accrued via a worm, a spinnerbait, a square-bill crankbait, a jerkbait and a flipping stick.
> Worm gear: 7'4" heavy-action Dobyns DX 745 rod, Daiwa Tatula casting reel (8:1 ratio), 17-pound Seaguar AbrazX fluorocarbon line, 1/4-ounce Elite Tungsten weight (black), 5/0 Gamakatsu round-bend hook, 11" Kickerfish Hightail ribbon-tail worm (redbug).
> Spinnerbait gear: 7' or 7'3" Dobyns Champion Series rod, same reel (6.3:1 ratio), 17-pound Seaguar AbrazX, fluorocarbon 1/2-ounce War Eagle or Mister Hooty spinnerbait (chartreuse/white).
> Cranking gear: 7' medium-action Dobyns 705 CB rod, same reel (6.3:1), 15-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon, H2O Express square-bill (bluegill).
> Flipping gear: 7'4" extra-heavy Dobyns DX 746 rod, same reel (8:1), 25-pound Seagur AbrazX fluorocarbon, 3/8-ounce Elite Tungsten weight, unnamed Beaver-style bait (various colors).
> Jerkbait gear: 6'6" medium-light custom rod, same reel (6.3:1), 12-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon, Lucky Craft Slender Pointer 112 (chartreuse shad).
Main factor in his success – "My experience on the lake paired with knowing how to be efficient. I spent the whole time in prime real estate and none of my casts were to dead water."
Performance edge – "The Power-Poles were critical, and also my Yamaha engine. When you're cranking up a hundred times a day, you need a motor that's dependable enough to get you where you're going."
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