Chickahominy Was Good To Lefebre, Pratt

By BassFan Staff

The Chickahominy River was obviously the place to be during last week's James River Northern Rayovac Series. Cory Johnston won the event there, and 2nd- and 3rd-place finishers Dave Lefebre and Kelly Pratt also exploited that tributary.

2nd: Dave Lefebre

> Day 1: 5, 12-04
> Day 2: 5, 15-10
> Day 3: 5, 18-09
> Total = 15, 46-07

Lefebre had a superb practice under the sunny conditions that were prevalent leading up to the event. If that weather had sustained itself throughout the tournament, he thinks he could've averaged well over 20 pounds per day.

"Every time I go there I always check (the Chickahominy) first," he said. "It's got the reputation and it's been good to me, but every time I end up doing something different. I never do the same thing twice."

He caught a 9 1/4-pound monster on his first day of practice – one of the five biggest bass he's ever boated. He also connected with one that was pushing 6 pounds.

"In the past, I never really felt like I was in the right area to win – I was always just trying to stay alive in the points. This was the first time I've ever been there when I knew I was on the right kind of fish."

The gray skies that dominated the first 2 days of competition scattered his flipping fish and made getting bites more difficult, but the quality was still there.

"That changed everything, but I stuck with it," he said. "Instead of catching 30 fish a day, I had to make do with five or six. I should've had 25 pounds on the first day when I ended up with 12 – the size was still there."

The sun reemerged at a little after 10 o'clock on day 3 and he went on to box the largest sack of the day to move up five places in the final standings.

He did his damage in extremely skinny water.

"I was fishing the shallowest, thickest stuff there was. A lot of guys were on the outside edges, but I was getting behind the trees and whatever else I could find. I wasn't just focused on the (lily) pads.

"Everything I caught came from 2 feet or less and the 7-pounder I lost on day 1 was in less than a foot."

> Flipping gear: 7'11" heavy-action prototype 13 Fishing Omen flipping stick, 13 Fishing Concept C casting reel (7.3:1 gear ratio), 20-pound Sufix Invisiline fluorocarbon line, 1-ounce Terminator jig (green-pumpkin/blue), Yamamoto Flappin' Hog (green-pumpkin).

Main factor in his success – "Just the fact that nobody was doing exactly what I was. There was a lot of people up there and I'd watch what they were doing, and they weren't fishing the same stuff I was."

Performance edge – "The tide chart is real simple on my Lowrance and it was real critical to be in the right place at the right time and not get there too late. I had five or six waypoints from the mouth to the dam that I could see right on my screen. Also, I was fishing with the current, just letting it blow me along, and I had to have the Power-Poles so I could stop immediately. I might not have made the Top 10 without them."

3rd: Kelly Pratt

> Day 1: 5, 16-03
> Day 2: 5, 17-01
> Day 3: 5, 12-14
> Total = 15, 46-02

Kelly Pratt is always a threat to win anytime there’s a tournament at the James River. In three Bassmaster Northern Opens on the James, he has a win and two 4th-place finishes. In the last two Northern Rayovac's there, he’s placed 3rd.

Last week, he took the lead into the final day by keying on a late wave of spawning fish on a stretch of the Chickahominy River that was high and dry just 10 days prior, thanks to a persistent southwest wind.

“That’s why nobody found those fish,” Pratt said. “They wouldn’t mess with it because it was dry. It’s just an old tidal trick. When the tide is blown out that far, they get into the nearest, deepest water. They don’t feed much. They just wait for that water to come back up so they could do their thing.

“These river fish are crazy. When they want to do something they do it, but they have to wait for conditions to get right. It’s been a very good area for me over the last 4 or 5 years.”

A sequence of events – a full moon two days before competition and a switch in wind direction from southwest to east – allowed Pratt to have the area all to himself and when the water moved back in there, the fish took to spawning on the roots of the cypress trees.

"There’s not as many that (spawn) in April and May, but there’s a strong bunch that go in June,” he said. “It started to happen about 3 to 5 years ago and it’s probably why the river has gotten so good – they spawn three to four times a year.”

Practice for Pratt consisted of him spending the Sunday before the tournament on the water to get a feel for the conditions. He didn’t launch his boat again until day 1 of the competition.

With the east wind helping to bring more water into the part of the Chick he was fishing, he made one pass through his key area on day 1 and caught 16-03 while his co-angler bagged 11. Blind-casting with a ChatterBait and keeping it along the bottom was his most effective presentation. He also caught some bigger fish on a creature bait.

He made another pass through the area on day 2 and came up with 17-01, including a 6-pound kicker that helped him take the lead.

The tide changed dramatically for the final day and he wasn’t able to adjust in time.

“I got too smart on day 3 and overthought it,” he said. “I didn’t do what I should’ve been doing. The tide dropped out and cut my day short.”

He caught a few 2-pounders off his key area, but sensed something had changed and he had to shift into search mode for more spawners.

“The tide changed so much between Friday and Saturday and I got in a hurry,” he added.

He managed a limit for 12-14, but it wasn’t enough to hold off Cory Johnston and Lefebre.

“I went back out Sunday and when the tide dropped, they had moved to deeper stuff,” he said. “I didn’t think of that. I guess I was thinking too much.

“I changed areas every day, but they were 100 yards apart. If I’d have gone another 100 yards Saturday I’d have found them.”

> ChatterBait gear: 7’ medium-heavy Falcon Rods casting rod, Lew's BB1 Speed Spool casting reel, 20-pound P-Line fluorocarbon line, 3/8- and 1/2-oz. Z-Man ChatterBait (bream pattern).

> He went to the heavier ChatterBait when the tide was high. “I wanted to keep it closer to the bottom to aggravate them more,” he said. “Normally that ChatterBait bite goes away in April, but those spawners can’t stand something shaking in their face like that.”

> He also flipped a Missile Baits D-Bomb to catch his bigger fish on days 1 and 3.

> Main factor in his success – “Just understanding what was going to happen with the full moon and the east wind pushing that water back up. We also had nobody around us. Nobody looked at us. In 2 days, we had 60 pounds of fish in two passes through that area.”

> Performance edge – “My Phoenix boat and that Mercury motor. My boat lets me get in that shallow water and that Mercury is so strong getting to and from places.”

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