Duckett Adapted To Conditions Each Day At Dardanelle

This is Boyd Duckett's first full year of fishing at the tour-level, but he's proven that he possesses the instincts and savvy of an angler who's excelled against world-class competition for decades. Put him in a tournament in which the predominant pattern isn't obvious – one in which the fish must be figured out and their changing moods constantly compensated for – and he's a good bet to finish near the top.

The reigning Bassmaster Classic champion has demonstrated time and again during the second half of the Elite Series campaign that he can think like a fish with the best of them. Since the end of spring, when the action started to move away from the spawn and sight-fishing, he's notched five Top 10s in seven events.

The 47-year-old Alabamian has built his tank-trailer leasing company into a multi-million-dollar business,

so he has loads of decision-making experience. That kind of success breeds a confidence that carries over into other activities, and his on-the-water calls have been pretty much spot-on for the past several months.

He backed up his Classic triumph with a victory at the Bassmaster Legends Major at Arkansas' Lake Dardanelle over the weekend. He caught a 13-09 limit from the six-hole course on the Illinois Bayou on day 4 and held off runner-up Jason Quinn by 12 ounces with a 30-01 total.

The conditions changed each day, and he did the best job of adapting to them. It's a game he calls "water chess," and in the end, he made more correct moves than anybody else.

Here's how it all went down.

Practice

Duckett had never fished Dardanelle prior to last week, so he had no personal history to help him formulate a gameplan. He took his best guess at the conditions he thought would be prevalent and used that as a jumping-off point.

His prediction was a little bit off the mark, but the initial idea got him moving in a direction that would put him in the Top 12 after the first 2 days and get him to the hole course.

"It rained real hard in eastern Oklahoma on Sunday (Aug. 19), and I thought that might make the (Arkansas) River high and muddy," he said. "That made me key on shallow water (during practice).

"It never actually got that muddy, and a lot of guys still caught them there. But I'd gone out on Monday and whacked them punching mats with a Berkley PowerBait Chigger Craw."

He found three pockets that contained significant numbers of quality fish and figured they might carry him to the finals.

"I wasn't on a tremendous amount of fish, but what I try to do is milk those kinds of areas for everything I can get. After I find them, I might have to do this or do that to catch them, but I like to stay in those fishy-type areas."

Days 1 and 2

> Day 1: 5, 13-08
> Day 2: 5, 12-00 (10, 25-08)

The water level dropped throughout day 1 as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pulled current through Dardanelle, and that had an adverse effect on Duckett's flipping bite.

"I caught my three biggest fish on the Chigger Craw, but those were the only decent flipping bites I got as that water was falling out," he said. "It was turning out to be my worst day yet.

"I scrambled around in that area for awhile, and then I moved out to some scattered milfoil and caught my other two keepers on a (Bill Lewis) Rat-L-Trap. That was it for the day."

His 13-08 limit left him in 11th place. On day 2, he went back to the milfoil first thing, and that was the right move. There were a lot more fish in there just itching to bite the Trap.

"I just wrecked them in there, and that got me enough to get into the 12-cut."

His bag, which weighed 12 pounds even, moved him up two spots to 9th. Then it was off to the hole-course, where he had to figure things out all over again after the weights had been reset to zero.

Days 3 and 4

> Day 3: 5, 16-08
> Day 4: 5, 13-09 (10, 30-01)

Duckett had a good feeling about the Illinois Bayou as soon as he pulled in on day 3. Because it's apart from the main channel, it calls for other tactics and techniques.

"It's just different from the rest of the lake, and I got on a deep bite right away," he said. "I fished a Berkley Power Hand Pour Finesse worm on a dropshot and really got on them – I probably caught 50 fish."

His best five added up to 16 1/2 pounds, and that put him within 6 ounces of leader Dean Rojas. The day had been overcast and windy, but the forecast for the final day was for calm air and bright sun.

He predicted that Rojas' frog bite would suffer in the day-4 sunlight, and he was right on that count. But he also thought his deep pattern would shine, and that didn't happen.

"I went out and couldn't catch a keeper on the dropshot, so it was time to regroup again," he noted. "Then I got into finesse-flipping the waterwillows that line the bank."

That's a type of vegetation with which he's intimately familiar. It's everywhere at Lay Lake, the site of his Classic win and a waterbody he's fished hundreds of times over the past two decades.

He dropped down to a 3/16-ounce weight and 15-pound line and began finagling a 7-inch Berkley Power worm between the stalks of the waterwillows. "I just fished as slowly as I could and got it down there in the roots."

The technique garnered him three good fish (3 pounds and over), a solid 2-pounder and one that barely met the 15-inch largemouth minimum. He had that little one in the livewell for the last 3 1/2 hours, and he thought his inability to cull it might cost him the win.

"I kept telling myself that if I could make one more cull, I could probably win this thing. Until we got back, I never had the confidence that I'd won."

In the end, the 15-inch squeaker was enough to push him to the top.

Winning Gear Notes

> Mat-flipping gear: 7'6" extra-heavy E21 rod, Abu Garcia Revo casting reel (7:1 gear ratio), 65-pound Stren Super Braid line, 1 1/2-ounce Tru-Tungsten weight (pegged), 4/0 Owner hook, Berkley PowerBait Chigger Craw (black/blue).

> Lipless crankbait gear: 7' medium-action E21 rod, same reel, 12-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon, Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap (chrome/black).

> Dropshot gear: 6'6" medium-heavy E21 rod, Abu Garcia Cardinal 804 spinning reel, 8-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon, 1/4-ounce Tru-Tungsten Convertible Drop Weight, 1/0 Owner hook, 6" Berkley Power Hand Pour Finesse worm (triple margarita).

> Finesse flipping gear: 7'6" heavy-action E21 flipping stick, Abu Garcia Revo casting reel (7:1), 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon, 3/16-ounce Tru-Tungsten weight, 3/0 Owner hook, 7" Berkley Power worm (electric grape).

> He also caught one weigh-in fish on day 3 on a Bomber Fat Free Shad crankbait (white).

The Bottom Line

> Main factor in his success – "Making the right mental adjustments every day. This tournament was definitely a mental challenge."

> Performance edge – "The Navionics chip (in my depthfinder). It allowed me to very quickly find the topography when I caught the 16 1/2 pounds on the third day. Without it, I never would have found the drops that I caught those fish on."

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