By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor


Knowledge was power for Justin Lucas at the Sacramento River Elite Series.

In early April, Lucas had the opportunity to compete in an Elite Series event at Lake Guntersville, a stone’s throw from where he currently resides in Alabama. He knows the lake well, but so did plenty of his competitors.

Last week, he got to return to his fishing roots at the California Delta, a place where his love for the sport was born and nurtured by his grandfather, a Delta lifer.

While the Guntersville tournament didn’t pan out how he’d hoped – he finished 30th – the Sacramento River not only served as a trip down memory lane, but it also gave him the chance to employ all of his experience there in securing his first win as a professional. Having history and confidence on that particular fishery was incredibly beneficial, especially when each day’s fishing time was reduced significantly with 90-minute runs going from and to Sacramento.

Lucas’ keen understanding of how the tide cycle influences bass around the Delta and how they positioned in certain scenarios at this time of year was a critical factor in his success. So, too, was his heads-up decision on the final day to fish a stretch of wood pilings in the western reaches of the Delta, far away from the other finalists. It wasn’t a spot he could’ve won on over 4 days, but the limit of 3-pounders he caught there Sunday proved oh-so valuable in holding off Aaron Martens by less than 2 pounds.

“Hands down, it was the best decision I made all week,” he said. “Going out there, there were 5-foot foot waves and the strongest current of the month. It was bad rough. I had to take a 10-mile detour to get there that cost me 15 minutes of fishing time, but I’m glad I went.”

His 82-14 total was right on target for what he thought it would take to prevail in his old stomping grounds.

Here’s how he did it.

Practice

Stable, warm weather – “Typical California weather,” Lucas called it – greeted the field for practice and held steady through the tournament.

That set the stage for another wave of fish to make their way to their spawning grounds. While some anglers “just fished around” in areas where the water clarity was dingy and caught some fish they were fairly certain were bedding, Lucas tried to station himself around cleaner water so he could get a positive ID on the kind of fish that were in those bedding locales.

He didn’t come out of practice thinking he was on the winning fish, but he had pegged some quality fish on beds and also poked around the area he eventually fished on the final day of the event.

“It was a terrible practice, but on the last day I had a few bites on that western stuff and I’d found a few big bed-fish and felt like new ones were coming, so I knew how I’d be able to catch big ones,” he said. “Those bites out west gave me confidence that I had something to fall back on at some point.”

Competition

> Day 1: 5, 21-13
> Day 2: 5, 25-14
> Day 3: 5, 19-03
> Day 4: 5, 16-00
> Total = 20, 82-14

The first 2 days of competition were dominated by sight-fishing and Lucas took advantage of the areas he was in.

“You had to pick off the easy bedders on the first 2 days because if you didn’t, someone else was going to,” he said.

Over the first 2 days, he weighed in five fish that were 5 pounds or bigger, which he knew would be a key to building a strong foundation as the tournament wore on and the bedding fish thinned out. He was one of five anglers to crack the 20-pound mark on days 1 and 2.

His 21-13 on day 1 had him tied for 8th and he never slipped below that the rest of the way. He had his best day on Friday when he clobbered 25-14 to move up to 3rd.

When sight-fishing, he focused on small, shallower canals with marinas and docks.

“I focused on a low tide all week,” he said. “I started in the west Delta every day except for day 3 and then followed the low tide east.

“The low tide positioned the fish better and the water is always dirtier on the west side. Back east, where all the grass is, you were able to sight-fish better when the water dropped.”

While the other leaders started to give ground on day 3, he thumped 19-03 to take over the lead, but he couldn’t have done it without a big assist from Ish Monroe to get back to the check-in point on time. Lucas ran out of fuel a few miles shy of check-in and Monroe, who was trailing him on the way up the river, stopped to give him a lift.

“I need to give a big shout out to Ish for doing that,” Lucas said. “Without him stopping, I don’t know if I’d have made it back on time.”

With a 3-pound cushion over 2nd-place Aaron Martens, he shifted his focus to going somewhere he could rack up some consistent bites on the final day rather than get hung up targeting bed fish that may or may not bite. He also sensed as the event wore on that the potential to catch a big fish off a bed was starting to dwindle.

“It seemed like all the sight-fish went away,” he said.

Sensing that, he opted to make a long run toward Collinsville in the west Delta.

“It is as brackish as it gets before you hit saltwater completely,” he said.

He fished a stretch of wood pilings and quickly boated a limit for 14 pounds, flipping a Berkley Havoc Pit Boss. He culled a couple times later on to reach 16 pounds.

“I knew going out there I wasn’t going to catch a big one in the morning,” he said. “The spot had mostly 2- to 3-pound fish and that’s what I got. I think I culled one time out there.”

He endured the long, stressful ride back to Sacramento not knowing if he’d caught enough to hold off Martens and the other finalists. It wasn’t lost on him that once the outcome had been determined, he’d beaten one of the anglers he looked up to as he was breaking into the sport.



Berkley
Photo: Berkley

The Havoc Pit Boss in vampire orange was Lucas' key bait when flipping grass, wood and targeting bedding fish.

“Growing up watching Aaron and then going head to head with him was crazy,” he said. “I look up to him as much as anyone in the sport. I pretty much followed the same path in life as he did growing up out here and moving to Alabama. It was just neat to have him up there for it.”

Winning Gear Notes

> Flipping/sight-fishing gear: 7’6” heavy-action Abu Garcia Veracity casting rod, Abu Garcia Revo Rocket casting reel (9.0:1 gear ratio), 50-pound Berkley Trilene Professional Grade braided line (main), 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line (2-foot leader), 5/16-oz. EcoPro Tungsten worm weight (black), Berkley Havoc Pit Boss (vampire orange).

> He said using a fluorocarbon leader gave him more confidence on hooksets against the voracious Delta bass. “Not a lot of guys do that, but one thing I’ve noticed at the Delta is the fish are so aggressive here and there’s so much competition for bait that you needed a strong hookset and I was getting that with the braid-to-fluoro connection,” he said.

> He also caught some fish casting a vibrating jig (red/black) with a Berkley Havoc Rocket Craw (black red flake) and punching with a Pit Boss in green-pumpkin green.

The Bottom Line

> Main factor in his success – "My decision-making on day 4 after burning up some of the obvious fish on the first couple days.

> Performance edge – "This is my first year in a Phoenix and first year with a Yamaha and I’m in love with that motor. I totally think my boat and motor is the best combination you could possibly have. I wouldn’t feel as confident in anything else. Also, my Power-Poles were vital. They’re a must-have on the Delta, especially with how the wind is always blowing.”