(Editor's note: This is part 2 of a 2-part story on two-tour pro Dean Rojas.)
Two-tour pro Dean Rojas threw his Bronze-Eye Frog at two championships this year: Forrest L. Wood and Top Gun. He finished 4th at both. And don't forget
the 2004 Bassmaster Classic, when he threw the frog and, yes, finished 4th. So the obvious question for Rojas is: Can a frog win a championship, or even a tour-level event?
"There's no doubt it can," he said. "At the FLW championship, I just never got the big bite that last day. When you get them 3 days in a row, those couple of 2 1/2-pounders give you the extra confidence you need.
"(The frog) keeps taking me to the final round," he added. "That's all you can ask for is to be up there with the Top 10 guys and have your weights in the Top 5."
He said part of winning will be a maturing process with the frog. He's thrown it for years, but a lot of that was in the West. Now he has to graft that bite onto other waters around the country. "It's definitely a bait that's really helped me in my career. I know what it can and can't do. But I'm still learning it – the weather, when to throw it and when not.
"Even though I've been doing it for quite a few years, the last few years I've been throwing it real heavy. When they eat it, when they don't – I'll get it. It's just a matter of time. I'm willing to put in the time and effort. It can turn a bad day into a great day in a matter of casts. I've seen it happen.
"One of these times, I'll get that 4- or 5-pound bite that will catapult me up the leaderboard."
Finesse To Place, Frog To Win
Rojas, of course, isn't a one-trick pony. He's a solid flipper, strong finesse-fisherman and he lit up Lake Toho with a record-setting sight-bite. But he did throw the frog more than usual this year.
"I threw it quite a bit more than last year," he said. "Again, I'm still learning – the times of the day to throw it, when to throw it, and to which cover. Each lake is different. Some lakes I went to I wouldn't even throw it through prime cover. Other times, the cover was right, the fish were right, everything was so perfect you get that feeling.
"It was a lot of fun at Top Gun and the FLW championship. Most of the time, you think at about 10:00 the topwater bite's done, then you catch a 3 1/2 at 11:00, then another at high noon. It rejuvenates you. It's just awesome. It's such an adrenaline rush."
He also threw "a lot of finesse this year," but doesn't think he can win with it. "Being from out West, I know how to fish a spinning rod – a finesse worm. When the time is right, I go ahead and do it.
"But it all boils down to: Do I want to be an also-ran, or push into the Top 10? I've finished in 30th place 50 times already, so I start thinking – Man, I want to get up in the Top 10, in those finals." That's why he sticks with the frog.
Needs a Wrap
Rojas said he will fish the Bassmaster Elite Series next year. Since every Elite Series angler is required to run a wrap boat in competition, he has to put a wrap package together soon. As of right now, he doesn't have a deal in place.
Rojas isn't sure what his wrap will be yet – he's waiting to talk to Skeeter and Yamaha.
"I have to converse with Skeeter and Yamaha about how we want to approach this," he said. "There's been some structural changes at Skeeter, and we need to see where we're at there. Right now, they're coming back from the dealer meeting. I'm sure we'll put something together. I know they have a couple of companies that want to do something with the Skeeter team."
The last time he had a wrapped boat was in 2002, and that was experimental. "I had a Skeeter wrap on my boat and basically, they were doing a trial run on wrapping boats to see how it would hold up. It was probably one of my favorite boats. So many people asked me about that boat – it was so unique on the wrap. It was a fun boat to run for a whole year. You never know, they might want to bring that back."
And he noted he supports BASS in its recent changes to the Bassmaster format. "BASS is making some changes, and I think it will turn out to be really good. I'll support them with it. BASS has supported me through the years, and I've done very well. It appears they're trying to make it better for the anglers.
"Maybe it's not where some anglers want to be, but it's something to build on. I'll go ahead and take it in stride."
One change he pointed out as a positive is the reduced field size. "The good thing about it is, you'll still have your core guys that everybody likes to read about, and everybody wants to follow. But what's happening is, a lot of the good anglers are getting lost in the shuffle. And some of the lakes we fish, they fish really small. It can be difficult at times."
Notable
> Rojas said his major goal in 2006 is just to be consistent. "The Bassmaster Classic and the FLW championship – those two tournaments, along with Top Gun – you can really make a career just by winning one of those. But you have to give yourself a chance to have a shot at winning." In other words, he wants to be consistent in order to make the championships.
> He'll return to Lake Toho for the Bassmaster Classic in February. That's where he set the all-time BASS record for heaviest 1-day (45-02) and 4-day (108-12) weights. "Obviously, the good thing about that is I've fished two tournaments there before the Classic (the 2005 Toho Bassmaster and 2005 Toho FLW). And I'll have fished two (2006) FLW events before going there, so I won't be fishing it cold like a lot of other anglers."
– End of part 2 (of 2) –
