There's a saying in bass fishing: "You can't win with the frog, but you can sure as heck lose with it." It's the mafia bait – first your friend, then your worst enemy. Why? Lost fish. Dump a 9-pounder on day 4 of an event and you'll remember it for the rest of your life. But today in Texas, at the Amistad Bassmaster Elite Series, Ish Monroe won with a lot of help from the frog.
He weighed a 23-08 sack that should have lost, but on the strength of a 9-05 frog-fish he weighed
yesterday, it was enough to hold off a hard-charging Fred Roumbanis. With a 104-08, 4-day total, Monroe clinched his first-ever tour-level win by a 2-11 margin.
Roumbanis was also gunning for big bites. He was on swimbait fish and caught the largest sack today (28-01). But it wasn't enough to overcome his 20-11 limit yesterday – when Monroe's frog pulled through – and he finished 2nd.
Monroe and Roumbanis, who are friends and roommates, are both from California. That state swept the Top 3 spots when Mike Reynolds weighed 24-14 today. Combined with the strength of his 28-00 bag yesterday, he finished 3rd with 99-04.
Greg "The Hack Attack" Hackney, who's currently ranked No. 2 in the BassFan World Rankings, caught 21-12 today and finished 4th with 98-05.
Alabama's Steve Kennedy weighed 21-15 and finished 5th with 97-03.
Kevin VanDam, who was 2nd yesterday, caught 19-14 and finished 6th.
Here's how the rest of the field finished:
6. Kevin VanDam: 97-00
7. Alton Jones: 95-06
8. Gary Klein: 94-03
9. Ken Cook: 93-07
10. Matt Reed: 91-03
11. Edwin Evers: 87-13
12. Dean Rojas: 82-06
Monroe Says It's 'Awesome'
Monroe, a two-tour pro, has had strong tournaments before, but could never close the deal. He did today.
"It's just finally starting to kick in that I won," he said. "It's an awesome feeling. It's a long time coming, and a lot of hard work, and there's lots of people to thank.
"It finally solidifies you're a pro when you get your first tour win."
The 2-11 margin was tight, and he didn't think he had the weight – even with his 9-pound bed-fish that he caught late in the day.
"When (Roumbanis) told me he had 30, I didn't think I had enough. But these fish weighed bigger than they really looked.
"And I lost a lot of giant fish today. I lost one twice on a bed. That cost me Rojas' record, and I figured it cost me the W."
The clouds this morning hurt the sight-bite, and he never did get rid of a 2-pounder. "I was nervous, especially considering that at 11:00 I had four 2-pounders in the boat. Then the sun came out and everything just lined up for bed-fishing."
He past few seasons have been serviceable, but many felt he was capable of more. He proved that today. "I never lost confidence in myself, and I knew some of the things I needed to do. I needed to get focused.
"This year, my focus was starting to get good, but I had problems with execution. I lost a key fish at (the) Okeechobee (FLW), and lost some fish at the Classic. But right now I'm feeling really good."
> He worked a Snag Proof Pro Series Tournament Frog and a Reaction Innovations Vixen for his topwater fish. He threw a Reaction Innovations Boom Boom tube and Canyon Plastics Tora Tube for bed-fish. More details on his winning pattern, and patterns for the other top finishers, will be posted soon.
2nd: Roumbanis Happy
Roumbanis made it close, but like most in the field, lost fish dominated his day.
"Oh man, it was unbelievable," he said. "I lost three over 8 today. On the last cast I dumped one close to 9 pounds. She was hooked good. I figured there was no way she could get off. I gave her line to run under the boat and I didn't realize I was on top of a tree. That cost me about 5 pounds.
Fred Roumbanis dumped a 9-pound swimbait-fish on his last cast.
"But I'm happy," he added. "I'm really pleased to be in 2nd place right now in the points. I can't complain. There's a lot of perks in this (Elite Series) tour – a lot of perks."
3rd: Reynolds Excited
Reynolds climbed every day, and that's something he's happy about.
"I'm excited and extremely happy about my finish," he said. "I wanted to win, but I went forward every day. It's a great way to start the season."
He finished 5-04 behind Monroe. "I had 24 pounds today and I needed to get to 30. I don't know how you get to 30. I caught three 7s in the last couple of days, but I never had a chance to get to 30.
"I fished a great tournament," he added. "I had a couple of mishaps, but I totally recovered and never weighed a fish less than 4 pounds. The first day, when I caught 20 pounds, I just didn't get any kickers. It was all 4-pounders."
4th: Hackney Feels So-So
Hackney was another who pointed to lost fish as the difference-maker.
"I feel so-so about my finish," he said. "I'm a little disappointed because I didn't win. I had a couple of missed opportunities. I feel like a lot of other people did too. That's a common thing when you're fooling with fish of this size."
He noted he only lost three fish all tournament. "But they would have made a 15-pound difference."
5th: Kennedy Ecstatic
Kennedy became a two-tour pro this year for the first time, and he's stoked about a Top 5 in his first BASS tour-level event.
"I'm ecstatic about 5th place," he said. "But I'm not happy with my performance at all. I'm sure other guys lost some big ones too. It's an unbelievable place.
"Today I caught fish everywhere, but I probably had the worst day ever in my life execution-wise," he added. "But I still managed to catch almost 22 pounds. I'd love to see what I could have caught."
6th: VanDam Disappointed
VanDam slipped four spots today, and like others, noted missed fish.
"To be honest, I'm pretty disappointed," he said. "I didn't have a real good day today. I couldn't get the big ones to bite.
"I think I'm more disappointed than normal because this is such a good lake. I know I'm not the only one who feels that way."
He lost a 7-pounder today. "That one really hurt. It was pretty early in the morning, and I only had one big one at the time."
His best bait today was a Strike King spinnerbait. Along with that, he caught most of his fish this week on a Strike King Zero stick-worm.
10th: Reed Ran Out
Matt Reed was 2nd after day 1, but his bite slowly dwindled, then died today. He weighed 14-07 and finished 10th.
"The finish is good, but I'm sort of frustrated by today," he said. "I knew I was out of fish, so I went to my main area this morning for a while, caught a bunch of small ones, never got a good bite, then went practicing.
"I just didn't get it done."
Looking back, though, he wouldn't change anything. "I really wouldn't. Once it gets down to a cut situation, with just 12 of you left, you have to have a little gamble in your blood.
"If I'd stayed with my stuff, I would not have had enough left to win. I didn't figure out how to win, but at least I gave it my best shot."
Notable
> Day 4 stats – 12 anglers, 12 limits.
> Monroe is currently 3rd in the FLW Tour points and 1st in the Elite Series points.
> Kennedy qualified for the Elite Series through the Bassmaster Opens.
> BassFan News is brought to you by Rapala.
Day 4 (Final) Standings
1. Ishama Monroe -- Hughson, Calif. -- 20 104-08 -- 310 -- $103,000
Day 1: 5, 25-11 -- Day 2: 5, 21-04 -- Day 3: 5, 34-01 -- Day 4: 5, 23-08
2. Fred Roumbanis -- Auburn, Calif. -- 20 101-13 -- 295 -- $31,000
Day 1: 5, 24-04 -- Day 2: 5, 28-13 -- Day 3: 5, 20-11 -- Day 4: 5, 28-01
3. Mike Reynolds -- Modesto, Calif. -- 20, 99-04 -- 290 -- $25,000
Day 1: 5, 20-06 -- Day 2: 5, 26-00 -- Day 3: 5, 28-00 -- Day 4: 5, 24-14
4. Greg Hackney -- Gonzales, La. -- 20, 98-05 -- 285 -- $18,000
Day 1: 5, 25-09 -- Day 2: 5, 28-15 -- Day 3: 5, 22-01 -- Day 4: 5, 21-12
5. Steve Kennedy -- Auburn, Ala. -- 20, 97-03 -- 280 -- $17,000
Day 1: 5, 27-14 -- Day 2: 5, 22-00 -- Day 3: 5, 25-06 -- Day 4: 5, 21-15
6. Kevin VanDam -- Kalamazoo, Mich. -- 20, 97-00 -- 276 -- $15,500
Day 1: 5, 27-03 -- Day 2: 5, 22-09 -- Day 3: 5, 27-06 -- Day 4: 5, 19-14
7. Alton Jones -- Waco, Texas -- 20, 95-06 -- 272 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 23-13 -- Day 2: 5, 29-10 -- Day 3: 5, 23-02 -- Day 4: 5, 18-13
8. Gary Klein -- Weatherford, Texas -- 20, 94-03 -- 268 -- $16,000
Day 1: 5, 25-15 -- Day 2: 5, 26-03 -- Day 3: 5, 19-13 -- Day 4: 5, 22-04
9. Ken Cook -- Lawton, Okla. -- 20, 93-07 -- 269 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 31-10 -- Day 2: 5, 17-01 -- Day 3: 5, 22-15 -- Day 4: 5, 21-13
10. Matt Reed -- Madisonville, Texas -- 20, 91-03 -- 260 -- $13,500
Day 1: 5, 31-08 -- Day 2: 5, 20-14 -- Day 3: 5, 24-06 -- Day 4: 5, 14-07
11. Edwin Evers -- Talala, Okla. -- 20, 87-13 -- 262 -- $12,500
Day 1: 5, 25-04 -- Day 2: 5, 29-14 -- Day 3: 5, 19-00 -- Day 4: 5, 13-11
12. Dean Rojas -- Lake Havasu, Ariz. -- 20, 82-06 -- 254 -- $12,300
Day 1: 5, 27-05 -- Day 2: 5, 25-15 -- Day 3: 5, 18-02 -- Day 4: 5, 11-00
Big Bass
> Day 4 -- Ishama Monroe -- Hughson, Calif. -- 9-00 -- $1,000
> Day 3 -- Ishama Monroe -- Hughson, Calif. -- 9-05 -- $1,000
> Day 2 -- Gary Klein -- Weatherford, Texas -- 10-05 -- $1,000
> Day 1 -- Pete Ponds -- Madison, Miss. -- 10-05 -- $1,000
