At the recent Amistad Bassmaster Elite Series, Ish Monroe played a new game: Texas Barely Hold 'Em. His daily weights were so huge, he needed help holding up his fish, and BASS tournament director Trip Weldon – who had to hoist the fish onto the scale – was about wore out when it all came to an end.
Amistad fished hotter than any lake BASS has visited in recent memory – perhaps ever. Monroe's 4-day, 104-08 total was the second largest in BASS history (for a five-fish limit), and he won the big-bass award 2 of the 4 days.
Others caught 'em too – especially runner-up Fred Roumbanis, who finished 2-11 behind Monroe. But is was Monroe's monster 34-01 day 3 sack that made the difference.
Here's how he clinched his first BASS win.
Practice
The days leading up to the tournament were warm, still and sunny. Monroe's a Californian, and an accomplished bed-fishermen. So he spent his practice looking for sight-fish.
"Basically, I went and looked for cubby-hole areas," he said. "I wanted stuff protected from the wind. The majority of the fish I found were way in the backs of pockets, where the wind wouldn't play that much of a factor."
Good thinking, because day 1 of competition delivered 40 mph winds and 5-foot rollers.
He did key on certain things beyond wind-protection, and the bedding areas he found all had a certain cover combination. "There had to be brush and grass together – they couldn't have just grass, and they couldn't have just brush.
"And it had to be on a flat in the back of a pocket, but there had to be ditches leading up to the flat, and coming through the flat – like a little highway from the main channel."
So he was set up for a sight-fishing bite, but he kept one down-card – a topwater bite in the same areas.
Competition
> Day 1: 5, 25-11
> Day 2: 5, 21-04
> Day 3: 5, 34-01
> Day 4: 5, 23-08
> Total = 20, 104-08
On day 1 the wind blew to 40 mph and ravaged just about everybody's practice. The guys who shined were those who caught a few big bed-fish early, then switched over to jerkbaits, swimbaits or cranks.
Monroe came close, but missed setting a new BASS 4-day weight record by 4-05.
Monroe went to his bed-fish, but also took advantage of the topwater bite with a Snag Proof Tournament Frog and Reaction Innovations Vixen (walking bait). His topwater bite produced the kickers on days 1, 2 and 3, but it was all bed-fishing on day 4.
His basic tournament movement looked like this:
> Days 1 & 2 – "I ran all over the lake. I'd start on one end, then run all the way to the opposite end."
> Day 3 – "I decided to go for broke, and I hit a bunch of areas close to the (launch) marina."
> Day 4 – "I fished the same areas as on day 3, except I found one new (bedding) area where the big ones were at."
"I was frogging around the bedding areas – around bushes that had grass clumped up next to it," he said. "That thing (the frog) caught them in all three stages – pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn. They were like old-school Clear Lake (Calif.) fish."
He caught at least one key fish on the frog each of the first 3 days. "I caught (and weighed) two on it the first day. The second day I caught a 6 on it, then the 9-04 on day 3."
About the Vixen, he noted: "That was another one of my key baits. The first day it got me one fish, and the second day two fish." He eventually culled those out, but weighed a Vixen fish on day 3. He caught a small limit with it on day 4, then went bed-fishing.
Winning Gear Notes
> Bed-fishing gear: 7'6" heavy-action Team Daiwa Cielo flipping stick, Team Daiwa Fuego casting reel, 30-pound Maxima fluorocarbon line, 5/0 Gamakatsu Superline hook, 1/4-ounce tungsten weight (unpegged), Reaction Innovations Boom Boom tube (white, watermelon and green-pumpkin) and Canyon Plastics 7" Giant Tora Tube (white).
He threw the frog at bushes with weed clumps around it.
> He used the Giant Tora Tube to catch the big bedding fish, and the Boom Boom tube to catch the smaller ones. "If it was 7 to 9 pounds, I was using the big tube."
> Frog gear: 7'4" Team Daiwa Tough & Light frog rod, Team Daiwa TD-X reel, 50-pound PowerPro braided line, Snag Proof Pro Series Tournament Frog (white).
> He removed the frog's stock hook and inserted a Gamakatsu EWG Double hook. He also put a few buckshot in the belly. He didn't trim the legs. "The longer legs help it walk the dog easier."
> Vixen gear: 7'6" Daiwa Heartland fiberglass rod, Team Daiwa Advantage reel, 40-pound PowerPro, Reaction Innovations Vixen walking bait ("I don't know the color name, but it had a black back, and what looked like a mirror inside of it").
Notable
> Main factor in his success – "The topwater bite on day(s) 1, 2 and 3. I caught a 9-04 on the frog."
> Ditches leading to flats were important for his pattern. He did find and fish a few roadbeds, but "they didn't have fish on them."
> This was the season opener for the Elite Series, so he leads the points. He's also 3rd in the FLW Tour points.
> About Lake Amistad, he said: "The fact that I caught a 9-pounder 3 of the 4 days – that's insane. You just don't do that on lakes. It's something where you may go your whole life not catching a 9, and I did it 3 of 4 days – not including the ones I could have caught in practice."
> He weighed a 2-pounder on the final day and missed breaking Dean Rojas' record by 4-05. "I'm not disappointed," he said. "A record is a title and I'm not big on titles – unless it's champion or Angler of the Year. Then it comes with some monetary value, and is of value to my sponsors. And I love Dean like a brother, so him still having the record's no big deal."
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