By BassFan Staff
The magic number in Jeremy Starks’ mind this morning was 23 to 25 pounds. He figured that’s what it was going to take to give himself a puncher’s chance at winning the Douglas Lake Bassmaster Elite Series.
He narrowly missed his mark, but he caught more than enough to put a second Elite Series title on his résumé and lock up a berth in next year’s Bassmaster Classic, which will be his first.
Facing nearly a 6-pound deficit with 1 day of competition left, the West Viriginia pro, who used a medical hardship exemption last year and didn’t compete in the Elite Series, finished with a fury, catching an impressive 22-05 to close with 81-02.
“It’s an honor to beat those guys,” he said. “They are the best. To beat them is incredible.”
Among those he beat were Britt Myers, the leader after days 2 and 3. Myers, who carried a 5-13 lead into the final day, caught 14-07, the second-lightest bag among the Top 12. He finished with 79-01, giving him two consecutive runner-up finishes. It’s the first time in four Elite Series events this season the day-3 leader has failed to close out a victory.
Aaron Martens brought in 16-09 and held down 3rd with a 74-05 haul. Dean Rojas used a 17-09 stringer today to finish 4th with 73-13. Randy Howell, the new leader in the Toyota Tundra Angler of the Year (AOY) standings, hammered a final day-best 23-03 to close out the Top 5 with 72-12.
Here’s how the Top 12 finished up this week:
1. Jeremy Starks: 81-02
2. Britt Myers: 79-01
3. Aaron Martens: 74-05
4. Dean Rojas: 73-13
5. Randy Howell: 72-12
6. Andy Montgomery: 69-12
7. Ott Defoe: 69-12
8. Jeff Kriet: 69-06
9. Brandon Card: 68-00
10. Mike McClelland: 62-07
11. Mark Davis: 60-11
12. Jamie Horton: 55-10
Not only did Howell take over the lead in the chase for AOY, supplanting roommate Brent Chapman, Ott Defoe used his 7th-place finish to slide up into 5th, just 10 points behind 4th-place Brandon Card, who finished 9th this week.
Several of the finalists talked about a technique called long-lining or strolling that was pivotal to their presentations this week. It may be the next fad in bass fishing, but it’s been used before to get crankbaits to dig deeper than usual.
It starts with an ultra-long cast and leaving the reel in free spool while idling or using the trolling motor to pull back from the area as line bleeds off the reel. Once at the desired distance, sometimes after the entire spool of line was out, the anglers would engage their reel and burn the bait back, allowing it to dig down past its advertised depth range and pull through a school of fish, often triggering reaction strikes.
While many Elite Series pros will head to western Tennessee for the Old Hickory PAA event next weekend, the Elite Series will take a month off before heading to Toledo Bend in Louisiana on June 7-10.
Gutsy Late-Day Move Was Crucial For Starks
> Day 4: 5, 22-05 (20, 81-02)
The trophy from Starks’ 2008 win at Lake Wheeler is on display in a trophy case at the Sport Mart Superstore in Charleston, W.V. The hardware for this victory will go on the mantle at his home. He said it’s hard to compare the two victories, but winning the first whet his appetite for a second.
“When you win one, it makes you that much hungrier for a second,” he said. “I have thought ever since I watched the (Bassmaster TV) show and it was back before I was bass fishing (for a living) when Edwin Evers won his second event, he said, ‘When you win your second one, you know you belong.’ Anybody may win one, but when you win two against the best in the world, it’s not about what other people think, it’s about you knowing that you belong here. That’s the biggest thing for me.”
The win not only solidified a spot in next year’s Classic, it moved him up to 13th place in the AOY standings.
He made a gutsy decision at about 1:30 to leave the fish that had carried him through the event to work on a school almost 2 miles away that he hadn’t fished before – in practice or during the tournament. He presented his crankbaits in the same manner he had all week, long-lining them to reach the bottom-huggers, and upgraded three times in the final 20 minutes, including two 5-pounders.
“It felt right. I have completely changed how I fished,” he said. “It’s one at a time. It was a deal where it felt like the right thing to do. I’m just going with my instincts now and I’m not trying to force anything or fight it. If it feels like the right thing to do, that’s what I do. It just felt right to move.”
He didn’t catch the numbers he had been and he was very picky with what he put in his livewell.
“I didn’t catch a ton of fish today,” he added. “I caught several that I didn’t keep in the 2-pound range that I didn’t even look at because if you put a 2-pounder in your livewell and it dies, you’re stuck with it.”
Full details of his winning pattern, as well as those of the other top finishers, will be published soon.
2nd: Myers Lost A Good One
> Day 4: 5, 14-07 (20, 79-01)
Myers opened the season with a last-place finish at the St. Johns River, putting himself in an immediate hole in terms of earning a berth in the Classic, something he has yet to do in his career. But with two straight 2nd-place finishes, he’s muscled his way past a majority of the Elite Series roster into 12th place in AOY points.
His weight fell off considerably today, but he still managed to average nearly 20 pounds a day.
“I’m not disappointed. I did everything I could do,” he said. “I’ve been sitting here for a while actually thinking about what I could’ve done differently. I had the fish bite to win the tournament, but it came off. I never saw it, but the place I got the bite was a place that I’d only caught 4- or 5-pounders. This one felt very big. That would have been it.
“I fished as hard as I could and left it all out there. Two 2nds in a row is awesome. I’ll take it any day. This tournament was just like Bull Shoals. I found the winning pattern, but somebody else found a big, giant wad of fish. You can’t beat that. You see these tournaments being won by guys who go back to the same spot and the fish keep replenishing. You can’t beat that.”
3rd: Martens Heading In Right Direction
> Day 4: 5, 16-09 (20, 74-05)
Martens did as much homework for this event than maybe any other he’s fished and while it didn’t pay off in the form of a win, he’s happy to put his early-season struggles behind him now.
“I feel a lot better than I did before. I feel 100-percent better,” he said. “I really wanted to win it. It’s the best I’ve ever known a lake overall so I felt like I had a chance. I lost some key fish and that happens to everybody, but the last 2 days I lost four big ones and the first 2 days I didn’t lose any. They were 4- and 5-pounders that came off while fighting. Those are the fish we’re all trying to catch. But it was definitely a satisfying tournament.”
Today was a struggle for the Alabama resident who only had two fish at 10 a.m. He started today on a spot that had produced a couple weigh fish for him on day 3, but he couldn’t generate a bite. He moved around a lot again and put his limit together with a crankbait and flutter spoon.
“The fish were there and the presentation was really important,” he said. “It was hard to get them to bite. They’re really smart and educated. They get hit daily. There are a lot of big fish there – 4- to 6-pounders.”
Dean Rojas hammered fish with a frog this afternoon.
4th: Frog Worked For Rojas
> Day 4: 5, 17-09 (20, 73-13)
Rojas notched his second Top-12 of the year this weekend and will take a fair amount of momentum into Toledo Bend next month, where he’ll look to defend his title from last year.
“It’s awesome. I have a lot of fond memories from '01,” he said. “It’s really cool to go back out and have a Top-5 finish. These next four events are going to be fun. I’m looking forward to it.”
He went through 20 keepers today and had a 5-09 beast anchoring his bag. He weighed four fish today caught on a frog after he made a run up river to work on some shallow water.
5th: Howell Happy With Outcome
> Day 4: 5, 23-03 (20, 72-12)
It’s taken Howell a few years to gain more confidence when faced with the prospect of fishing deeper water. He’s a shallow-water specialist, but he couldn’t be happier with the outcome this week.
“This was one of the most exciting tournaments I’ve had in a long time from the standpoint of catching more fish and bigger bags each day of the week and doing it off-shore and deep which isn’t a strong point of mine,” he said. “I’ve gotten better over the last 4 or 5 years and this really helped my confidence a lot being able to catch them like I did.”
The reduced field today allowed him to work on schools more freely and it allowed him to weigh one of the four 23-pound stringers caught this week.
“With the less boats to contend with, I was able to get on the fish a little easier,” he said. “I knew I had three schools of fish that held bigger fish and I knew if I could catch one, it’d be a good one.”
He boxed a 15-pound limit early in the morning on a topwater bait and went to work on the deep-water schools. His limit was capped by a 6-02 brute and a couple of 5-pounders.
10th: Brute Keyed McClelland’s Day
> Day 4: 5, 15-02 (20, 62-07)
Mike McClelland is thrilled with how the week ended up for him.
“Considering I hadn’t had a Top-12 finish since 2010, it’s a big deal to me,” he said. “This was a really cool lake. I just couldn’t get enough fish to cooperate at the depths I was fishing.”
He caught between 15 and 20 keepers each day of the event, but none was more crucial than the 5-15 he stuck with a deep-diving crankbait today.
“Without that fish, I might’ve had only 11 or 12 pounds,” he said. “I caught it on the same spot I’d caught my best fish yesterday and I’d also caught a 6-pounder there in practice, but this was a different fish. It was one of those points in the day I knew I needed to catch a big one. There was a rock that topped out around 17 feet and I’d seen the fish each time I’d troll over it. I made the cast and hit the rock with the bait and he ate it.”
He also had success this week with a 5-inch flutter spoon and 5/8-ounce BassX jig paired with either a Zoom Fat Albert Twin Tail or a trimmed Zoom Brush Hawg as a trailer.
“I didn’t catch near the number of fish some guys were catching, but I was around enough quality,” he said.
Notable
> Day 4 stats – 12 anglers, 12 limits.
Final Standings
1. Jeremy Starks -- Scott Depot, WV -- 20, 81-02 -- 99 -- $101,000
Day 1: 5, 16-01 -- Day 2: 5, 23-01 -- Day 3: 5, 19-11 -- Day 4: 5, 22-05
2. Britt Myers -- Lake Wylie, SC -- 20, 79-01 -- 98 -- $25,500
Day 1: 5, 21-01 -- Day 2: 5, 24-01 -- Day 3: 5, 19-08 -- Day 4: 5, 14-07
3. Aaron Martens -- Leeds, AL -- 20, 74-05 -- 97 -- $20,000
Day 1: 5, 23-14 -- Day 2: 5, 17-06 -- Day 3: 5, 16-08 -- Day 4: 5, 16-09
4. Dean Rojas -- Lake Havasu City, AZ -- 20, 73-13 -- 96 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 16-07 -- Day 2: 5, 22-00 -- Day 3: 5, 17-13 -- Day 4: 5, 17-09
5. Randy Howell -- Springville, AL -- 20, 72-12 -- 95 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 16-01 -- Day 2: 5, 13-09 -- Day 3: 5, 19-15 -- Day 4: 5, 23-03
6. Andy Montgomery -- Blacksburg, SC -- 20, 69-12 -- 94 -- $14,000
Day 1: 5, 21-01 -- Day 2: 5, 12-14 -- Day 3: 5, 22-06 -- Day 4: 5, 13-07
7. Ott DeFoe -- Knoxville, TN -- 20, 69-12 -- 93 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 14-14 -- Day 2: 5, 18-13 -- Day 3: 5, 19-12 -- Day 4: 5, 16-05
8. Jeff Kriet -- Ardmore, OK -- 20, 69-06 -- 92 -- $12,500
Day 1: 5, 17-15 -- Day 2: 5, 16-00 -- Day 3: 5, 14-11 -- Day 4: 5, 20-12
9. Brandon Card -- Caryville, TN -- 20, 68-00 -- 91 -- $12,000
Day 1: 5, 16-01 -- Day 2: 5, 17-00 -- Day 3: 5, 15-07 -- Day 4: 5, 19-08
10. Mike McClelland -- Bella Vista, AR -- 20, 62-07 -- 90 -- $11,500
Day 1: 5, 16-04 -- Day 2: 5, 16-00 -- Day 3: 5, 15-01 -- Day 4: 5, 15-02
11. Mark Davis -- Mount Ida, AR -- 20, 60-11 -- 89 -- $11,000
Day 1: 5, 13-12 -- Day 2: 5, 14-05 -- Day 3: 5, 15-01 -- Day 4: 5, 17-09
12. Jamie Horton -- Centerville, AL -- 20, 55-10 -- 88 -- $10,500
Day 1: 5, 15-14 -- Day 2: 5, 12-09 -- Day 3: 5, 14-12 -- Day 4: 5, 12-07
