The primary professional bass match of the yr promised an thrilling begin to the season with new forward-facing sonar guidelines and expectations of massive fish within the Lone Star State. It lived as much as the hype, with sophomore angler Justin Cooper pulling out a Bass Professional Tour victory with a buzzer-beater fish.
Justin Cooper’s Victory
The ultimate day of competitors for Bass Professional Tour’s Stage One at Lake Conroe got here right down to the final moments. Three anglers had been in competition within the ultimate interval, and through the ultimate 20 minutes, Justin Cooper was barely holding onto the lead.
Colby Miller solely wanted 2 kilos, 1 ounce to catch Justin, and Jacob Wall wanted 2 kilos, 9 ounces to catch the chief. Viewers might really feel the strain on every boat as all three anglers fought to safe their first-ever victory.
Jacob Wall
Jacob Wall had been efficiently fishing shallow with a swimbait over the past a part of the day. He knew it could solely take one fish to take the lead and spent his ultimate minutes working and gunning, consuming up valuable minutes driving the boat.
He would make just a few casts at a exact goal, and when it didn’t pan out, he would hearth up the motor and head to the subsequent spot. Despite the fact that it was consuming time, he had confidence from previous success. Sadly, he got here up clean.
Colby Miller
Colby Miller hunkered down and determined to maximise fishing time within the space he was in. He was concentrating on shallow grass with a lipless crankbait, a method that accounted for many of his fish throughout his non-forward-facing sonar intervals. With 10 minutes left, he had quite a few fish slap at his bait however fail to attach, and it appeared just like the victory was going to be his.
He got here up tight on a bass with 2 minutes left within the match. Because the fish neared the boat, he stated, “I don’t suppose that’s the two kilos, 1 ounce I want.” He handed the fish to his Marshall, who introduced a weight of two kilos, 10 ounces. Colby’s face lit up with pleasure — it appeared like he had simply received his first-ever MLF match. He took the lead by 9 ounces.
Justin Cooper
What he didn’t know was that Justin Cooper additionally attached just a few moments after he hooked his fish. Feelings had been excessive as Justin reeled in that fish. He was unaware that Colby had taken the lead, however he knew that yet another fish would doubtless imply a $150,000 test for him and his household. Justin pulled it into the boat, nevertheless it regarded prefer it is likely to be too small to attain.
Seconds felt like an eternity because the Marshall waited for the fish to settle so he might get an official weight. It weighed 1 pound, 10 ounces, and Justin took again his lead after being in second place for a mere 22 seconds. The clock ran out, and he received his first skilled match together with his household close by watching.
Strategies From the High Anglers
Stage One on Lake Conroe was the primary skilled match that restricted using forward-facing sonar. Opponents might use their forward-facing sonar for one interval on every competitors day. Nobody knew how this might have an effect on technique and if it could have an effect on who got here out on prime.
Throughout the week, essentially the most weight was caught using Livescope methods. Nonetheless, anglers who solely discovered success using Livescope struggled and located themselves on the surface wanting in through the championship spherical.
The highest guys put their heads down and hammered fish with Livescope however then additionally rotated and located bass fishing shallow vegetation with basic energy fishing methods. You couldn’t be a one-trick pony this week.
Ahead-Dealing with Sonar Performs a Huge Position
Within the championship spherical, MLF announcer and retired professional J.T. Kenney mirrored on his time as an angler and stated that tournaments “are a marathon, not a dash,” however with the brand new forward-facing sonar guidelines, “the match is a dash inside a marathon.”
Every angler needed to execute and “dash” throughout their forward-facing sonar interval and produce as a lot weight as potential. It appeared very irritating for the sector, and guys who didn’t land massive numbers with Livescope knew their possibilities had been slim.
Your complete area used a comfortable plastic minnow on a jighead whereas fishing with forward-facing sonar. Most fished off-shore, chasing colleges of fish and casting at people exhibiting agreeable habits. It was the basic screen-staring that has given Livescope a nasty fame. All of it got here right down to effectivity and stumbling on the fitting fish.
Throughout non-Livescope intervals, the top-producing anglers discovered success with just a few totally different baits. The bladed jig began out scorching. In truth, on the finish of Day 1, Takahiro Omori was in second place with 74 kilos, 8 ounces, catching all however considered one of his fish on a bladed jig in vegetation. He didn’t even use his Livescope. That chunk didn’t final for Tak, however the remainder of the sector discovered success via the championship spherical utilizing it.
The lipless crankbait was one other favourite, and it finally received the match for Justin Cooper. Most anglers utilized it within the mid-to-upper portion of Lake Conroe, the place essentially the most vegetation is. They fished it off-shore and on shallow flats via hydrilla and grass pockets.
The Bass Professional Tour Resumes February 13-16 on the Harris Chain of Lakes in Leesburg, Fla. We’ll see if forward-facing sonar performs as massive part of the match in a state characterised by shallow-water fisheries and early spawn exercise. You possibly can tune into the stay motion at majorleaguefishing.com.
