Jace D Posted November 4, 2019 Report Share Posted November 4, 2019 Collin (cd7) and I had a pretty great weekend. We qualified for and fished the American Bass Team Classic Northern region at lake Berryessa on Friday and Saturday. We had never been to the lake before but had a few days before the tourney for practice. We got a few bites on swimbaits in practice but we took the hooks off the baits and shook them off (really hard to do). Still, the bites weren’t real consistent but we went into day 1 pretty confident that we could get a couple good fish on swimbaits. Day 1- we started off the day with a quick limit on jigs and a-rigs but the fish were small and so around noon we started throwing the swimbaits. It took a little bit and a change in the types of areas we were targeting but Collin was able to get a 6.5 and 7.8 between 1:00 and 1:30. Then around 2:00 I caught a 4+ on a swimbait but it was not hooked inside the mouth and in CA the law is that you have to have the hook inside the mouth or it is not a legal catch. So, although it made us feel sick, we decided to let it go. Fast forward another 45 min. or so and I hook another one on the swimbait. This one was BIG. Hardest pulling fish I’ve ever hooked. It got about 15 ft or so from the boat and came off. Bummer. We ended up coming back in to weigh in with 19.42 and sitting in third place but we were down 12 lbs to the leaders! They had 31 and some change with a 9+ big fish! We went back to the house that night and decided we would just swing for the fences on day 2 and only throw swimbaits. Win or bust. Day 2- We’ve only got 1 rod a piece out on the deck and we’re committed to slinging them all day. Well, we did. And it worked out. we weren’t able to find any bites on the stuff we caught them on the day before so we decided to change things up and try a different pattern. First stop after that change I get bit and hook up. 4 lber. We move to another spot. I hook up again and it’s another big one. It gets about 4 inches from the net and decides to dig on me and pulls off. We estimated between 9-10 lbs. Big One! I nearly puked. But credit to Collin for getting my head back in the game. He reminded me that it was still really early and we were getting the bites. “Get it back out there!” Next stop, Collin hooks up, another 4 lber. We moved again to the spot that I caught my first one and Collin hooks up again, 6.5 lber! Now we’re feeling a little better. We go back to the spot where I lost the big one earlier. I hook up, 5.5 lber. Now we just need that 5th bite. It took a little while but we ended up going back to the spot that Collin and I had both caught fish earlier. Collin lines me up for a cast and I bomb it out there. Hook up, 7.7 lber! We’re stoked! I ended up catching one more but it wouldn’t cull. We start heading back to weigh in thinking that we probably needed that giant one that I lost to win but we were still pretty happy with the day. Plenty of bites. We get back to weigh in to see that most of the weights were down. We weighed in 27.63 for the day and waited to see what would happen. Well, the day one leaders had an unfortunate day and only came in with 8 lbs. We ended up winning by nearly 6 lbs with 47.05 The prize for the win was a Ranger RT188 bass boat with a Mercury 115 outboard! Plus some cash, a Lowrance HDS Live 7, a couple Daiwa rods and reels and some sweet hardware! What a Great Lake and a great tourney. We’ve been working really hard for the past month and a half looking at maps, satellite images, reading fishing reports, tourney reports and getting all of the gear ready for this tourney. Some planning, team work, dedication, positivity and just some plain old good luck came together to for us. Day one fish Day two fish VolunteerSwimbaits, 253caster, bigfish85 and 28 others 31 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogers954 Posted November 4, 2019 Report Share Posted November 4, 2019 Congrats on the win man and thanks for sharing the awesome story love seeing stuff like this especially when most tourney guys would probably turn there noses up to someone dedicated to throwing only big baits. And congrats on the prizes, I’d give my arm for a new rt188 those things a slick Jace D and Primus 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StriperAddict Posted November 4, 2019 Report Share Posted November 4, 2019 Wow man thats awesome. Congrats on the win and stickin with the big baits! Swimbait or die! Jace D 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthefisherman Posted November 4, 2019 Report Share Posted November 4, 2019 Wow, what a win! You DeGough brothers are always putting the hurt on some quality fish...hard work and perseverance paying off in big ways. Way to go! Jace D 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebeardedbassman Posted November 4, 2019 Report Share Posted November 4, 2019 Congrats. Jace D 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigpoppabass Posted November 4, 2019 Report Share Posted November 4, 2019 Wow. congrats. Now you gotta figure out the taxes on the boat win. Jace D 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harshwaters Posted November 4, 2019 Report Share Posted November 4, 2019 Congrats on the win! Noticed you didn't list the swimbaits used . Is that info held back for future tourneys?Well done again Jace D 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jace D Posted November 4, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2019 15 minutes ago, Harshwaters said: Congrats on the win! Noticed you didn't list the swimbaits used . Is that info held back for future tourneys?Well done again Thanks man. Ya, I didn’t want to let that info out just yet. We do have our 2020 season getting ready to start up. Also, there are some other guys that fish the same circuit who use the same bait and I don’t want to mess anything up for them either. Harshwaters 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jace D Posted November 4, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2019 1 hour ago, bigpoppabass said: Wow. congrats. Now you gotta figure out the taxes on the boat win. LOL! Ya that might be a pain. Although, we don’t actually have the boat, we get a certificate that you can take to the dealer and order the boat. We’ve got a buddy who wants to buy the boat from us so he may just buy the certificate and then he’ll have to worry about the taxes. He’ll still get a great deal and we won’t have to pay anything out of our pocket. Win-win. GreenPig 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cd7 Posted November 4, 2019 Report Share Posted November 4, 2019 2 hours ago, Jace D said: LOL! Ya that might be a pain. Although, we don’t actually have the boat, we get a certificate that you can take to the dealer and order the boat. We’ve got a buddy who wants to buy the boat from us so he may just buy the certificate and then he’ll have to worry about the taxes. He’ll still get a great deal and we won’t have to pay anything out of our pocket. Win-win. We will at the end of the year but I’m not gonna turn down 25k because I have to pay 2k. Lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHeINFamoUS Posted November 4, 2019 Report Share Posted November 4, 2019 That’s an impressive win on multiple levels, not everyone can make those big time decisions like that and make em pay off......especially when you’re within striking distance after day one. Congratulations. Jace D 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenPig Posted November 5, 2019 Report Share Posted November 5, 2019 Phenomenal! Jace D 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogers954 Posted November 5, 2019 Report Share Posted November 5, 2019 23 hours ago, Jace D said: LOL! Ya that might be a pain. Although, we don’t actually have the boat, we get a certificate that you can take to the dealer and order the boat. We’ve got a buddy who wants to buy the boat from us so he may just buy the certificate and then he’ll have to worry about the taxes. He’ll still get a great deal and we won’t have to pay anything out of our pocket. Win-win. Jesus where do i get buddies like you two lmao, always nice to hook up friends in need. Jace D 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amistoad Posted November 5, 2019 Report Share Posted November 5, 2019 Man, that is AWESOME!!! New boat awesome!! Loved reading this and it started my morning on the right foot! Jace D 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primus Posted November 5, 2019 Report Share Posted November 5, 2019 Great story, love seeing a tournament won by swimbaits, Congrats ! Jace D 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.