ORANGE, Texas — “Everything’s bigger and better in Texas.”
That’s what Todd Faircloth of Jasper, Texas, said Sunday as he won the Sabine River Challenge presented by STARK Cultural Venues out of Orange, Texas, trumping Dean Rojas of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., by 6 pounds, 10 ounces.
“It means a lot to me to win here,” Faircloth said. “I won one in Texas in Amistad, but that’s not real close to my home. Winning here in front of my home crowd is special. I’ve got a lot of family and friends here, and a lot of people I grew up fishing with and against.”
ORANGE, Texas — “Everything’s bigger and better in Texas.”
That’s what Todd Faircloth of Jasper, Texas, said Sunday as he won the Sabine River Challenge presented by STARK Cultural Venues out of Orange, Texas, trumping Dean Rojas of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., by 6 pounds, 10 ounces.
“It means a lot to me to win here,” Faircloth said. “I won one in Texas in Amistad, but that’s not real close to my home. Winning here in front of my home crowd is special. I’ve got a lot of family and friends here, and a lot of people I grew up fishing with and against.”
Our first stop of the 2013 VA West FOM trail found us at one of our favorite spots, beautiful Smith Mtn Lake. Our great friends at Goodview Baptist Church outdoors ministry hosted our Friday night event which included a fabulous meal, many great door prizes and a VERY inspirational message that led to one first time decision to follow Christ and six rededications! Our first event of this season brought many new faces to our division as well as some returning friends we hadn’t seen in a while. Thirty-two boats blasted off in the cool rainy morning in search of tight lines, heavy bags and fat checks. All of our teams made it back to the weigh in on time and safely with a total of 82 fish weighing almost 220 lbs were weighed in and safely released alive to be caught another day. Our returning 2012 Champs Harold Black & Lacy Burnette continued their winning ways in 2013. They brought in big fish at 6.42 lbs worth $160 and their 5 alive bag of 18.25 lbs earned them an additional $1,382. On top of that, they qualified for the VA West divisional incentive of $300 bonus money by both partners attending the Friday night meeting and having no penalties on Saturday. IF they come to the next Friday night meeting for our Claytor tourney – they will collect their additional $300, giving them a combined grand total of $1,842. Congrats guys on another quality victory! Our champs for the day reporting catching 4 keeps in the morning on plastics (mostly shaky heads) and culled 2 of those with the biggest fish being caught on crankbaits. They fished all over the lake and caught all of their fish below the Hales Ford bridge starting at the mouths of creeks and working to the back of them. They wish to thank Fishers of Men for all we do to make these events possible and also wanted to thank our Friday night speaker for having the courage to share his very inspirational testimony/message! Our other teams finishing in the money were: Greg & Mike Sibold 16.51 lbs. (eligible for $200 in bonus cash) Josh Akers & Ruben Hernandez 16.07 lbs. (eligible for $100 in bonus cash) Cody Dolin & Mike Thompson 15.29 lbs. (also won the bonus bucks) JD Shockey & Dave Crawford 14.21 lbs. Nathan Alt & Jeff Camp 14.12 lbs All teams that had both partners at the Friday night meeting and had no penalties on Saturday, that finished without earning a check will be entered in to a drawing for a pair of JB Custom rods to be given away at our next Friday night meeting. We return to Claytor lake April 13 for our next tourney and our Fri night event location will be locked in soon. Please check website for details/updates. Reminder – entries must be postmarked at least 8 days before the tourney to avoid the $25 late fee. We are so grateful to our division sponsors Angler’s Choice Marine, DCR/VA State Parks, McCraw Insurance, Logan Fire App. & JB Custom rods for helping us make our trial possible and fun for all. Fishers of Men would like to thank all of our fine sponsors; Skeeter Boats, Yamaha, Stren, Pflueger, Strike King Lure Company, Nester Hosiery, Marshall’s Marine, Kings Home, Nu Tech Global, Power-Pole, Lowrance, Duckett Fishing, Buckeye Lures, Keelshield, Solar Bat, Kistler Rods, Jacobs Glass, HydroWave, Rejuvenade, Berkley, and Rayjus Sportswear.
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In the last article, I covered the basics of why and how I utilize a drop shot to target deep, winter time bass. Now that the mercury is heading north, let’s take a look at what I would consider the most popular presentation for a drop shot: Horizontal casting. While most people prefer to cast and retrieve their drop shots, I feel that there are a few details that are often overlooked that could possibly be hindering success rates. The first question that I typically get about Drop shotting is “What length do I need to use for my drop line?” This is a great question and one that I really struggled with in as I began to learn this technique. I have had the most success with a shorter leader than most people use when casting my baits to targets. I began using a leader that is anywhere from 6”- 10” and immediately saw my catch rate increase dramatically. Again, this is just a starting point for me but will typically produce good results about 90% of the time. I do typically go to a longer leader when I am faced with more fishing pressure or flat calm conditions. The second question that I get is “What hooks, weights, and line do I need?” I like to keep my system very simple and think that by doing this, I have developed a feel for my baits that allows me to catch more fish. My set up consists of 7lb Sunline Sniper Flurocarbon, a 1/0 Medium wire Rebarb hook made by Gamakatsu, and a 1/8oz round ball drop shot weight. This combination of terminal tackle is what I use almost all of the time but I will adjust my weight up to 3/16oz or 1/4oz if the wind picks up or if I am wacky rigging a Senko style bait. Finally, when it comes to actually retrieving my bait, I have found that each day is unique and that it is best to experiment to find out which presentation is most efficient at triggering bites. I’ve seen guys who are excellent drop shotters catch fish by violently shaking their baits and others catch their fair share of fish by methodically dragging their baits slowly back to the boat. The real key is to keep your weight on the bottom and not get in too big of a hurry. If you remember that this is a finesse presentation, you will see your catch rate increase with this technique.
Special thanks to my sponsors Skeeter Boats, Yamaha, Spro, Gamakatsu, Sunline, Big Bite Baits, and Lowrance. Check out Will’s sponsors at WillPettyFishing.com to learn more about these products mentioned.
Order your Bass Cast gear today T-shirts are ten plus five dollars for shipping and handling. The Visors are fifteen dollars and the shipping is included in the cost, order yours today. All money goes to help fund the works of this site. You do not need a Pay Pal account to order. If you have any questions please drop me an email at Brian@thebasscast.com
Order your size today and allow one weeks for shipping
Order your Bass Cast gear today T-shirts are ten plus five dollars for shipping and handling. The Visors are fifteen dollars and the shipping is included in the cost, order yours today. All money goes to help fund the works of this site. You do not need a Pay Pal account to order. If you have any questions please drop me an email at Brian@thebasscast.com
Order your size today and allow one weeks for shipping
Winners of the first NC division event of 2013 were the team of Justin Goodyear & Tony Waterhouse with three fish weighing in at a total weight of 10.16lbs, congratulations to them on their victory. Follow the link bellow for the rest of the results.
Winners of the first NC division event of 2013 were the team of Justin Goodyear & Tony Waterhouse with three fish weighing in at a total weight of 10.16lbs, congratulations to them on their victory. Follow the link bellow for the rest of the results.
The winners of the first Region 2 event of 2013 were the team of M & M Bradshaw with five fish and a total weight of 17.75 Lbs. Congratulations to them on this great win.
