ON TOUR
COSTA FLW SERIES detaIls sept . 28-30 , 2017 presented by evinrude hosted by konocti vista casino Resort & marina costa Flw series division : western
CLEAR LAKE lAKEPORT , CAlIF .
By David A . Brown photos by kyle wood
Winning angler bryant smith , castro valley , calif . Winning Weight : 53-15 ( 15 fish ) stat line : this is smith ’ s first pro win . previously , fishing as a co-angler , he won the 2011 costa Flw series event at lake shasta .
Winning baits
Despite the urge to use reaction baits – an instinct born out of extensive Clear lake experience – Smith kept those crankbaits and bladed jigs in his rod locker . Instead , he committed to a Neko-rigged 5-inch green pumpkin / watermelon laminate Yamamoto Senko .
“ I know where the fish usually hold this time of year in the fall transition , but I just couldn ’ t get them to bite ,” he says . “ I ’ ve gotten my butt kicked so many times by a guy with a Senko or a drop-shot , and I said , ‘ I ’ m not gonna do it this time . I ’ m going to at least try it [ finesse tactics ].’ I made probably 50 casts with a crankbait . All the rest were with the Senko .”
Smith rigged his bait with a 3 / 0 Decoy finesse hook and inserted a 3 / 32-ounce nail weight into the tail .
“ It falls with kind of a circular motion , and I think that ’ s why I got a lot more bites than other guys ,” says Smith of his rig . “ A lot of guys were throwing a drop-shot , and I would come in behind them and catch fish .”
The ruse was convincing enough for him to deliver the only 20-pound bags of the event – 20-15 on day one and 20- 8 on day two . Adding 12-8 in the final round completed his wire-to-wire victory .
CONDITIONS
Weather | mostly sunny on day one ; partly cloudy on day two ; sunny on day three air temperature | low 90s on day one ; upper 80s on day two ; low 80s on day three Water temperature | 79 to 82 degrees Water clarity | 4 to 6 inches of visibility on the northern end ; 8 to 15 inches of visibility on the southern end Wind | light on day one ; SSE at 15 to 20 mph on day two ; south at 7 to 10 mph on day three moon Phase | first quarter Predominant lake features | tules , docks , bluffs , points , shallow reefs and deep rock piles fishery type | natural lake
target areas
Docks in the Redbud arm and along the lakeport area at the north end were Smith ’ s main targets . He says these spots aligned with the annual transitions upon which he was depending .
“ In a lot of the bays down south , the shad are going to be along the deeper structure on the outside in the summertime , and when they start to move in , you can kind of follow the fish right on in ,” Smith says . “ I fished a lot of the same areas I ’ d fish this time of year with reaction baits , but I just slowed down and caught them with a Senko .
“ The fish were really scattered for me , and I didn ’ t know when my next bite was going to happen . But I knew if I stayed in the bays , I ’ d eventually run into them . I was just trying to get bit , and I knew if I fished enough dock pilings I would .”
Covering his bases , Smith fished a handful of deeper main-lake docks , but he couldn ’ t catch any better quality . By day two , he ’ d decided to stick with the bays .
68 flWfIshIng . com I november-december 2017