Dean Rojas takes home the trophy and $100,000 check after winning the Bass Pro Tour. (Photo: MLF_
It’s an age-old question in competitive bass fishing: pattern or
location? If you ask MLF pro Dean Rojas this week, he’ll come down firmly on
the side of “location”.
Fishing an
area on the upper end of Smith Lake that he had found during practice for the
Bass Pro Tour Phoenix Boats Stage Five Presented by Mercury, the Arizona pro
went to work on the Sunday-morning shad spawn with a mix of baits (primarily a
crankbait, swim jig, frog and swimbait). By the end of the first period, Rojas
had put 23 fish on SCORETRACKER® for 36 pounds, 5 ounces – enough spotted and
largemouth bass that Rojas could’ve put his rods down for most of the rest of
the day and still won.
“It’s not
too often that you get into a Championship Round where the fish are biting like
that and you can use multiple baits to rack up a big lead,” Rojas said. “The
conditions were right: we had overcast skies, a breeze, warm temperatures, and
the fish were just feeding in the area I was in. It was just about capitalizing
on this format. I knew I had to catch as many fish as I could early to put some
distance between me and the field.”
Rojas
added an additional 9-1 in the second and third periods for good measure,
finishing with 47-0 and a 6-plus-pound win over Brent Chapman (40-14), Michael
Neal (34-15), Jason Christie (32-6) and Todd Faircloth (32-2). Mark Rose
(29-14), Brent Ehrler (26-0), Dustin Connell (24-14), Mike Iaconelli (17-14)
and Fred Roumbanis (10-1) rounded out the Top 10.
“At the
end of the first period, that was the end of (the bite),” Rojas admitted. “It
was a big deal that I caught as many fish as I could to build a big lead.
Period 2 and Period 3 were a matter of catching a few here and there, but I was
struggling because they just wouldn’t bite.”
Rojas
Cashes in on “Money Spot”
Rojas was
one of a handful of anglers in the 80-man field who identified his primary
area, a stretch of bushes in the Ryan Creek Arm. Rojas hit the area throughout
the week of competition, sharing it periodically with Boyd Duckett, etc., but
had the whole stretch to himself on Championship morning.
