The team of Bill O’Shinn and Dante Ray ran away with the win, racking up a 3-plus pound lead over the runners-up at this past weekend’s BABC three-fish Swimbait Shootout on the California Delta.
SWIMBAITS TO WIN THE DELTA SHOOTOUT
Using a River2Sea S-Waver, to find their fish, the pair put together a pattern that gave them an 8.42 (shown bottom right) in practice and the winning fish at 18.81 on gameday. (*NOTE: The event had a three-fish limit)
“We were throwing the S-Waver in the Warden color,” said O’Shinn. “With the way the tide was and the fish were committing, we were doing a one-two deal with the S-Waver. One of us would throw it and that would make the fish show themselves to us and the other one would follow up with a different type of swimbait.
“With the way the fish were (in relation to spawning and the beds), we would envision where the holes would be and short pitch the S-Waver into those lanes, where we figured they would be setting up to spawn. The fish would come up and swirl – react to it and then we would go back at ‘em.”
O’Shinn revealed the team use two follow-up swimbaits, including the 6-inch Little Creeper Trash Fish in Chartreuse Shad.
“We needed the chartreuse because of the stained water,” said O’Shinn.
CONDITIONS THE WINNING DELTA FISH CAME FROM
The team reported running points on berms in the South Delta, where their water temp ranged from 59 to 64 degrees throughout the day. They landed at least 20 keepers with their tag team approach.
“The bite was pretty consistent all day,” said O’Shinn. “We had a pretty good pattern going and it didn’t really change with the tide, which was outgoing all morning. We found our pattern last weekend, practiced Friday, when we got that 8 ½; so, we knew it was still going.”
Although they have been travel partners, this is the first year O’Shinn and Ray have fished as tournament partners. They are kickin’ off with a good start racking up a trio of Delta largemouth that went just under 19 pounds for their win – a 7.9, 6.5 and 5-pounder.
O’Shinn expressed appreciation for Rusty Hook – a new apparel line out of Reno, iRod and River2Sea for sponsoring the event. “The raffle they put on was just awesome,” he added.
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