Photos courtesy of Joe Uribe Jr.
Joe
Uribe Jr. wrapped up the 2015 Rayovac FLW Series - Western Division on Lake
Havasu with a tournament total of 67-3, claiming the victory with a lead of
over 14 lbs and winnings of $40,000.
The
Arizona angler's strategy was developed a couple of weeks prior to the event. "I spent two days fishing the lake with
my dad and found a pattern," he said. "I was surprised to see it was
holding when I returned for the official practice days. I was fishing shallow bays
(3 to 6 ft) with grass, tules and shad. The stripers were in there, the birds
were working and the fish were really active for that first hour or so in the
morning. When the morning bite died, I was running to anything with
shade(walls, cuts) just any shaded area.
Long
casts, slow retrieves and dirty water were all keys to his success. "Normally
the lake is really clear, especially the further south you go, but I chose to
stay pretty local, fishing where it was dirtier and throwing bigger
baits," said Uribe. "Even though, I was throwing reaction, I was
fishing real slow, being very thorough. The fish were pre spawn, wanting to
come up to spawn and moving in and out. We just had a full moon, so the fish
were moving around even more. This helped me because the areas that I was
fishing kept replenishing."
DAILY
LIMITS
Uribe
had the bulk of his fish in the box by 8:30 a.m. on day one. The 19-12 he
weighed put him in 2nd place, only ounces behind the leader.
"I
didn't know if I was going to be able to fish the same areas on day two; but
when I got to my spot, I only had one other competitor around me," he
said. "We respected each other's
water and I caught 'em again with two five pounders in back-to-back casts.
That's when I knew this was something special."
As
he went into day three with a five lb lead, Uribe kicked off the morning with a
nine-plus. "Literally, my partner and I got bit at the same time," he
recalled. "It was a double hook-up. I thought mine was a striper, so I wasn't
worried about it and turned to focus on my partner's fish; because it looked
like a real good one and he was on a spinning rod with 6-lb-test line. Then, I
saw mine roll on the surface and knew it was a big bass. I went to my fish and
my partner got the net. We got mine on the deck and then went back to my
partner's and saw it was a 15-lb carp."
That
near double-digit as the first fish on the final day sparked Uribe's confidence
"I had about 24 lbs by 8:30 a.m.," he stated. "We went on to
catch about 30 fish for the day, culling 3.5 lbr's.
The
weight of Uribe's final limit came in at 26-7.
TWO
TOOLS
Uribe
touted two primary lures for his fish. His big fish hit his 1/2 oz, shad-colored
ChatterBait with a shad-colored Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper. "I put
some chartreuse on the tail, because of the dirtier water," revealed
Uribe.
The
other lure that Uribe employed was a five wire Basstronix A-rig with Reaction
Innovations Skinny Dippers. "It had five baits, five blades and two hooks
(which is what was legal for us), 3 inch Skinny Dippers on the teasers and
5 inch on the hooks," said Uribe.
He
fished both baits on Performance Tackle custom rods paired with Daiwa Tatula
baitcasting reels and 20 lb Sunline fluorocarbon
WINNING
This
marks the first FLW championship of Uribe's career. Since 2011, he has also achieved
three other top-5's in the Western Division - another at Havasu and two at
Clear Lake.
Uribe
expressed appreciation to his friends, family, sponsors and the fellow anglers that have
supported him. "It is a great feeling and accomplishment; not only for me,
but for all of them," he said. They've really been there for me.
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