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Clear lake did not disappoint the anglers, as a matter of a fact, Clear Lake was kicking out some tanks. The average size of the bass this year was pushing 4 pounds. Many techniques were working which included a chatter bait, spinnerbait, Texas rig worms, crankbait, Ned rig and the Jig.
Once the lines were out and the fish were submitted to Tourney X, Don Rocci smashes a huge Clear Lake bag that measured 96.00”. A 21 lb. 5 fish limit of magnum Clear Lake Bass. Rocci practiced on Friday the day before fishing at the south end of the lake. He had struggled locating fish, but he made an adjustment with his lure choice and found a magical location. Rocci picked up a jig and immediately caught an 18” bass.
“I made a long run that took me over an hour to arrive.” said Rocci, “At 8:15 I caught my first fish a 20”.”
After an hour without a bite, Rocci made a short run and found an area that looked the same as the location where he caught his 20”. He was able to see a huge school of bass next to the outside of the dock.
“I saw this huge school of bass next to this dock.” said Rocci, “I casted my jig in the shade and edge of the dock and felt a thump.”
Even though he lost that fish right next to the boat, he worked his way inside of the dock structure and quickly caught several nice bass on that one dock.
“The dock had small gravel, like beach sand but bigger.” said Rocci, “I was using the TM Custom football jig in green pumpkin with a little brown rubber paired with a “D” bomb trailer.”
Under the same magical dock, Rocci caught most of his 96” of Clear Lake bass. The best part was his big fish that went 22”, under that same dock.
“I saw my jig start to swim off, so I gave her the bad news.” said Rocci, “She towed my kayak around while she swam past my kayak.”
The south wind started to blow which worked into Rocci’s area. He started his way back to the ramp since he was an hour away. He would stop at each beach area with the same size rock and would cull up a few more inches.
“At 1:45 PM, I stopped at an Island and culled up enough to move into first.” said Rocci, “I checked the leader board and saw I was 1.25” above second place.”
Rocci thanked Dean Wu and his family for putting on such a great tournament, making breakfast and lunch, also, all the vendors amazing fishing donations.
Kolton Kruzic finished in second place with 94.75”. Kruzic fishing network had some information for him since he was not able to practice. Kruzic quickly found that his network of information was not working, so he punted and made an adjustment that would push him to a second-place finish.
“There were some tulles that were close by so I casted a Bass Union Texas rig darter head paired with a Senko.” said Kruzic, “I had to let the bait sit for a while before the bass would pick up the lure.”
Kruzic worked the same stretch of bank back and forth to fill his limit. The key was to let the bait sit for a while and the bass would pick up the bait.
“I tried to cull that last fish but just couldn’t.” said Kruzic, “What I was throwing was working for me, so I just stayed with it until the end.”
Kruzic thanked his fantastic girlfriend Bri for letting him fish as much as he wants and taking care of the home while he’s gone, “without her I couldn't do what I love.” Also, a huge thanks to his father Steven Kruzic for introducing him to the sport at a young age and inspiring him to be a better fisherman every trip on the water. Dave and Julio for all their pointers. He also thanked his sponsors Rippa Apparel, X Zone Lures, Angler Tungsten Co., Tube Lube Fishing and Headwaters Adventure Company.
Sean Beach placed third with 92.00” Beach worked a spinnerbait along docks pilings to trick Clear Lake’s bass into biting.
“I was using a double willow spinnerbait in white with no trailer.” said Beach, “I would work the spinnerbait next to the pilings to get my bites.”
“Working it nice and slow, the fish would smoke the bait.” said Beach, “I worked the spinnerbait all day long but culled one fish on an all-red chatter bait.”
Beach would pick apart the docks and found the fish were everywhere along the docks.
“I had my limit by 9 AM and culled one last fish at 2 PM.”
Beach thanked his neighbor for the use of his truck at each tournament. He also thanked the Wu family for putting on such a great tournament.
“I can’t wait until next year’s tournament!”
Top Ten:
1.Don Rocci 96.00”
2. Kolton Kruzic 94.75”
3. Sean Beach 92.00”
4. Scott Savko 89.50”
5.Daid Burruss 89.25”
6. Drew Boles 89.00”
7. Jinno Magno 88.75”
8. Michael Bray 88.75”
9. Matthew Brannon 88.50”
10. John Myers 87.75”
Big Fish:
Don Rocci 22.00”
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