Stockton Bass launched their final day of the 2014 Tournament of Champions
(TOC) out of Ladd's Marina today on the California Delta. The two-day event
came to a close with the day one leaders Lorenzo and John Rossetti sealing the
deal on the victory with a tournament total of 41.06.
The
father and son Rossetti team came to the scales on day one with 25.13, an 11.5
lb lead over 2nd place. Their biggest weighed in at 7.21. "We got that one
with a Spook about 9:30 in the morning," revealed Lorenzo, the younger of
the two.
Changing conditions of the second day challenged the
Rossetti team, as the pair's weight slipped to 15.93. "Yesterday, everything
came on top," said Lorenzo. "Today, it was rough. We got zero topwater
fish. I couldn't even get one to come up and swirl. That told me I needed to
get down further into the strike zone and get the bait closer to 'em; so we
ended up going subsurface."
Putting down their topwater lures and picking up
crankbaits and ripbaits, the pair went to plan B. "When you are fishing out
here, you have to have five or six different things in your arsenal,"
stated Lorenzo. "If you've only got one or two things, you may as well
hang it up, because you never know when or how you are going to have to change
it up."
This
win marks the second year running that the Rossetti's have claimed victory in
the Stockton Bass TOC. It is also the 2nd consecutive year that the team has
held the Angler of the Year (AOY) title.
For their efforts, they again will earn entry into the following
season's events.
The
first day they caught about 20 fish in the first three hours. on day two they
had less than half of that. Both days, they targeted weedlines and rock
banks in 3 to 8 ft. They found their best bite at the top of tide and it lasted
through the first hour of the outgo.
The
runners-up in the event with 31.58 were
Dee Thomas and Dan Daniel. Their day one weight of 11.46 was enough to get 3rd
and the duo climbed into 2nd for the final weigh-in with a limit of
20.12, which included the event's big fish at 9.70. "Dee got that one
mid-morning fishing shallow water with a little current," said Daniel. "I netted it." Thomas'
big one bit a weightless Senko.
The
top trio was round out by the team of Marc Young and Dan Flood with 22.09. They
sat in 2nd on day one with 13.58 and slipped one spot after adding 8.51 on the final
day.
Stockton
Bass will kick off the 2015 season in January with new and exciting format
changes.
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