Photo FLW/David A. Brown Throwback to Lucas’s Teener Caught in the 2008 Delta FLW
The 2016 Best Bass Tournaments Tournament of Champions blasts off this weekend from Russo’s Marina on the California Delta. The two-day event will close the season by crowning one of the competing 237 teams the 2016 BBT champs and awarding them the grand prize of $20,000 in cash.
Bassmaster Elite Series champ and former Delta local, Justin Lucas weighed in with his strategy for success on the tidal waters during a two-day fall event.
TECHNIQUES
The Berkley pro kept his plan simple, citing one technique and two specific baits as his definite choice. “I would have a regular-sized Pit Boss and a three-inch Pit Boss,” he stated. “The smaller one is for punchin’ the really thick stuff that is hard to get the four-incher through and then anything that’s not as thick, I am going to go with the bigger one.”
His color of choice would be green pumpkin/green. “It is probably my favorite color and with the water clarity of the Delta at this time of year, it is probably the one color that I would use,” he added.
Lucas explained he would have the plastic creature baits tied on with at least three different weight sizes – a 3/8-ounce for standard flippin’ (wood or tules) and a 1-ounce and a 1 ½-ounce for punchin’.
TARGETS
Hyacinth, Penny Wort and debris pockets would be areas of focus for Lucas. “Typically in the fall, the Delta water gets clearer, so shade is going to be very important to me,” he said.
He prefers to locate smaller sections to concentrate on.
“I would rather not go to big, giant sections,” he added. “When you have big sections, it takes so much time to flip through the area and you cannot always put your bait right in front of where the fish would be. If you have smaller section, it limits the area that the fish can be in and it ups your chances of catching one a lot faster.”
Lucas has faith in the flippin’/punchin’ technique on the fishery and wouldn’t make much adjustment to his presentation if he found himself catching bass on the smaller side. It would be his limit bait and his kicker bait. “For, me I would go ready with several flippin’ rods and spend my time finding as many areas as possible to flip and punch,” he said. “If I wasn’t getting the quality that I wanted, I would change location more than changing anything else. I would just keep covering as much water as I could to find as many isolated patches of hyacinth or penny wort as I could and I would just keep running them all day.”
TIDES
The lower tide and low-light conditions of the early morning also didn’t change Lucas’ plan of attack. “With the tide sucked out, it’s okay to be flippin’ in the morning because the fish will be on the edge of those spots,” he said. “There is no reason for them to be way up under a bunch of cover or hyacinth. They will be close to the edge; so I would keep that in mind and go flippin’.”
As the day progresses and the tide comes in, Lucas would continue to flip and also begin punching, targeting fish that were moving under the mats as the sun began to hit a higher point. “Naturally, I try to target lower tides because it the more confined area that they can be in increases the chance of catching ‘em, so I will run a low tide as long as I can; but at some point you just run out of that.”
TEAM
Considering the BBT is a team event, Lucas’ plan for the guy in the back was also to flip. “If there is two of you flippin’, you can flip twice as fast and that is not a bad thing,” he said. “Possibly in the morning, I would have one guy throw a topwater along the edge of where I was punchin’; but for the most part, we’re both just punchin’ all day.”
Lucas’s 2015 Elite Series win on the California Delta
This will mark the 5th year of the BBT TOC $20K grand prize event. See past winners and weights below.
Join the anglers at their daily weigh-in and visit the Boatmasters Bass Cat on display. Information below.
PAST YEAR’S WINNER INFO
2015 43.75 Bob Muraco & Robert Kirschner $20,000
2014 40.10 Damon Meeks & Jay Short $20,000
2013 19.21 Jay Rick & Terry Rawles $20,000
2012 51.66 Adam Belmont & Stephen Magill $20,000
EVENT DEETS
2016 Best Bass Tournaments | Tournament of Champions
CA Delta | Russo’s Marina
Oct 8 and 9
Info on Registration, Awards Banquet and More
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