2003 Bassmaster -- Cali Delta

the anglers on the Citgo Bassmaster Tour have been at it for three months now striving to get ahead and tournaments through the south and the southeast now though they've hitched up and made the longest pole they've ever made more than 2,000 miles across country for their first visit to California the California Delta is legendary for tremendous fishing but you can't help but think that these anglers are thinking about their chances against a man who's made himself a legend on the Delta Robert Lee of nearby Angels Camp California has incredibly won all three baths open division tournaments held on this water dating back to 1997 but there were some surprises on day number one Roger bowler it turns out matched up well on day one 27 pounds from the angler it was a long way from his home in Slidell Louisiana 12 ounces an off day for Robert Lee by his standards he had some ground to make up if he wanted to keep his streak alive 20 pounds on day two got lead closer and more importantly into the top 12 to stay in contention Roger bowler got his 20 pounds as well to keep the lead right day number three is qualifying Dave town crowded Stockton wanted their local favorite in the finals [Applause] Robert Lee did not miss a right behind it [Applause] his father's raving fan Robert Lee now positioned in second and ready to challenge well I'm catching him slowly but surely we'll see what happens tomorrow or catching him he's a good fisherman I'm sure you can catch him you know but I think I can catch him too so it's gonna be close right down to the end we'll see what happens everybody's got to come out here and see what happens small well now tomorrow is today Roger polar with a slim lead going into the finals against Robert Lee Jimmy Mize Jack way Joe Thomas and skeet Reese [Music] [Music] thus it very fast master tournament trail is presented by hello and welcome to the Citgo Bassmaster tournament trail first time ever for the Bassmaster Tour in the golden state of California on Tommy Sanders Jerry McKenna's is on site he'll be joining us momentarily just coming off a big event last time in South Carolina on the Santee Cooper Lakes one that produced some performances that will definitely be going into the record books and as we begin our final day action here in the California Delta we go to Kirsten gum to tell us more about this vast fishery and Kirsten looking a little bit cold for an April morning chilly indeed Tommy you know it is actually 15 degrees below the norm for this time of year out here in California but I'll tell you what that has not stopped our anglers from whizzing past me just a few minutes ago headed out for the final day you know here in San Juan King County there is 800 miles of navigable waters but chatting with anglers this morning they're talking like they're only going 20 minutes out Jerry McInnis you have a better view from up in the sky tell us about it flying tell you right off the bat it's kind of chilly up here however the view is awesome there's no best fishermen when they start talking about their favorite Lake say they say talita bin and sam for a bird and maybe Okeechobee down in Florida bass fisherman you need to put this California Delta on that list as well well Jerry it looks like it's gonna be a whole lot of fun we know that and as we also know these waters have a tremendous amount of potential do you see some scoreboard changing coming up soon well I tell you what I'm not gonna do much predicting today I'm going to stay away from that but I do have Robert Lee right below us here and I'm very anxious to talk to him about his game plan the day Robert what's it all about how you get started Lord and I plan on looking for some big fish to the bedding areas on the high tide I normally don't like the fish to hide with the big fish been freaking out with the tide gets too low and I can't catch it so the weather like today on the ward I hope they swam in overnight I think I'm gonna have to get him early I know you got to really be excited about this whole thing better Beck you you seem to be the man here that's going to be able to possibly expose this whole California scene the bass fishermen all across the country yeah this is a dream come true to show that the United States the for me to be involved in it for second place now to win it represent the West is totally awesome I'm excited to go fish and see what I can do okay well we'll let you go be safe today good luck to you Tommy these guys don't have very far to go most of them for going from 15 to 20 minutes away and man will be stationed by the time I would be fishing when we come back from break eight hours of fishing almost ready to get started here hand Roger bowler hang on will Robert Lee accomplished an unprecedented four feet we'll start to find out when we return the Citgo Bassmaster tournament trail is brought to you by let go by bush and by skiers skeet Reese of Auburn California picked up his first Tour win in our first event this year on the era's chain in Central Florida the day he won that event he started in the last spot the field of six the metro area starting today on the Delta where's number one talking about a picture man somebody tried let go somebody had him on a little damn crappie hook look at that somebody somebody hooked him on that stupid little hook what are you smoking my boat now alright skeet Reese with some used goods but those count he's on the board in fact moves up the board on this final day of our citko Bassmaster Tour event on the California Delta of course where the San Joaquin and the Sacramento rivers come together lots of other rivers from the coast in the Sierras half of California draining through this Delta into the San Francisco Bay hundreds and hundreds literally of miles of fishable water so jerry McInnis it's extra important this time that you place our anglers show us where our six finalists are fishing today yeah and tell me this is not an official fact but I would like to see another County anywhere in the United States that has more bass fishing water available man it it's incredible I'm not kidding you yeah let me place these guys for you we'll start with the number six guy Joe Thomas and he's going up 14 Mile Slough past big slate and he's gonna start in white Slough now skeet Reese maybe the farthest of our six anglers the farthest away from the take off here skeet maybe just off the San Joaquin River in a place called fisherman's hut nice little cut right here jack weights in Discovery Bay that's kind of a complicated one to get to Frank's track gets lots of fishing traffic and that's where Jimmy Mize is at Robert Lee not get this Tommy Robert Lee whoo he knows the Delta is fishing in a place called get this now disappointment Bay I would not fish the finals of this tournament in disappointment they would you will see I guess and Roger bowler thus very slim lead is just above Tyler marina in aisle mouth sleuth alright thank you so much Jerry these guys of course we're going out to Jimmy Mize our first look at him for the day Jimmy mines currently in third place six pounds behind our leader Roger bowler and Jimmy mises job for the day fish slower that's something my wife trying to convince me a few years ago I'm one running gun fishing when she said you know catch him with your ride she she finds a good area chill gets most out of it which last couple years I slowed down started doing that and this amazing what you can catch on the spot you working hard enough I want you to have a look at our scoreboard we always try to keep it in the lower-left for you there we show the leader on top his pounds the folks who are pursuing we show in terms of the pounds that they are behind and you are a scoreboard watch going to come and today we're gonna keep you busy these guys are throwing plastics primarily lower throws with the slip secret gets it down there in the bottom real fast a lot of the other guys are throwing cinco's weightlessly where it drifts to the bottom and while I was there I met Mike Duggars with the San Joaquin Sharon guy showed me around there a little bit he was informing information this is des America's capital of the world you didn't know that did the asparagus capital of the world I didn't know you'd been talking to the Sheriff's Department either why is that this waters a little bit clearer than I've been fishing that sheriff's pardon a little scary and ya been fishin uh most Waterman fishing has hole six inches to a foot of visibility so the jigs worked a little better than during water but just clear water I don't know I'm Aviance place where at throw a dang Cinco and home you don't have the patience to fish Cinco right now I want something I can get it out there quick get it the bottom quick let him eat it quick leader Roger bowler having definitely his best year ever matter of fact he's second right now in the bush angler of the year progr bowler trying to maintain his lead hoping he can land every time I see him he's been fishing as a start not a skeet said earlier that it takes a lot of patience to fish that Bay that's because you cast it out and you just let it slowly drift to the bottom and spin a scary yes Hades Fisher right they're spawning they're difficult to fool with when they're spawning we are gonna lose some fish couldn't get my hand on the the handle to start reeling unless we say Robert Lee has never won outside of California never won off these waters in the Delta the boy heat owns this place and Roger bullets but his last catch it ain't about a pound on robert's rigging up a zipper worm and i want you to look at the crowd behind him that's about the largest group of boats followed an angler I think I've ever seen and he's using a very large hook a one on or two off looks like about a 3/8 ounce lip syncher yeah well that's the male on on that spot it was a it's a bet fish I seen him yesterday I didn't see him today but well for three days Robert Lee has been chasing Roger bowler he's finally caught him now let's see if he can hang on to that lead and as he was motoring out this morning he mentioned new fish swimming in what he was referring to there was fish during the night coming up on those banks to to get ready to spawn and maybe he is running into that it starts there it's a 3.5 pound fish anyway well the tide is high and that fish was probably in about nine feet of water over by those two Lee's or the reeds well you know it didn't bite I flipped in there three or four times all of a sudden I picked up it was head of a tiger that's yeah lead change right off the bat hey if those folks back at the dock in Stockton knew that Robert Lee had taken over the lead start a little bit of a rumble right now still close still tight lots of fishing to come we'll check Jack wait when we get back to the Citgo Bassmaster tournament trail this week on the California Delta Jack Wade and his best season in a long time second top-10 finish of the year here today on the Delta dr. fishing in Discovery Bay our leader right now is Robert Lee just took the lead over Roger bowler who's run this tournament for the past three days pretty much Jack Wade back in the place with a lot of boat docks I guess what caught my in these dead-end sloughs were these fish were these these yellow flowers on the bank those fish seem to be relating to them two or three different areas where I've caught fish and quality fish they'd be it always be pitching toward them in high tide I go it alone pitching and playing that bait well I guess you could call it the flower pattern for Jack whoo hey dear you know a lot of the pro anglers will tell you the flowers are supported by the kind of soil it's sandy and so forth that's the kind of soil that one that fish like to spawn in so Jack pattern may be a pretty sound one here right now from Discovery Bay we're going over to disappointment Slough and our leader Robert Lee Jerry McKenna's I'm sure has a lot of questions for him Robert the first thing I have to ask you something that has been bothering me all night long this has to be one of the most important days of your life in your fishing career and you started it in a place called disappointment Bay that takes a lot of nerve doesn't it yeah it's kind of kind of onic but you know it's a good Slough it's got a lot of cover a lot of a lot of ditches and channels that the fish like and you know it's got all sorts of cover and it's a big Slough with deep water and it just holds a lot of fish well one thing I really want to get into you with here is is what you're doing how you're how you're going about it I know you explained that to us really in detail yesterday evening and I'd like to hear it again let the folks know out there exactly what's going on well what you got and you know a lot of the bigger saloons in the Delta is you got a main channel out there and a main channel over here and these islands some of the islands they'll have ditches running through them seven or eight feet of water meandering through here and the fish'll the she'll move in on them ditches and lay up on the and they kind of break up they'll move in on the ditches and they'll break up on a shelf and lay there to feed and spawn and that's what I targeted the last two days the first day I was trying to do a pre spawn pattern and I didn't do that well I got nineteen pounds but I struggled hard yesterday decided to go for it I come into here I haven't been in here on a higher tide the bigger females like to move up on the flats on a higher tide so they have some water on top of them and when it's too low they'll move out and suspend so I came in here on a high tide and just kind of blind flipping the weeds wherever I kind of visualize what the the weeds and stuff it looked like when I was here on low tide and just started flipping around and caught some nice fish and that's the same thing what I've done today but I'm what's really been your lure of choice what have you caught most of those bigger fish on well I've got most of them on it on a zipper in oxblood red flake and but the two biggest fish I've caught both of them have came on a new tube it's a big tube about well it's five about five inches about big round as your finger and it's watermelon red flake and it's like a two-tone color it's real natural and I've caught both of the the biggest fish I've caught up they have been on that Joe Thomas you definitely call him a journeyman been out here almost 20 years fishing with the Bassmasters for trips to the classics of no wins he's looking for one here he's been solid all week but Joe Thomas is along with skeet Reese and Jack Wade down there in the bottom half you might say of our scoreboard their score for Joe Thomas but these are the guys who are fishing for fourth the other three are the ones contending for first place if I wouldn't had that one yesterday about this size I wouldn't be fishing today Josie absolutely right every ounce counts especially when they get to handing out the paychecks look at the crowd for Robert Leeds Tommy let me sort this out we got our buddy Roger bowler who is taking the lead back a small fish but he's back in the lead well they're slugging it out right now we haven't got this thing sorted out yet because Robert Lee I don't know if he's gonna get it in oh my gosh what a landing and Lee is gonna take hook again with that fish how about that oh oh boy Robert Lee can hardly contain himself and I got a nomination for the ugliest landing of the year this is it right here well you said it Rogers fish wasn't as hard to land but it was a lot smaller now the stakes were higher here every time I went to grab him he'd shake his head the other way well all's well in the end they say it's not how it's how many he's got that was in the boat of good fish too and take a look at skeet Reese now he's apparently caught a good fish to move ahead of Jack wait I have to laughs that fish wet his face down absolutely he's real careful about keeping his boat off of that Bank not to disturb the next fish that he hopes to catch gonna get to finally show his fish to the spectators there there's no doubt among anyone here in the Delta who is the greatest student of bass fishing in this part of the world what people don't realize about out west is there's just as many fishermen as back east but the fishing so diversified you have the ocean you have steelhead salmon trout stripers everybody fish back east as he fished sportsman like you fish for bass or you catch catch mr. crappie I like to do what I do just give it up and move to Alabama from California and just I'm not gonna do a plane tickets they're only $270 all over Watson skeet Reese now and a couple months ago I was talking to him and he he was telling me that Lee was unbeatable out there because he knows the tides so well so far he was right but Skeets doing pretty well himself by God or at least he was was good another 2 pounder [Music] yeah I mean that's only do that when leaders got the momentum now to check out that scoreboard Joe Thomas with a good catch to jump over skeet Reese get out of the cellar we are more bored watching today folks don't go [Music] welcome back into the Citgo mass master to her first trip ever for the tour to California we are on the California Delta where the San Joaquin and the Sacramento rivers come together a vast and well-respected fishery for a number of reasons this is the man right here Roger bowler Slidell Louisiana who has led through the first three days of this tournament he's done quite well he's now boating his third fish of the day but Roger bowler now has a new position that of second place and you don't want to be in second place because that means he surrendered the lead to Robert Lee just down the road from Angels Camp California Robert Lee UC has won the first three events held by bas s on these waters and as we take a look at our scoreboard we see that all of our competitors in the top six with the exception of Jimmie Mize have swap positions but Jimmie Mize at 61 pounds is certainly not out of contention at this point yesterday on the third day of competition Jim Saul won the amateur prize a three-day total of 36 pounds and 11 ounces in our other story from the amateur side maybe not quite as uplifting Jim Valladares of West Covina California was fishing on day one with Pro Kelly Jordan of Texas had a good day they've made it all the way back to the dock and Kirsten gum this is where the story kind of starts to get painful right yeah that's right Kelly and Jim ADA back to the way in sight on day one down here in downtown Stockton they both have their limit but when Jim stepped out of the boat he literally stepped into the water now the killer thing about this is not that Jim just got soaked from head to toe but his bag of fish his two largest fish a four pounder and a three pounder also took a swim back into the Delta leaving Jim not only drenched unhappy but to fish shy of a limit you know boy hard to know exactly how much those two big ones would have weighed but likely enough to have gotten him into the top 12 and given him a shot at the championship super painful but you have to hand it to Kelly Jordan of course reaching out not for Jim but for the bag of fish we all know where the important priorities lie out there on the tour right now let's check back in with a guy who has taken over the lead Robert Lee and Jerry how's he looking at or he is looking good Tommy you know we've mentioned a couple of times this is our first trip to California and then in the next breath we say that Roberts won the last three events here those wins were at open Vince in this our turbine in California it's a den oh my god so freakin gorilla come here big momma open your mouth for me oh my god I love you can you fit I better put it in this other side tell me AB just one question for you how's that race for a second-place girl well fortunately it's closed because Robert Lee continues to be outstanding shock well that could go down as one of the most dramatic catches ever in Bassmasters history oh my god it's the same bait that I caught my big one on yesterday gosh it's unbelievable I got a regroup I've missed that fish yesterday it's trying to spawn there I kept throwing in there and I kept cut the mail you know I kept throwing in there and kept throwing in there and kept throwing in there all set my lines off you gotta keep your eyes open I guess I spotted that well I missed him yesterday morning or one of those two and I looked in there when the tide was low and I seen a gorilla layin in there I thought it was a seven or eight but the waters kind of seen you can't tell it's more like nine or ten or nine anyway oh I got a hook I might get it now want to do that for me that's advanced a 90 pounder easy it's bigger than I had yesterday and the one I had yesterday was almost nine Robert Lee catching the big fish that'll be a scene that none of us will ever forget from this tournament of course missing him that's what skeet Reese is not gonna forget about from this term I'm not mistaken I'm mistaken that's three pretty good fish dude is lost and boy what a difference that would have made it in his standings and Joe Thomas is fishing in the same area as Robert Lee is fishing in Abilene or nodding although that's pretty good fish there they're not quite the caliber of what Robert Robert has just got so much momentum going he's got the momentum there's so many big fish in here it's an incredible fishery haven't talked enough about it we know the skeet Reese has some opinions the head biologist for this area fishing game his name's Dennis Lee and you know we've had you know people ask well can the California Delta produced world-record fish and some time back you know a lot of us had no way can Delta produce a world-record fish well from what I understand Dennis Lee has changed his mind now he definitely sees a potential and Delta producing a world-class fish and I can see it too we've got so much cover here so much for is the forage in this place is unreal I mean they've got crawfish by the billions bluegill crappie catfish plus we got all the striper steelhead and salmon runs that come up and down the river so they got all the Smoltz to get the feed on so the food source here is just unlimited well not much we can add to the last six or eight minutes but coming up Alton Jones is gonna join us help us add to this great story here in the California Delta don't go away [Music] welcome back to the Citgo Bassmaster Tour first time ever for the tour in California on the Delta here of course there have been some bas s open events here as a matter of fact this is the place where the largest fish ever caught in Vass competition was caught 14 pounds and nine ounces we've just seen this place strengthen its reputation a little bit more that huge fish we just saw Robert Lee catch a few moments ago so it's no wonder that all the anglers who've made it this far and the season came out here with some high expectations and as Kirsten Gumm joins us Kirsten a lot of people thought coming into this tournament that it would be a cakewalk for the West Coast guys but in days 1 & 2 that's not the way it turned out boy it sure hasn't Tommy you know they call this the Golden State and there are many reasons why but Louisiana native Roger Bullard sure found out there's gold in these waters he took the lead in the first round with 27 pounds 9 ounces Jack Wade brought in the big bath of the first day a 9 pound 15 ounce largemouth bass on day 2 well Roger bowler returned to his goldmine of a canal here in the San Joaquin Delta catching another big bag Jimmy mines jumped 20 places to the second spot on day 2 and 4th place on day 2 the hometown favorite Robert Lee now after day 2 he was 10 pounds behind the leader but remember he has won three Vass events here on the Delta he has a great track record here it's nice to come to a place and not have to look at a map the whole time you're practicing you know I didn't now 2001 class of champion Kevin VanDam jumped into six place he told me ma'am he's starting to like this West Coast fishing thing yeah I guess Pearson it just proves again those fish sit down there they don't know whether the lures coming from an East Coast guy or a West Coast guy they sure do not you know we have anglers from all over the place in the top six yeah let's take a look at that top six again Roger bowler led the way he's from Louisiana followed by Robert Lee of California there's Jimmy Mize of Arkansas Jack Wade Tennessee Joe Thomas Ohio and then our winner of the first event of the year skeet Reese another Californian right now as we continue to watch this exciting fishing we're going to be joined by the guy who's currently in fourth place on our Bush angler of the year points Alton Jones is with Jerry yeah Tommy I want to talk to Alan Jones here a little bit about this layout and you know what what occurs to me is you guys not only have to find fish you have to figure out how to not to get lost out here well this place is a very confusing area but you know we fish big places all over the country the Louisiana Delta is another one yeah and this one actually is not nearest confusing is the Louisiana Delta that the channels are very well marked and the difference between a place like this in in Louisiana for example Louisiana there's the pockets of fish because there's places where saltwater intrudes and in places where it doesn't this area is all freshwater and it's all loaded with that what is it all loaded with bass or do you have to go through some areas that are void of any fish and you have to figure that out are there really fish everywhere in this Delta from what I've seen there are literally bass everywhere you stop the key is now you have to figure out how to catch them how their position how the how the tide is affecting how they're relating to the grass and the cover that's there but once you figure that out you can stop anywhere and get a bite well so much is it so much talk about the about the tide up and down and up and down and and I realize that does play a big part of your strategy and just how you go about your business all day long the one thing that I think is a little bit out of whack is everyone's saying well you know this guy's gonna be better because he knows more about them about the tides this guy's never fished the tide I correct me if I'm wrong here I think a bit a good bass fisherman is a good bass fisherman and he's gonna figure it out just like that well I think that's exactly right and you know what you'll notice on these fish you will see that there is a tide when the Bight turns on but even when the tides wrong you can still get a bite and you still may get a big bite and if you don't know the area thoroughly which most of the pros have never been here before are you included not included in that group we don't have the lugs we've been able to do what they call running the tide and jump from spot to spot and follow particular tide that we like so you know safe bet is to get around an area that has a lot of fish in it that you know has the right quality that you're looking for and stay put and and I don't mean making one cast but just get it an arien fished early and you'll be there when the tide is right before you say this is your first time in illness water when you pull out of here the first day and got away from the town and started looking at the real Delta what was the first thing you started doing well actually you know I I flew over the Delta before and a place is this big like that and you have different water colors and weed beds and things that can always be a big help and I had located and circled on my map service faucet from the air just lucky the first place I went to had 30 bikes oh my good yeah you know I heard this Delta was great but I didn't know was that good I mean it was just phenomenal had my son with me by 9 o'clock in the morning I had to cut his leg off because he was kept in to me three and four pounders and he was just leading around dad I got another one he didn't have a hook on he's just shaking them off you know and we just had a ball you know in the days like that when my son gets to practice with me you know those are days he's gonna look back on yeah early years from now I remember when me my dad the first time we went to the Delta you know it was do you fish to win yeah you have to there's there's well let's back up here and let's explain that you're having a great you're really having a great year but we haven't seen you on television because he hasn't you know they haven't broke over into that top six area and that's a that's a tough thing to do do you sometimes get complacent and start enjoying or not enjoying ain't the right word but being satisfied with 23rd place and 18th place or never never and you know my philosophy is not to worry about points in making the classic and that sort of thing those those things take care of themselves they happen but what you really want to do for yourself and for your sponsors is to win tournaments and you know 175 guys you can't win every one but if you don't fish the win if you're not fishing for the right quality of fish that lives there if you're just fishing two points are seldom ever gonna win okay then get real specific with me what would you do to try to win what what would you do differently to try to win than somebody that was just trying to have a steady day well for an example on the Delta we'll just use that since we're here - you really need four pounders to play here all right if you're catching two pounders or three thinners you're not gonna win so I look at a spot I say is there a potential for me to catch a full pounder here all right what that's gonna mean is one that's gonna have some deeper water leading up to it it's gonna have some grass around and then I'm going to throw very aggressive big fish baits I'm going to throw a big yum dinger which is a which is a soft jerk bait I'm gonna throw a lot of jigs a lot of big spinner baits a lot of rattling spots and things that I know have a history of catching large fish I want something that a 10 pounder might eat I'm not gonna be out there throwing up in a storm trying to catch 12 inches I'm gonna I'm gonna try to go with the averages of hopefully getting that big bite sometime during the day and you're actually sacrificing a lot of bites you just want one bite you know this is such a humbling sport because you think we're bass pro's and all we needs five bites a day how hard can it be but I tell you what some days some days these massive little video brains out smartest and you know what y'all so long ago same lines you see you come in with five really great fish they weigh 19 pounds in in the person watching that way and thinking my gosh all must have car all day long when in fact you maybe didn't have that grade today you maybe had five bikes that's right in fishing and successfully is really a matter of very short windows of opportunity a lot of times when you have that big bag it happens in 10 minutes and you've got to be there all your equipments got to be in top shape and when it starts happening you better be ready because you may you may happen to five literally in five cast and you may not get any other opportunities for big fish the rest today Alan Tommy Sanders here I wanted to ask you you guys are talking a lot about the tide we've got some guys out there who are not familiar with that situation can they get into trouble is it dangerous well Tommy you're right is these tides fall there are some places that you can run at high tides that you need to be really careful of in low tides but by and large there's so much grass here in the shallow water that when the tide falls you can see the grass and as long as you run the clean-looking water between the grass patches you're fairly safe in it low tide you can see a lot of that and that dangerous debris becomes exposed right thanks very much Alton Jones and boy while we visited with him lots of action lots of fish catch and take a look at the scoreboard some movement up and down except in that first place position Robert Lee really hammering that one down as we get closer to the end don't go away welcome back to our sicko bastards were met on the California Delta as we enter what you could call our very last period of fishing here time is slipping away while you were away a little bit of change on that leaderboard there including skeet Reese who's now moved out of last place and could if he sets it on fire contend for second place in skeet while we got you wanted to ask you what has been your best technique all week long pretty much flipping flipping and flipping that's about all I ever do on the Delta here mesquite if you don't mind show us your bait and if you could walk us through a few flips with it they're just fishing the green pumpkin tube that's Terminator snapback green pumpkin two 5/16 ounce sinker and I just pitch them what I'm doing is I'm if you look up here if we can get cameramen to look up in the grass here you'll see a grass line then there's some clearings behind the grass and then you got the toolies and what these fish do is they get right behind that grass line and little openings and that's where they're spawn and so that's really what I'm trying to key in on is just flipping it in those little holes back in there and sometimes they're tight up underneath some of those lay down so you can see all the toolies are dead and blowing down up there that could be ideal stuff and get underneath that fish feel protected even though they're in shallow water but any of those little clear holes up in the shallow waters where that's not the stuff I'm keying in on right there back over to Jimmy Mize who's also been one of our movers in the past few medical matter of fact haven't passed Roger bowler to take over second place and Jimmy is not fishing up against the bank like everybody else is he's kind of fishing his pattern from the old Arkansas right days and he's so familiar with he's back off the bank quite a little bit pitching a brush up tough more like it I bet you will Jimmy from Arkansas where he holds down a full-time job I tell you what Jimmy loves life on the tour as well it suits his family too it's really great you get to see the holy of the United States keep traveling I've been look you have my daughter going with me on a wife little any 30 years my son you know the whole family's got the seat place they never got to leave they've been faster I like it out here you know I always want to come out here all through the year so we'll hopefully go to California I guess this kind of bad study without always heard you know you guys can't come out there and catch fish in California they're showing you like the last show they'd catch me Jimmy Mize and his crew have to be the best tournament fishing us family in America boy you are right here's one for you Tommy what lady has the highest one-day wait now this is on the immature side of any Vass event ever who's that that would be Jimmy's daughter Melinda and she broke I bet I can guess is it it's good to be Lucy here's why I'll be tarnished the mises from ben lomond arkansas right there on the shores of Lake Millwood it's gotta be this cloud cover while they're bitin man cuz they darn sure didn't bite in here yesterday Joe Thomas definitely winning the Battle of what we called the bottom half of the scoreboard year I should say Joe's an old friend has a TV show on the on the Outdoor Channel and Tommy this is it did you see how that thing ran off the bank he's behind the boat there this could really make a change for Joe oh that is a fish that could have helped him to be the biggest payday ever I think so skeet Reese disease that name I think you caught that from skeet boy that's tough that fish was pulling the boat around they just came off sometimes it just happens the fish just come on you know sad part is people would much rather like watch you lose the begging on TV than they would watch you catch it well I'd like to be able to deny that but unfortunately Joe Thomas is it exactly right just kept for him one of my kids from going to college hey hey tell me I mentioned earlier that Robert Lee and Joe Thomas were fishing in the same areas as I look and compare right now I can see that Robert is fishing on banks and have those coolies are the reeds and Jones were bearer come on stay on my god yes big old fat one - man where am I meanwhile over in Discovery Bay the southernmost part of the system here Jack Wade just keeps on laboring but not doing a whole lot of good yet and this is the first guy that we've actually seen sight fishing you can see a bass just over to the right of your screen and the bottom because he's a great angler he's had a great way to get him charged up you're gonna catch him advance me I'm happy with what I thought now I performed in this tournament so whatever happens happens I did my best we'll find out a way in its yeah let's go a big weigh-in coming up beautiful spot nerd Stockton California not huge crowded you can bet your last money they'll be pulling for this hometown favorite they want to know if he can fork deep discontent we'll be right back the citko Bassmaster tournament trail is brought to you by Yamaha by Cisco and by bush what a beautiful facility here in Stockton California great crowd assembled for the weigh-in send me from Tennessee mr. Jack the crowd is ready to go in the first boat to pull in that of Tennessee volunteer Jack Wade he's been at this game for a long long time his second top ten finish of the year here on the Delta why have enough today he finishes in six plays skeet Reese battled a stomach bug during the first few days of this tournament if the truth be known but he's feeling obviously better now he's a fishing machine but also a dancing machine if the conditions are just right to music in the crowd helping him to forget a few disappointments out there on the water today he comes in fifth place [Applause] Joe come on Joe Joe Thomas he was steady out there today but he just had too much ground to make up on the leader Joe 14 pounds 11 ounces for fourth place Polar's green true and it was a beautiful thing for about three days and poor fish caught up with him on this final day three mates third flip please welcome Jimmy my puddle Jimmy my's another journeyman who got his licks in this week in the California Delta he's hung on bought his 16 pounds after second place before good days of big weight 16 [Applause] all right everyone but one has weighed in and of course the crowd there in Stockton hasn't seen what you and I have seen at incredible performance by Robert Lisa let's watch it be inevitable unfold you guys ready for this [Applause] Robert Lee hello hi are you doing I'm okay good take your time all right you having fun yeah and I'm more nervous now than I was when I was fishing I bet look at the people out here my god I'm ready for ready let's go Robert Lee [Applause] look at this that by the way won't do it okay okay he's got more ease than this oh my he's going back for another one here watch this oh my Oh Robert the weight that you need is right here it's getting real real close we're within we're probably within ounces well I got one more if he's not very big well let's say it I think we're within six ounces maybe Robert Lee Robert absolute bet cornea and for good reason what a performance by Robert Lee the unprecedented four people as we look at the top ten for day sailors of all time on the Citgo Bassmaster tour there's Robert Lee's name right there in fourth place would have gone higher except for our last event on the standard super lakes in South Carolina where five of our top six made it into the all-time top 10 a quick look at our butch angler of the year statistics before we close it out there's blood through it back on top again and right behind him Roger bowler and the rookie angler of the Year standings mark pile one of the West Coast guys has taken over first place speaking to the West Coast will be out there again next time on the Citgo bass masters were clear lake which has every promise of being like to delta a super big fish area I hope to see you there this has been a presentation of ESPN the worldwide leader in sports for more log on to espn.com [Music]

Channel: Lynn Dollar

Views: 30,034

Rating: 4.8106508 out of 5

Keywords: bassmaster bass fishing tournament

Id: LBGAoBBJjI4

Length: 46min 18sec (2778 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 01 2018