 |
 |
 |
Potomac’s Tides No Match
For Lucky Craft’s Gabe Bolivar Bolivar brings in top 15 finish; Gagliardi in top 30 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Charles County, Md. (June 19, 2007) – The Potomac River was the fifth stop during the 2007 Wal-Mart FLW Tour, and four Lucky Craft pros had a chance to tackle the difficult waters. With tidal patterns many anglers weren’t accustomed to, the Potomac River proved challenging for some. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
>>>Gabe Bolivar |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
“It was my first time here and I practiced for about six days,” Bolivar began. “I did have a few bites in one particular area during practice, so I decided to go there during the tournament and camp out, hoping the fish would be there too.” With several people fishing around him on Thursday and Friday, Bolivar decided he must have made the right decision, but admits it all just fell into place. “It was really weird for me because it was probably one of the worst practices I have ever had in a tournament,” Bolivar added. “But then I came out and did well – it was really strange.” Bolivar decided not to run the tides because he was unfamiliar with the river and afraid he would pass up some decent spots. He decided to stay in one area and wait for the fish to bite. “It would be slow and then every once in a while I’d catch two or three, then it would go back to being slow again,” Bolivar explained. “I had the most confidence in staying in one spot because I didn’t know the river very well.”
A little grassy cut produced most of Bolivar’s fish on Thursday and Friday, leaving him with a two day total of 32 pounds. The grassy area, with a point and a flat on it, housed plenty of roaming fish and according to Bolivar, the fish bit during various times of the day.
“When the tide was up, the fish would move around the shallow flat, and as the tide began to recede, they’d move out on to the edge of a grass break and duck behind a point,” he said. “I just kind of mixed it up a bit. When the clouds came in, I caught a lot of fish on topwater. When the clouds broke away, I’d move out to the break and catch them on a wacky-rigged trick worm.” Bolivar is very happy overall with his tournament, knowing he moved up in the points and secured a spot in the FLW Championship for the second time in as many years of fishing the Tour. He’s also very glad he doesn’t have to depend on a great finish at the next tournament to make the championship. “I’m glad to be where I am in the points right now,” Bolivar said. “I’ve never fished Lake Erie [Detroit River] and from what I’ve heard, it could be a very intimidating tournament. I obviously still want to go there and do really well because I’m very excited to have another year finishing in the top 10. Last year I finished 7th overall and it would be neat to have another top 10 in my sophomore season. I think it’s a very good start to my career.”
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
>>>Anthony Gagliardi |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Much like teammate Bolivar, Gagliardi’s practice wasn’t much to write home about. Two years ago, the South Carolina native had a great practice on the Potomac, but this year it was a different story. “I caught some decent fish in practice, but it was nothing at all like it was when I was here before,” Gagliardi began. “I had many great places when I was here before and ran the tides more then, as well. Since I didn’t find many places this time around, I felt like the fish weren’t as isolated as they were before, so I opted to pick an area and stick with it all day and forget about the tides.” It must have worked, as eight of the 10 fish Gagliardi weighed in this weekend came from one particular grass area in a creek. According to Gagliardi, it was a fairly large area, and he would make 200 to 300 yard passes each time he came through, fishing from one end to the other.
On day one, Gagliardi caught all his fish on a Senko, as the fish were biting it well. He attributed this bite to the flood tide they had during the tournament. “The high tides were extremely high,” he said. “Higher than anything we had seen in practice. That kind of threw a monkey wrench in a lot of the guy’s plans. It did change the grass beds up a bit because you couldn’t see where the grass clumps were thickest or where they came to a point. So on the first day, I fished my Senko around until the tide started getting lower and I could see where the best areas were to cast.”
The Senko worked well on Thursday as Gagliardi came across the weigh-in stage with 14 pounds, 13 ounces. On the second day, the tide was even higher, so he decided to throw the Lucky Craft Sammy 100 (Golden Shiner). “I couldn’t see any of my grass at all,” Gagliardi said. “I started casting the Sammy and got bit on it pretty quickly, and ended up catching three of the fish I weighed in Friday on it.” Gagliardi was only a couple big fish away from making the top 10 cut, but he is still pleased with his overall tournament and looking forward to fishing the next tournament on the Detroit River. “This year has been up and down, and it feels good to come off with a good one after the Potomac,” Gagliardi concluded. “Next up is Lake Erie [Detroit River], and it is a tremendous fishery, but I’ve never been there. I’m excited, but also keeping safety in mind. It’s a big body of water and has big waves, so it can get dangerous.” |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
>>>Joe Thomas |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
“I was catching quite a few in a quiet creek down south [Aquia Creek],” Thomas began. “I was also catching them up north in a place called Piscataway Creek. I felt like my best chances were in Piscataway, and that is basically where I focused the bulk of my efforts.”
Thomas found he was able to catch fish on the outside edges of grass lines on low tide with the Lucky Craft G-Splash (Aurora Brown). Soft plastics came into play a couple times, but his key bait both days of the tournament was the Lucky Craft topwater. “In addition to the outside edges, I found an area with an inner grass line and a very slick, bare bottom,” Thomas explained. “It was about a 100-yard stretch, and the amazing thing was the tide had to be at just a certain point for the fish to bite. I would make several passes during the day on that stretch just waiting for the correct tide. When the tide would get right [2.6 feet deep], I would literally catch my five best fish for the day right there in about 10 to 15 minutes.” Thomas weighed in 13 pounds on day one and 13 pounds, 13 ounces on day two, for a total two-day weight of 26 pounds, 13 ounces, leaving him in 53rd for the tournament. Even though he finished just ounces short of the $10,000 cut, he felt like he fished a fairly efficient tournament. “I only lost one fish the first day, but for the most part, I think I fished pretty clean and really maximized what the area had to offer,” Thomas said. “I think the weather was conducive to good fishing, so there were pretty big stringers, especially on the first day. I think if the fishing had been a little tougher overall, it might have played in my favor a little bit better.”
With the Potomac behind him, Thomas is ready to tackle a body of water near his hometown of Milford, Ohio. He believes big water is a guarantee, and he knows this isn’t a tournament for the faint of heart. “You really have to buckle up and be brave on this lake,” Thomas concluded. “The guys that win will probably be the ones that tough out the big water and fish out towards the middle of Lake Erie. I will definitely have backup plans in case we get horrendous weather. I’d like to have a largemouth pattern and maybe an area in Lake St. Clair in case we have a really bad wind out of the South. But my primary focus will be Lake Erie and if I had to guess, I would say the majority of the fish will be caught deep.” |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
>>>Brent Ehrler |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
With a 60th place finish, Lucky Craft’s Brent Ehrler had mixed feelings about his tournament, but one thing was for sure – he kept his status in the points standings and was happy about it.
“I’m glad I made a little money and kept my points,” Ehrler said as he began to explain just how his week progressed. “The weights were really close between 30th and 70th… One bite really made a difference this week.” As the week began, practice didn’t yield much for Erhler, as he found a few areas he wanted to concentrate on but admitted the fishing was pretty tough. Ehrler explained how the fish like to bite on certain tides, and in his experience, the bite was the best at high tide. It looked like the first days of the tournament were setting up nicely, as they were suppose to have high tide in the morning, also a favorite feeding time for bass. “We were going to have the high tide first thing in the morning, which couldn’t have been a better scenario,” Ehrler said. “I felt like we could catch them better on the tournament days than we were able to in practice. On top of that, we had overcast skies and rain on Thursday, which made it that much better. It was like everything was in line to catch them on day one.”
And that is exactly what happened, as Ehrler caught 10 keepers total and brought in 13 pounds, 13 ounces on day one.
“I was fishing grass, catching them several different ways,” Ehrler explained. “I was using a frog, a Lucky Craft G-Splash (Chartreuse Shad) and a classic crankbait from Lucky Craft, the Classical Leader SSR (Tennessee Shad).” When the tide got high, Ehrler would throw the crankbait, as it was better able to reach the top of the grass. When the tide dropped a bit, where the grass was 6 inches under the water, he would throw the G-Splash, using 15-pound mono. According to Ehrler, he was able to get closer to the fish with the G-Splash on the lower tide. “On the second day, when the tide got really low, I’d run to different areas where the grass was not as thick,” Ehrler added. “I could still fish the topwater and the crankbait in those areas when the tide was low. That was my key both Thursday and Friday.” Ehrler admitted he wasn’t used to the tidal patterns, but being a California resident, he has fished the tides of the Delta.
“The Delta does fish similar to the Potomac, but I just don’t feel like I’m very good at it [fishing tidal patterns],” Ehrler said. “I did finish fourth on a tournament there once, but before that, my finishes were in the 20 to 70 range. You could literally be on the wining spot at the wrong time and not catch a fish.” After all was said and done, Ehrler was glad to have the experience to fish different water, especially because it allowed him to fish some reaction baits he doesn’t often get the chance to use. “This is one of the places where there are so many fish, and they are so dependent on the tides,” Ehrler explained. “When it is the right tide, the fish really want to bite. That allows us to fish other reaction baits, instead of the typical light line with a plastic worm. It was nice to get to fish hard and fast.”
Much like his fellow teammates, Ehrler is not sure what to expect at the next tournament of the season. His main concern – “the water is just so big.” “You can literally not get to the areas you want to fish because of the wind and waves,” Ehrler concluded. “It’s actually kind of scary how big the place is. Practice and weather are going to be very important in this tournament. We’ll be on the west end of Lake Erie and if the wind blows out of the South, we could have 12 to 14 foot waves. It’ll be interesting. “From what I heard, they catch them in deeper water fishing offshore rock piles, which is something I’m accustomed to. If I can get away from the wind and find some areas like that, I might do okay.”
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
