Entry 222-1

Catching Big Bass with Randy Dearman

Part 1: The Amistad Reservoir Tournament

Question: Randy, you just finished a tournament in October at the Amistad Reservoir on the Texas/Mexico border. How did you do in that tournament?

Dearman: I finished in 13th place. Amistad is one the best lakes in the country. Normally, the hydrilla in this lake grows out 25- or 30-feet deep, but because of the rain and the cloud cover this year, the hydrilla hasn’t grown like usual. Consequently, the lake hasn’t been producing the 30-pound stringers that have been caught there in the past. The winning weight this year was only 55 pounds for three days, which is only about 18 pounds per day. That’s a good bag of fish on many lakes but below average for Amistad.

Question: What was the biggest bass you caught?

Dearman: I caught an 8-pound, 11-ounce largemouth on the first day, which turned out to be the second-biggest fish of the tournament. I caught this bass and all but one of my other bass on the Strike King Premier Plus spinner bait.

Question: What color did you fish to catch the big bass?

Dearman: I was fishing chartreuse-and-white with a new Perfect Skirt. The water’s fairly clear in Amistad, and that skirt hides the trailer hook well. The Perfect Skirt is a great bait to fish at Amistad. I was using the spinner bait in this tournament because I had to cover a lot of water to find fish. I couldn’t find the bass concentrated in one spot. The Strike King spinner bait is a great lure when you need to cover a lot of water. I was catching and releasing 50 or 60 bass a day, burning a spinner bait around pepper grass and pond weed.

Question: What size were you throwing?

Dearman: I was fishing a 3/8-ounce spinner bait with a gold willow-leaf blade and a silver Colorado blade on the back on 17-pound-test line. I saw the big bass come up to the surface to take the bait. When that fish attacked my bait, I knew there was no way I could miss it. The big bass inhaled the entire bait. When I caught that fish, I was hoping it was big enough to be the big bass of the tournament, but it wasn’t. Trent Huckaby of Fort Stockton, Texas, caught a bass that weighed 8 pounds, 13 ounces, beating me out for the biggest fish of the tournament.

Question: How did the rest of your tournament go?

Dearman: I caught plenty of bass every day, but I just couldn’t get the big bite I needed on those last two days that would help me finish the tournament stronger.

Next: Count on the Spinner Bait

Contents:

• Part 1: The Amistad Reservoir Tournament
• Part 2: Count on the Spinner Bait
• Part 3: Fishing the Zero
• Part 4: The Strike King Denny Brauer Premier Pro Model Jig
• Part 5: The Red Eye Shad