Top 5 Patterns in the James River Rayovac
Maryland pro Michael Crocker took the day-one lead in the Rayovac FLW Series Northern Division action on the James River with 16 pounds, 10 ounces. Crocker fished a mix of moving baits and a flipping/pitching bait that he used in a reaction-style presentation.
Click here to read about Crocker’s leading pattern. Here are the details of the rest of the top five.
2nd Place — Kelly Pratt — 16 pounds, 3 ounces
Hailing from Williamsburg, Va., Pratt says he fared well in conditions that challenged many of his competitors. Essentially, the week’s full-moon cycle brought extremely high tides to a river already swollen by recent heavy rains.
This contrasted the period of extreme low tides leading up to tournament week. High water allows fish to push farther into cover, but Pratt said he didn’t allow that to hinder him.
“I like high water,” he says. “It lets you get a little closer to them.”
Noting that he’s still fishing spawning fish, Pratt says the bass wanted “something special” — an unidentified reaction bait that received enthusiastic reception.
“They were chasing pretty good,” he adds.
Fishing the main river, Pratt said he got bit all day. Hard cover was the key.
3rd Place — Jeffrey Ware — 15 pounds, 6 ounces
While many made the hour-plus run to the Chickahominy River — a major James River tributary — Ware stayed closer to the take-off site. Familiarity with main river tactics gave the Warrenton, Va., pro plenty of confidence in its potential.
“I stayed in the river,” he says. “There are some good fish in the river. I just (targeted) spots I feel comfortable with. In fact, I hadn’t fished the main spot all week in practice.”
Ware says he kept a couple of Texas-rigged plastics handy for pitching to shallow cover, but he did most of his damage with an unnamed topwater bait. The opening round’s cloudy skies and rainy conditions extended the topwater bite.
“It was all day long,” Ware notes.
4th Place — Troy Morrow — 15 pounds, 3 ounces
The FLW Tour pro from Eastanolee, Ga. spent his day in the Chickahominy. Quality, he says, was the driving factor.
“I can catch just as many fish up here (in the James River), but they’re just not the same size as I caught in the Chick,” Morrow states.
Morrow says his day’s performance came down to one bait and one area. Timing, though, was the critical element.
“The end of the outgoing seemed to the best, because it stages the fish around the outside edge of (the shallow cover,” Morrow observes.
5th — Bo Boltz — 15 pounds, 2 ounces
The pro from New Kent, Va. admits he struggled with the high water. The problem for Boltz was that the shallow wood he was flipping was completely covered by the high water.
“Most of the time I’m visibly looking at what I’m fishing, but I couldn’t see (my targets) today,” he adds. “You had to know where they were at and fish them blind.
“I stayed with what I’d been doing but it was slow. I had five bites and they were five good ones.”
TOP 6-10
6th — Glenn Browne, Ocala, Fla. — 13 pounds, 13 ounces
7th — Wayne Vaughan, Chester, Va. — 13 pounds, 9 ounces
8th — Ryan Powroznik, Prince George, Va. — 13 pounds, 5 ounces
9th — Gerald Spohrer, Gonzales, La. — 12 pounds, 15 ounces
10th — Rob Johnson, Schuylkill Haven — 12 pounds, 13 ounces