TW_Staff
03-25-2009, 02:50 PM
Russell Cecil carried a 7-04 lead into the final day, caught 12 pounds and won easily by 4 1/2 pounds. The east Teaxan pocketed $25,000 plus a Ranger boat for his win and can now claim a little more than $300,000 in minor-league FLW Outdoors winnings.
Cecil competes at Rayburn several times a year and thus has a good command of the fishery.
"It was supposed to warm back up for the tournament, but I wanted to find areas that were holding a lot of fish. So I pretty much just Rat-L-Trapped on Saturday and Sunday and caught them real good."
Cecil began day 1 in his primary area where he'd seen bedding activity the day before. He fished around until the sun rose, then caught two fish off beds – a 5 and a 6.
"After that I just started meandering around through there on the flat," he said. "I was looking and fishing at the same time. I flipped a few stumps, threw to a mix of hydrilla and peppergrass, fished around the edges of grass, and hit the drains through the hydrilla."
I caught my fish that second day on the swimbait – a Big Bite Swim Minnow – in mixed vegetation were hydrilla and peppergrass mixed," he noted. He didn't catch any giants, but his 23-09 limit "was really just all solid fish."
Winning Pattern:
Asked to describe his primary area, Cecil said: "It's a spawning area with some timber and it's set up like the way everybody describes things at Rayburn – it's a flat area with a lot of grass and some ditches and drains running through it that are migration routes."
Several anglers in the same area keyed on the timber, but he focused on the inside grass edge. The grass grew in 4 to 7 feet, he noted, but he kept his boat in 3 1/2 to 4 feet of water and worked parallel to the inside edge. His bed-fish were also on the inside edge.
Winning Gear:
Bed-fishing gear: 7'4" heavy-action Falcon Expert (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=FEC) rod, Shimano Curado (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SCER) casting reel, 50-pound Ande braid, 4/0 straight-shank heavy-wire flipping hook, 3/8-ounce tungsten weight, Big Bite Dean Rojas Fighting frog (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BBBFF) (Vegas flash).
He said he chose the Fighting frog for bed-fishing because the body collapses on the hookset, and the hooking percentage is excellent.
Swimbait gear: 7' medium-heavy Falcon Cara (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=FCC) rod, Shimano Curado (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SCER) casting reel, 30-pound Ande braid, 5/0 weighted swimbait hook, 5" and 6" Big Bite Swim Minnows (bream).
TW Staff
Cecil competes at Rayburn several times a year and thus has a good command of the fishery.
"It was supposed to warm back up for the tournament, but I wanted to find areas that were holding a lot of fish. So I pretty much just Rat-L-Trapped on Saturday and Sunday and caught them real good."
Cecil began day 1 in his primary area where he'd seen bedding activity the day before. He fished around until the sun rose, then caught two fish off beds – a 5 and a 6.
"After that I just started meandering around through there on the flat," he said. "I was looking and fishing at the same time. I flipped a few stumps, threw to a mix of hydrilla and peppergrass, fished around the edges of grass, and hit the drains through the hydrilla."
I caught my fish that second day on the swimbait – a Big Bite Swim Minnow – in mixed vegetation were hydrilla and peppergrass mixed," he noted. He didn't catch any giants, but his 23-09 limit "was really just all solid fish."
Winning Pattern:
Asked to describe his primary area, Cecil said: "It's a spawning area with some timber and it's set up like the way everybody describes things at Rayburn – it's a flat area with a lot of grass and some ditches and drains running through it that are migration routes."
Several anglers in the same area keyed on the timber, but he focused on the inside grass edge. The grass grew in 4 to 7 feet, he noted, but he kept his boat in 3 1/2 to 4 feet of water and worked parallel to the inside edge. His bed-fish were also on the inside edge.
Winning Gear:
Bed-fishing gear: 7'4" heavy-action Falcon Expert (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=FEC) rod, Shimano Curado (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SCER) casting reel, 50-pound Ande braid, 4/0 straight-shank heavy-wire flipping hook, 3/8-ounce tungsten weight, Big Bite Dean Rojas Fighting frog (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BBBFF) (Vegas flash).
He said he chose the Fighting frog for bed-fishing because the body collapses on the hookset, and the hooking percentage is excellent.
Swimbait gear: 7' medium-heavy Falcon Cara (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=FCC) rod, Shimano Curado (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SCER) casting reel, 30-pound Ande braid, 5/0 weighted swimbait hook, 5" and 6" Big Bite Swim Minnows (bream).
TW Staff