TW_Staff
06-08-2009, 11:42 AM
California pro Ish Monroe is reluctant to let opportunities pass by in the West. He's fished as many Western FLW Series events as possible the last several years, and won last year's California Delta Series, but this year he switched over to the Strens.
Ish achieved victory by sticking with his one-two combination of flipping and frogging.
"Like Oroville, I practiced really hard," he said. "My strategy about not practicing so hard that it hurts you – it didn't in those two events. I spent a lot of time fishing everything, and one place I found where I caught an 8, 7 and 6 in competition, I'd never fished before. I fished from Sherman Lake to Stockton and everywhere in-between."
His hope was to find a frog pattern so he could use his new namesake bait – the Snag Proof Ish's Phat frog. He noted he was able to test the frog at the Guntersville Bassmaster Elite Series, and "found the hookup ratio to be a lot better than with other frogs."
“I never missed a fish that ate the frog today,” he said. “Three of my biggest fish came on the Phat Frog and they had it (deep in their mouth).”
He found plenty of frog fish, but also needed a pattern for the wind, so he picked up a flipping stick and started hunting around with a Sweet Beaver.
"That was the one-two punch I had last year when I won," he noted. "At the Delta, the biggest fish are in the thickest, heaviest mats, and the best way to catch them is with a frog and flipping."
He exited practice with several spots where he could frog or flip. In particular, he had one area – the one he'd never fished before – that he considered to be his big-fish spot.
Competition:
Monroe decided to start day 1 on a community hole, since he figured it was his only shot to fish it. He rolled in, caught a few fish right away, then ran to his second spot.
"I wasn't worried about anyone hitting that (second) spot," he said. "I caught a limit and culled a couple and things were really starting to look good. Then I ran to my big-fish spot and first thing I flip up an 8. Life was good."
He then ran to another spot and caught a few 3 1/2- to 4-pounders, which he culled with, and he caught a few additional flip fish.
"Day 1 was very uneventful, but I was just catching good, solid fish that gave me the lead in the tournament," he noted. "The tides were a little higher than normal, and people had been talking about how slow the fishing was. That week, the tides were the highest they'd been all year, so I knew that would help the flipping bite for sure."
Monroe also got a tip at the day-1 weigh-in from his friend Kent Brown, who turned him onto a frog blowup that Brown couldn't convert.
Ish started day 2 on Brown's tip and caught the 6-pounder that lived there on a frog. He moved over to flip a few mats in the same area and caught a 5-pounder on his first flip. He moved to another mat and caught a 5-pounder again, so in his first half-hour of fishing he had three in the box for more than 15 pounds.
"I started rolling through an area where I'd caught a couple frog fish (the day before) and had no bites," Monroe said. "There was one little mat left. I threw to it, the frog lands on the mat, I twitch it and another 5-pounder eats the frog. I had four for over 20 in the first hour and I'm excited."
He next visited his big-fish spot. The tide began to drop and he spied a hole with what looked like a carp in it. On second glance he saw it was a bass. He picked up the Beaver, made one pitch and caught the 7-pounder.
With about 25 pounds, he was done fishing at that point and practiced the rest of the day. As he practiced and scouted, he moved into the only area he wanted to hit in practice, but never had. He threw his frog over a hole, whacked a 6-pounder and culled again to end the day with 27 1/2 pounds.
The wind was howling on day 3 so he started with flipping but struck out. He picked up the frog and caught a 4-pounder pretty quickly. He ran to his next area and caught three small flip fish, plus a 2 1/2-pound frog fish. He next moved to his big-fish area and caught a 6-pounder. He eventually culled a few times to improve his weight to 17 1/2 pounds and he won easily.
The key to his flipping bite was he worked tule banks with a mix of rock and grass. There had to be those three elements, he said.
He caught most of his frog fish from "cheese mats" – sloppy, slimy mats "that everybody hates to fish, and you can only fish it with a frog."
Overall, tide wasn't critical to his pattern.
Winning Gear:
Frog gear: 7'4" medium-heavy Daiwa Steez braid rod (prototype) Daiwa Zillion casting reel (6:1), 65-pound PowerPro braid, Snag Proof Ish's Phat frog (papa midnight).
Flipping gear: 8' heavy-action Daiwa Steez flipping stick (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=DSCXC), Daiwa Zillion (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=TDZIR) casting reel (7:1), 65-pound PowerPro braid (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=PPSL), 1 1/2-ounce Tru-Tungsten Worm weight (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=TTCBW) (junebug, pegged with Tru-Tungsten Peter T. Smart Peg (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=TTPSP)), 5/0 Youvella hook (prototype), Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=RISB) (sprayed grass).
He noted that hook company Youvella is in the process of changing its name to Miachi.
He caught a 4-pounder the final day on a black/red Revenge buzzbait (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=RBWBB).
The Field:
Rob Wenning:
Rob turned in another solid performance and held on to the second place position. His main baits were watermelon Senkos (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=YAS) and black Snag Proof frogs (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SPPF). He threw wacky-rigged Senkos around the edges of hyacinths and worked his frog through pockets within sparse tules where bass were likely to bed.
“I’m trying to envision where a fish may bed,” Wenning said. “I’m working the frog super fast across the tops of these spots to draw a reaction strike.”
Wenning attributes his success to a mix of quantity and quality: “I probably caught 20-25 fish today. I was fortunate to catch a big fish both days.”
Tommy Cardoza:
In third place, Tommy Cardoza of Lakeport, Calif. moved up two spots with 37-8, while Stephen Tosh Jr. of Modesto, Calif. and Lorenzo Rossetti of Stockton, Calif. – both tied for third on day one – slipped to fourth and fifth with 37-5 and 37-0 respectively.
TW Staff
Ish achieved victory by sticking with his one-two combination of flipping and frogging.
"Like Oroville, I practiced really hard," he said. "My strategy about not practicing so hard that it hurts you – it didn't in those two events. I spent a lot of time fishing everything, and one place I found where I caught an 8, 7 and 6 in competition, I'd never fished before. I fished from Sherman Lake to Stockton and everywhere in-between."
His hope was to find a frog pattern so he could use his new namesake bait – the Snag Proof Ish's Phat frog. He noted he was able to test the frog at the Guntersville Bassmaster Elite Series, and "found the hookup ratio to be a lot better than with other frogs."
“I never missed a fish that ate the frog today,” he said. “Three of my biggest fish came on the Phat Frog and they had it (deep in their mouth).”
He found plenty of frog fish, but also needed a pattern for the wind, so he picked up a flipping stick and started hunting around with a Sweet Beaver.
"That was the one-two punch I had last year when I won," he noted. "At the Delta, the biggest fish are in the thickest, heaviest mats, and the best way to catch them is with a frog and flipping."
He exited practice with several spots where he could frog or flip. In particular, he had one area – the one he'd never fished before – that he considered to be his big-fish spot.
Competition:
Monroe decided to start day 1 on a community hole, since he figured it was his only shot to fish it. He rolled in, caught a few fish right away, then ran to his second spot.
"I wasn't worried about anyone hitting that (second) spot," he said. "I caught a limit and culled a couple and things were really starting to look good. Then I ran to my big-fish spot and first thing I flip up an 8. Life was good."
He then ran to another spot and caught a few 3 1/2- to 4-pounders, which he culled with, and he caught a few additional flip fish.
"Day 1 was very uneventful, but I was just catching good, solid fish that gave me the lead in the tournament," he noted. "The tides were a little higher than normal, and people had been talking about how slow the fishing was. That week, the tides were the highest they'd been all year, so I knew that would help the flipping bite for sure."
Monroe also got a tip at the day-1 weigh-in from his friend Kent Brown, who turned him onto a frog blowup that Brown couldn't convert.
Ish started day 2 on Brown's tip and caught the 6-pounder that lived there on a frog. He moved over to flip a few mats in the same area and caught a 5-pounder on his first flip. He moved to another mat and caught a 5-pounder again, so in his first half-hour of fishing he had three in the box for more than 15 pounds.
"I started rolling through an area where I'd caught a couple frog fish (the day before) and had no bites," Monroe said. "There was one little mat left. I threw to it, the frog lands on the mat, I twitch it and another 5-pounder eats the frog. I had four for over 20 in the first hour and I'm excited."
He next visited his big-fish spot. The tide began to drop and he spied a hole with what looked like a carp in it. On second glance he saw it was a bass. He picked up the Beaver, made one pitch and caught the 7-pounder.
With about 25 pounds, he was done fishing at that point and practiced the rest of the day. As he practiced and scouted, he moved into the only area he wanted to hit in practice, but never had. He threw his frog over a hole, whacked a 6-pounder and culled again to end the day with 27 1/2 pounds.
The wind was howling on day 3 so he started with flipping but struck out. He picked up the frog and caught a 4-pounder pretty quickly. He ran to his next area and caught three small flip fish, plus a 2 1/2-pound frog fish. He next moved to his big-fish area and caught a 6-pounder. He eventually culled a few times to improve his weight to 17 1/2 pounds and he won easily.
The key to his flipping bite was he worked tule banks with a mix of rock and grass. There had to be those three elements, he said.
He caught most of his frog fish from "cheese mats" – sloppy, slimy mats "that everybody hates to fish, and you can only fish it with a frog."
Overall, tide wasn't critical to his pattern.
Winning Gear:
Frog gear: 7'4" medium-heavy Daiwa Steez braid rod (prototype) Daiwa Zillion casting reel (6:1), 65-pound PowerPro braid, Snag Proof Ish's Phat frog (papa midnight).
Flipping gear: 8' heavy-action Daiwa Steez flipping stick (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=DSCXC), Daiwa Zillion (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=TDZIR) casting reel (7:1), 65-pound PowerPro braid (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=PPSL), 1 1/2-ounce Tru-Tungsten Worm weight (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=TTCBW) (junebug, pegged with Tru-Tungsten Peter T. Smart Peg (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=TTPSP)), 5/0 Youvella hook (prototype), Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=RISB) (sprayed grass).
He noted that hook company Youvella is in the process of changing its name to Miachi.
He caught a 4-pounder the final day on a black/red Revenge buzzbait (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=RBWBB).
The Field:
Rob Wenning:
Rob turned in another solid performance and held on to the second place position. His main baits were watermelon Senkos (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=YAS) and black Snag Proof frogs (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SPPF). He threw wacky-rigged Senkos around the edges of hyacinths and worked his frog through pockets within sparse tules where bass were likely to bed.
“I’m trying to envision where a fish may bed,” Wenning said. “I’m working the frog super fast across the tops of these spots to draw a reaction strike.”
Wenning attributes his success to a mix of quantity and quality: “I probably caught 20-25 fish today. I was fortunate to catch a big fish both days.”
Tommy Cardoza:
In third place, Tommy Cardoza of Lakeport, Calif. moved up two spots with 37-8, while Stephen Tosh Jr. of Modesto, Calif. and Lorenzo Rossetti of Stockton, Calif. – both tied for third on day one – slipped to fourth and fifth with 37-5 and 37-0 respectively.
TW Staff