TW_Staff
07-01-2009, 10:17 AM
Neil Russell had finished 3rd at the Columbia River Western FLW Series in both 2007 and 2008, and last week he climbed two notches higher to secure the biggest win of his career. It was not the experience from those two previous near-misses that keyed his triumph, though – it was knowledge he picked up while competing in a BASS Federation divisional event several years back.
The 46-year-old from Idaho, who was formerly employed as a commercial fisherman in Alaska, compiled a 47-10 total over 4 days on the renowned Washington smallmouth fishery to beat out runner-up Cody King of Oregon by 5 ounces. He took over the lead on day 3 with a bag that was just short of 15 pounds, and then caught just enough on the final day to seal the win.
“This is a great confidence boost,” said Russell, who had finished in third place in each of the previous FLW Series National Guard Western Division events on the Columbia River back in 2007 and 2008. “But financially speaking, this is huge. I don’t have any major sponsors. So, without this win, I’m not sure I would have even been able to fish next year. I might have been working at McDonald’s.”
“I’m absolutely shocked,” Russell said of his victory. “It’s just unbelievable. It’s really going to take a while for this to sink in.”
“I was fishing a Federation Division tournament in late May about four or five years ago, and I came around this point and found a roadbed with a little depression in it,” said Russell. “Most people would look it at and not realize there’s anything there. But it’s about 400 yards long, and it definitely has some nice fish in it. I was lucky because nobody fished it all week. But every day I went back, the fish seemed to replenish themselves. And each day I started getting more and more confidence. The first two days I caught two great bass there. Yesterday I caught four bass there. And today I caught everything on that spot.”
"There were two rock edges they could spawn on and there was a little bit of current to bring them food, and it seemed to be reloading. I could see in there really well, and the next day I'd come back and catch fish that weren't there the day before.
"The biggest ones were almost black from being in that shallow water with all that sunlight."
Competition
When the tournament started, Russell had yet to come to grips with just how fruitful the roadbed area was. He started on another bank, along with FLW Tour Angler of the Year (AOY) leader Brent Ehrler, and caught a bunch of small fish – a trio of 2-pounders were the best he could manage.
He went to the roadbed bank toward the end of the day and upgraded with a couple of 3-pounders. "That showed me that more of my time definitely needed to be spent there," he said.
Day 2 was a lot windier than the previous day. He picked up a 3 1/2-pounder from the roadbed in the morning, and then came back later and added one that was close to 3. The other three he weighed in were considerably smaller, but his 10-pound bag nonetheless bumped him from 10th place to 7th.
Day 3 started slowly and he had nothing in his livewell after 3 hours. He picked up a couple of solid fish from nearby areas, then came back to the roadbed and caught three that went between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 pounds, and his biggest bag of the tournament pushed him into the lead.
He had to visit the roadbed three different times on the final day to catch his limit, and he put his fifth one in the box with less than an hour of fishing time remaining. He culled once after that to gain a few ounces.
He felt good about how he'd fished that day from the pole position, but doubted that he'd done enough to win.
"I knew I hadn't totally fumbled because 10 pounds had been pretty solid, but the other (Top-10 qualifiers) were the guys who'd figured them out the best and I thought at least one guy would crack 15 pounds.
"I felt good about my execution – when you're getting a limited number of bites, it's important to put them all in the boat. I stayed calm and just let everything play out."
Winning Pattern:
Russell threw a variety of baits over the course of the 4-day event, but a small Kamikaze swimbait and a tube produced the vast majority of his weigh-in fish.
For the swimbait, he used a modified leadhead jig that slips inside the hollow belly of the bait and fished it like a lipless crankbait. He said the design of the leadhead provided superior hooksets.
"Each morning would start out with slow feeding activity, and I'd throw the swimbait like a Rat-L-Trap to try to trigger a reaction strike," he said. "Later in the day I'd switch to the tube, and fishing that required me to be patient."
He also caught a lot of fish on a Panther Martin in-line spinner. He didn't weigh any of them, but they kept him calm when the action was slow.
“This tournament it was really important to match the hatch, and that’s what those baits did,” said Russell. “It’s basically a 2 ½-inch swimbait, and the fish just attacked it all week.”
Winning Gear:
Swimbait gear: 7'3" medium-action Dobyns 733 rod (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=DCCT), Shimano Chronarch (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SCHD)casting reel, 10-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GEF) line, 1/4-ounce prototype Elken Lures jighead, 3 1/2" Kamikaze Treat swimbait (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=KTS) (bluegill).
Tube gear: 7' medium-action Dobyns 703 rod (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=DCST), Shimano Stradic (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SSMGFB) spining reel, 3/16-ounce insider jighead with 1/0 Gamakatsu worm hook, 3 1/2" Dry Creek Outfitters tube (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=DCT#pImage) (old ugly).
Main factor in his success – "Having that key area that was unmolested, and then just executing and matching the hatch. That tube did a real good job of imitating the crawdad tones."
Performance edge – "Probably the jighead I used on the swimbait. I'm not sure there was any other way I could've fished it as effectively."
TW Staff
The 46-year-old from Idaho, who was formerly employed as a commercial fisherman in Alaska, compiled a 47-10 total over 4 days on the renowned Washington smallmouth fishery to beat out runner-up Cody King of Oregon by 5 ounces. He took over the lead on day 3 with a bag that was just short of 15 pounds, and then caught just enough on the final day to seal the win.
“This is a great confidence boost,” said Russell, who had finished in third place in each of the previous FLW Series National Guard Western Division events on the Columbia River back in 2007 and 2008. “But financially speaking, this is huge. I don’t have any major sponsors. So, without this win, I’m not sure I would have even been able to fish next year. I might have been working at McDonald’s.”
“I’m absolutely shocked,” Russell said of his victory. “It’s just unbelievable. It’s really going to take a while for this to sink in.”
“I was fishing a Federation Division tournament in late May about four or five years ago, and I came around this point and found a roadbed with a little depression in it,” said Russell. “Most people would look it at and not realize there’s anything there. But it’s about 400 yards long, and it definitely has some nice fish in it. I was lucky because nobody fished it all week. But every day I went back, the fish seemed to replenish themselves. And each day I started getting more and more confidence. The first two days I caught two great bass there. Yesterday I caught four bass there. And today I caught everything on that spot.”
"There were two rock edges they could spawn on and there was a little bit of current to bring them food, and it seemed to be reloading. I could see in there really well, and the next day I'd come back and catch fish that weren't there the day before.
"The biggest ones were almost black from being in that shallow water with all that sunlight."
Competition
When the tournament started, Russell had yet to come to grips with just how fruitful the roadbed area was. He started on another bank, along with FLW Tour Angler of the Year (AOY) leader Brent Ehrler, and caught a bunch of small fish – a trio of 2-pounders were the best he could manage.
He went to the roadbed bank toward the end of the day and upgraded with a couple of 3-pounders. "That showed me that more of my time definitely needed to be spent there," he said.
Day 2 was a lot windier than the previous day. He picked up a 3 1/2-pounder from the roadbed in the morning, and then came back later and added one that was close to 3. The other three he weighed in were considerably smaller, but his 10-pound bag nonetheless bumped him from 10th place to 7th.
Day 3 started slowly and he had nothing in his livewell after 3 hours. He picked up a couple of solid fish from nearby areas, then came back to the roadbed and caught three that went between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 pounds, and his biggest bag of the tournament pushed him into the lead.
He had to visit the roadbed three different times on the final day to catch his limit, and he put his fifth one in the box with less than an hour of fishing time remaining. He culled once after that to gain a few ounces.
He felt good about how he'd fished that day from the pole position, but doubted that he'd done enough to win.
"I knew I hadn't totally fumbled because 10 pounds had been pretty solid, but the other (Top-10 qualifiers) were the guys who'd figured them out the best and I thought at least one guy would crack 15 pounds.
"I felt good about my execution – when you're getting a limited number of bites, it's important to put them all in the boat. I stayed calm and just let everything play out."
Winning Pattern:
Russell threw a variety of baits over the course of the 4-day event, but a small Kamikaze swimbait and a tube produced the vast majority of his weigh-in fish.
For the swimbait, he used a modified leadhead jig that slips inside the hollow belly of the bait and fished it like a lipless crankbait. He said the design of the leadhead provided superior hooksets.
"Each morning would start out with slow feeding activity, and I'd throw the swimbait like a Rat-L-Trap to try to trigger a reaction strike," he said. "Later in the day I'd switch to the tube, and fishing that required me to be patient."
He also caught a lot of fish on a Panther Martin in-line spinner. He didn't weigh any of them, but they kept him calm when the action was slow.
“This tournament it was really important to match the hatch, and that’s what those baits did,” said Russell. “It’s basically a 2 ½-inch swimbait, and the fish just attacked it all week.”
Winning Gear:
Swimbait gear: 7'3" medium-action Dobyns 733 rod (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=DCCT), Shimano Chronarch (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SCHD)casting reel, 10-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GEF) line, 1/4-ounce prototype Elken Lures jighead, 3 1/2" Kamikaze Treat swimbait (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=KTS) (bluegill).
Tube gear: 7' medium-action Dobyns 703 rod (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=DCST), Shimano Stradic (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SSMGFB) spining reel, 3/16-ounce insider jighead with 1/0 Gamakatsu worm hook, 3 1/2" Dry Creek Outfitters tube (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=DCT#pImage) (old ugly).
Main factor in his success – "Having that key area that was unmolested, and then just executing and matching the hatch. That tube did a real good job of imitating the crawdad tones."
Performance edge – "Probably the jighead I used on the swimbait. I'm not sure there was any other way I could've fished it as effectively."
TW Staff