TW_Staff
08-20-2009, 10:48 AM
Vic Vatalaro's day-2 bag alone would've earned him a nice check at the recent Dardanelle FLW Series in Arkansas. That 18-05 stringer was more than all but 21 anglers in a field of 130 managed over 3 days.
The Ohio pro logged the biggest victory of his career with a 4-day total of 39-04. He caught just a single keeper on the final day, but that hardly mattered – he began the day with a lead of more than 10 pounds and still won by 6-06.
On his first visit to Dardanelle, and under extremely difficult summertime conditions, he put a hurting on a field that included a lot of veterans with a great deal of experience at the venue.
“This is nice, to finally get over the hump with largemouths and win a Series event – I’ve been after this for a long, long time,” Vatalaro said. “My luck in the South with green fish has not been good, so to get this win gives me a lot of confidence.”
"When I first got there I tried some outside weeds on the bank a little bit, but I had no success with keepers," he said. "I was running to another spot when I went by a narrow bridge and noticed some current there, so I stopped to fish for a minute and caught a keeper. I thought that was kind of neat.
The next day he went looking for more bridges in the Illinois Bayou area and caught a keeper at each of the first two he found. That process led him to the back of a bay that didn't contain a bridge but had a pipe coming out from underneath a road that channeled water to and from the bay. He caught more fish there, and thus sought out more of those as well.
Places with any kind of current and water at least 4 feet deep seemed to be productive, with the fish holding on just about anything that broke up the flow. When he located the fish, he could catch them with a jig, a finesse worm or a tube.
“One of the culverts was obvious because it boiled water out into the river,” Vatalaro said. “On the surface you could see the water roiling up like it was coming up out of a huge spring vent. So I cranked up my Humminbird side-imaging machine to get a look at where the water was coming from. As I idled down the bank, it drew a perfect image of a giant culvert pipe with cement footers – it looked like a Polaroid picture.”
Competition:
Vatalaro's bag was one fish short of a limit on day 1, but it was topped by only 12 other competitors. He caught his best fish that day off large bridge pillars.
"They'd suspend on those pillars when the sun got real high," he said. "I'd just bomb that tube on every side of it and if a bass was there, he took it."
He took complete charge of the tournament the next day. He decided to spend a significant amount of time at the big pipe and utilized his Power-Pole so he could continually make long casts to and around a log positioned near the opening of the pipe.
He boated three keepers there, including a 4 1/2-pounder. After departing, he caught another keeper at a bridge on the way to another area, and then rounded out his limit with a 12-inch spot.
With five in the box, he headed for a collection of stumps that had current flowing across them. Throwing a jig tipped with a Berkley PowerBait Chigger Craw, he hooked up with a 4-14 brute that culled the small spot. Shortly thereafter, he caught a 4-pounder on the exact same cast.
That put him into the lead, and he extended it the following day with a 10-pound bag. "I did my milk run to the pipes and a lot of other running around, but it was just kind of a slow day."
The last fish he caught that day had a deformed tail that pointed upward, and it didn't measure the requisite 15 inches for largemouths when it was laid flat on the board. It was long enough, however, when the tail was pushed into a normal position, so he opted to gamble and take it to the scale. It passed the scrutiny of FLW officials.
He led 2nd-place Ray Scheide by 10-02 going into the final day. He was a little disappointed that he caught only one keeper, but said he landed a dozen or more that were within an inch of measuring.
"I fished the exact same way I had every other day and caught just as many fish, but they were short. The big ones disappeared."
Any worries he might've had about being caught from behind proved unfounded, though, as his four closest pursuers all zeroed.
Winning Gear:
Jig gear: 7' heavy-action unnamed rod, unnamed casting reel, 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC) line, 1/2-ounce War Eagle Finesse Jig (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=WEFJ)(brown/watermelon/green-pumpkin), 3" Berkley PowerBait Chigger Craw (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BPCC) trailer (green-pumpkin).
Worm gear: 7' medium-heavy unnamed rod, unnamed spinning reel, 8-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC), unnamed 1/8-ounce tungsten weight, 1/0 Gamakatsu round-bend (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GWHRB) hook, 7" Berkley Power Finesse Hand Pour Worm (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BFWH) (green-pumpkin).
Tube gear: 6'6" medium-action unnamed rod, unnamed spinning reel, 8-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC), unnamed 1/8-ounce jighead, 3" Berkley Power Tube (watermelon).
“There was a lot of rock and brush around the places I was fishing, and a Texas rig is a lot more slim-line in terms of getting through that stuff without hanging up,” Vatalaro said. “Plus a Texas rig glides more instead of spiraling down – I think that gliding action is better in the current and brush.”
“It’s a unique way to bass fish, but I’ve done that before on the Ohio River,” he said. “I won a BFL years ago on the Ohio by fishing big culverts like that – they were visible though. And when the current would stop running, I would have to physically go fish in the culvert to catch them. So, in a way, I felt at home here on Dardanelle catching these culvert bass.”
Main factor in his success – "Finding those key areas and beating on them instead of moving. I'd beat the same 10-foot spot for an hour."
Performance edge – "My Power-Pole held me directly in front of the current spots so I could make repeated casts without having to run the trolling motor."
TW Staff
The Ohio pro logged the biggest victory of his career with a 4-day total of 39-04. He caught just a single keeper on the final day, but that hardly mattered – he began the day with a lead of more than 10 pounds and still won by 6-06.
On his first visit to Dardanelle, and under extremely difficult summertime conditions, he put a hurting on a field that included a lot of veterans with a great deal of experience at the venue.
“This is nice, to finally get over the hump with largemouths and win a Series event – I’ve been after this for a long, long time,” Vatalaro said. “My luck in the South with green fish has not been good, so to get this win gives me a lot of confidence.”
"When I first got there I tried some outside weeds on the bank a little bit, but I had no success with keepers," he said. "I was running to another spot when I went by a narrow bridge and noticed some current there, so I stopped to fish for a minute and caught a keeper. I thought that was kind of neat.
The next day he went looking for more bridges in the Illinois Bayou area and caught a keeper at each of the first two he found. That process led him to the back of a bay that didn't contain a bridge but had a pipe coming out from underneath a road that channeled water to and from the bay. He caught more fish there, and thus sought out more of those as well.
Places with any kind of current and water at least 4 feet deep seemed to be productive, with the fish holding on just about anything that broke up the flow. When he located the fish, he could catch them with a jig, a finesse worm or a tube.
“One of the culverts was obvious because it boiled water out into the river,” Vatalaro said. “On the surface you could see the water roiling up like it was coming up out of a huge spring vent. So I cranked up my Humminbird side-imaging machine to get a look at where the water was coming from. As I idled down the bank, it drew a perfect image of a giant culvert pipe with cement footers – it looked like a Polaroid picture.”
Competition:
Vatalaro's bag was one fish short of a limit on day 1, but it was topped by only 12 other competitors. He caught his best fish that day off large bridge pillars.
"They'd suspend on those pillars when the sun got real high," he said. "I'd just bomb that tube on every side of it and if a bass was there, he took it."
He took complete charge of the tournament the next day. He decided to spend a significant amount of time at the big pipe and utilized his Power-Pole so he could continually make long casts to and around a log positioned near the opening of the pipe.
He boated three keepers there, including a 4 1/2-pounder. After departing, he caught another keeper at a bridge on the way to another area, and then rounded out his limit with a 12-inch spot.
With five in the box, he headed for a collection of stumps that had current flowing across them. Throwing a jig tipped with a Berkley PowerBait Chigger Craw, he hooked up with a 4-14 brute that culled the small spot. Shortly thereafter, he caught a 4-pounder on the exact same cast.
That put him into the lead, and he extended it the following day with a 10-pound bag. "I did my milk run to the pipes and a lot of other running around, but it was just kind of a slow day."
The last fish he caught that day had a deformed tail that pointed upward, and it didn't measure the requisite 15 inches for largemouths when it was laid flat on the board. It was long enough, however, when the tail was pushed into a normal position, so he opted to gamble and take it to the scale. It passed the scrutiny of FLW officials.
He led 2nd-place Ray Scheide by 10-02 going into the final day. He was a little disappointed that he caught only one keeper, but said he landed a dozen or more that were within an inch of measuring.
"I fished the exact same way I had every other day and caught just as many fish, but they were short. The big ones disappeared."
Any worries he might've had about being caught from behind proved unfounded, though, as his four closest pursuers all zeroed.
Winning Gear:
Jig gear: 7' heavy-action unnamed rod, unnamed casting reel, 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC) line, 1/2-ounce War Eagle Finesse Jig (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=WEFJ)(brown/watermelon/green-pumpkin), 3" Berkley PowerBait Chigger Craw (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BPCC) trailer (green-pumpkin).
Worm gear: 7' medium-heavy unnamed rod, unnamed spinning reel, 8-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC), unnamed 1/8-ounce tungsten weight, 1/0 Gamakatsu round-bend (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GWHRB) hook, 7" Berkley Power Finesse Hand Pour Worm (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BFWH) (green-pumpkin).
Tube gear: 6'6" medium-action unnamed rod, unnamed spinning reel, 8-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC), unnamed 1/8-ounce jighead, 3" Berkley Power Tube (watermelon).
“There was a lot of rock and brush around the places I was fishing, and a Texas rig is a lot more slim-line in terms of getting through that stuff without hanging up,” Vatalaro said. “Plus a Texas rig glides more instead of spiraling down – I think that gliding action is better in the current and brush.”
“It’s a unique way to bass fish, but I’ve done that before on the Ohio River,” he said. “I won a BFL years ago on the Ohio by fishing big culverts like that – they were visible though. And when the current would stop running, I would have to physically go fish in the culvert to catch them. So, in a way, I felt at home here on Dardanelle catching these culvert bass.”
Main factor in his success – "Finding those key areas and beating on them instead of moving. I'd beat the same 10-foot spot for an hour."
Performance edge – "My Power-Pole held me directly in front of the current spots so I could make repeated casts without having to run the trolling motor."
TW Staff