“Coming to the St. Johns River is my favorite place to visit and fish in the world,” said Crappie Masters president, Mike Vallentine. “You have the St. Johns River and lots of different wildlife. You see manatees, alligators and pretty crappie. You got the river, the lakes, the pads; plenty of places where you can catch abundant numgers of beautiful Florida black crappie.”
Vallentine likes the surrounding area too. “You got small town living, near city living, near beach living,” offered Vallentine. “There are just so many things going for this area. There are lots of individually owned stores and restaurants. Lots of good places to eat. Downtown Deland is kinda’ like a big city in a small town. It’s 4 or 5 blocks of some of the neatest establishments going.”
You can go to the north end of the area and it gets a little more secluded,” continued Vallentine. “And, as you go south, you get closer to the bigger cities. For me it is just my favorite place to come.
Most importantly, you got the fish. They are big and they fight hard. They are beautiful fish with the dark coloring. It is different than anywhere else that Crappie Masters fishes.”
Brian Sowers described the week preceding tournament days as “up and down. There were days when it was stable and then we had a major cold front move through. The weather stabilized again, and then on the first day of the tournament, which seems to be typical, another cold front moved in.”
The day-one leaders caught their fish shallow, but the eventual winners caught them deep. “A lot of teams that were on good fish and catching them shallow,” said Sowers. “The cold front came and they moved back out. Actually, that’s what it is all about in tournament fishing, being able to adjust to the fish’s movements.”
“We had great weights on day one,” reported Sowers. “Larry and Steve Durden, our reigning champions, weighed 12.79 on day-one to take the lead. They used a little different technique than the others to take that day-one lead. Other anglers were interested to know they were catching them using bobbers.”
“All in all it has been an outstanding tournament,” continued Sowers. “It is the biggest one we have had here out of Deland on the St. Johns River. We are very happy that more people are finding out about this area. They have wonderful crappie fishing and hopefully, with this tournament, we will be able to introduce more anglers to its beauty and its fishing. People need to take advantage of this opportunity that is right here in their backyard. If folks don’t live here, one visit will let them know that a short drive is well worth the effort.”
The tournament depended on how the anglers adjusted to changing fish behavior “The bite has been limited,” explained Sowers. “It did not matter if you were fishing in the lake, in the river or in the pads. It has been one of those times where you have to be in the right spot at the right time. That’s what determined the winners.
Those winners turned out to be Troy Thiel and Ricky Willis. They weighed in a two-day total of 23.98 pounds to win.
“We fished the drawbridge by lake Monroe,” offered Thiel. “We fished the pilings around it. We were in about 15 foot of water finding the fish at 14 feet. They were right on the bottom. It was a relatively early bite both days. They shut down today around 9:30 am and about 11:00 am yesterday. It was tough after that.”
“I think it was the cold front,” added Willis. “We did not get another weigh-in fish after the early bite. The late fish were all small. And, when I say small I mean undersized fish.”
“We were using Wally Marshall Slabalicious Jigs and Wally Marshall rods and reels,” said Thiel. “June Bug was the best Wally Marshall color.”
Willis added some of his hand-tied Sugar Bug Jigs to the mix as they jig fished the bridge. “We were shooting the pilings, kinda’ like you would shoot a dock,” explained Willis. “We had good luck on black/white/yellow and popsicle, colors that I make.”
“This was an awesome tournament and wining it made today an awesome day,” said an ecstatic Willis. “Right now we are looking forward to moving on up to Talguin next week.”
“I feel awesome about winning,” said Thiel. “Anytime you can beat these guys fishing this tournament it feels good. They are tough competitors. I am looking forward to Talquin next week for the second leg of the Crappie Masters Florida Championship.
“Patience was the key,” concluded Willis. “We stayed with that bridge both days – continuously.”
Second place went to Larry and Steve Durden. Team Durden had taken the lead on day-one, fishing corks just outside the pads with bobbers. They weighed in a whopping 12.79 pounds to claim the day-one lead.
“We were fishing about six inches off he pads with corks,” explained Durden. “It was about 4 feet and it dropped off pretty quick. I think those females were staging along there looking for those male beds. On the first day, until about 10:00 am, we just slayed em’. Then the wind kicked up and the front started moving in – it was over.”
“We went back the second day hoping those fish were there,” continued Larry. “Stubborn, like I am, we went back to fishing the same way on day-two. We did not do as good, but would have won anyway if Steve had not lost a big one,” joked Larry, before admitting he lost a big one too.
“All these fronts messed us up,” added Steve. “It put the fish deep and slow. We were fishing at 4 feet and they were deeper. The tightliners were fishing around 12 to 14 feet. The fish will move quickly in responses to changes. In one day, they went from four feet to 12 feet as those fronts moved in and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees.”
“That, and the wind,” added Larry. “The wind blows the bobbers into the pads and moves the bait to the wrong location.”
Team Durden used 16-foot Wally Marshall rods to claim their runner up finish. “You want to be as far from the boat as you can,” instructed Larry.
Larry and Steve are also heading to Talquin next week. They have put themselves in excellent position for the second leg of the Florida Championship on Talquin.
Third place went to Don Collins and Rusty Booth. “We started off jigging pads,” stated Collins. “We caught a few fish, but not too big. Then about 9:30 on day-one we decided to move to an area where I had caught some bigger fish. We jigged, but there was nothing there. My Humminbird was showing the fish right off the pads in about 12 feet of water, 3 feet deep. We started pullin’ alongside the edge of the pads, real shallow. That is how we caught our fish on day-one.”
They started day-two doing the same thing. “We had to adjust on day-two,” said Collins. “The fish had moved out deeper. “We began long lining 1/8-ounce Road Runners with Wally Marshall and Lake Fork Lures on them. The fish were right on the bottom. As soon as that pole twitched, you would speed up and they would hit it. We caught probably 50 fish on day-two.”
“We caught a lot of fish and had a lot of fun,” said Collins. “I missed fishing with my wife (Toni) today. It is the first time we have not fished this tournament together. She is taking care of some family business. Rusty and I fish a lot of the Florida tournaments together. He is a young guy, learning really fast and is going to be really good.”
Rounding out the top five were Damon Riggins and Allen Bates with 20.89 pounds in fourth place: Fifth place went to Brian Davis and Brian Davis Jr. with 20.77 pounds.
Brian Sowers, The Voice of Crappie Masters, summed up the tournament for most when he said, “There is nothing better than to come down here on the St. Johns River at Deland, FL. It is such an historic place and the specks down here are beautiful. They are wild, they are crazy, they are huge!”
The next Crappie Masters event will be on February 3rd and 4th on Lake Talquin. That event is the final leg of the Florida Championship.
For more information on Crappie Masters visit the website at www.crappiemasters.net.
For more information on the St. Johns River at Deland, and the surrounding area, visit www.visitwestvolusia.com.