Cyprus Bass Fishing Championship 2014. Finally, the last part of the report. This is all about how things were actually developing on the day of the competition. In the morning I got a bit surprised to see too few people at the dam wall. For some reason I thought that most of the competitors would chose this side of the reservoir rather than the Allasa side. I was wrong; the field appeared to be split in two equal parts. Moreover, half of those starting on the dam wall headed to the west side, whereas our team was planning to go to the east side. Well, it was even better – more room for manoeuvre. The first task was to locate bass as soon as possible. During practice days we understood that fish was moving in and out from deep to shallow water depending on weather conditions. So, the first thing was to figure out where the bass was on that specific day. We agreed with Yuri, my teammate, to start fishing in two different types of places – one at the upper end of a large pocket, and the other one on a long shallow point. Then we would call each other at the end of the first hour and decide where to focus our efforts for the rest of the day. We’ve also agreed to move as quickly as possible right from the starting point and, if no one follows, check high-potential spots with fast moving baits for some active fish. In case other competitors followed us closely, then we would go directly to the agreed spots. Actually, we managed to make a good distance between us and other competitors, which allowed us to check few spots on the way and still remain ahead of everybody else. And that has proved to be a good tactic. Even before making the very first cast, I noticed a group of illegal anglers (probably stayed there over night). One of them was spinning with a jerkbait. He had a bite right when I was passing by, but missed it. I’ve seen that fish, it was a good size bass. I tried to follow up with wacky-rigged worm, but did not manage to make it bite again. No problem; that fish gave me the first clue on where bass was located and to what kind of lures it was responding (jerkbait). Following our original plan, we moved further up the lake making few casts here and there, looking for active bass. Soon we realized that bass was very shallow and close to the bank. I got the fish #1 very quickly, in less than half an hour, on a jerkbait, just few meters away from my feet. Good start! In the meantime, Yuri moved ahead and came to a relatively long stretch of shallow water, where he could visually locate a lot of bass roaming around but not responding to his lures. It was clear that bass was getting ready for spawning and did not care much about food. Triggering a reaction bite seemed to be a solution, and Ever Green’s Side Step 120 jerkbait was the way to go. Once I have exchanged that idea with my partner, I got my second bass and few minutes later Yuri got his first. (Next time we should lower our voices, so that people on the other side of the lake do not hear us :) ). The beginning was quite positive. We had to decide whether we stay in this area or move further up. And the decision was a hard one. From one hand, we knew that bass was right there, we could actually see it in crystal-clear water. From the other hand, we seemed to have already collected all active ones, while remaining bass did not care to respond to any kind of lures. The place obviously required some rest. So, the decision was for me to keep moving up covering fresh (unfished) water, whereas Yuri would stay on the same shallow point and nearby pocket (the area he originally was supposed to go). But the things eventually turned to be quite tough, despite of very promising beginning. In the following 3 hours I have not seen a single bite. Bass seemed to move away from the bank to deeper water. Time was running out, but there was no action at all. I had to try all kind of techniques and move all the way to the “great wall” to catch my 3rd bass, on a hand-made jig. Soon after that I noticed a fish hiding in shadow of a brush pile, dropped my jig right on top of it, and the bass #4 was posing on my ruler. That was a classic reaction bite. I am sure if it was a different lure, the fish would just ignore it. The whole thing was very well seen in clear water. I love this kind of moments. Time to go, it is a long-long and difficult way back. I wanted to allow myself at least some of the remaining fishing time in the area closer to the dam wall, like the shallow point where we saw lots of bass before noon, and similar points. I understood that this stretch had been bitten badly during the day by several competitors, including Titov, but still hoped that bass would move shallow and become active again sometime towards the end of time. The fish #5 showed up the last moment, when everybody else has already left the area. That was a relief. Quick photo, and on the very next cast I had another fish, which appeared to be a 2kg zander. It was a nice catch, but it did not count and therefore was just a waste of time, which was running out very quickly. Few more casts on the way back to the dam wall without any bites, and that was actually it for the day. I was happy I managed to have a 5-fish limit. The size was somewhat above the average, so I was confident to have some good ranking in personal standings. However, our performance as a team still remained to be seen. Having had a quick look at the results recoded by our referee, we realized that we had a good chance to win the event. Eventually, the results on the Allasa side appeared to be more modest. All played in our favour. As they say… “Oops! I did it again!” Thank you all for participation. It was another exciting and well-organized event. Thank you Cyprus Freshwater Fishing Federation. Thank you Mr Evanthis and other referees. Thank you Trifonas and Super Action Stores for sponsoring the event. See you soon, cannot wait until the next round of the Championship. Finally, few words about the tackle. This time I did not have any missed opportunities. Five bites translated into 5 fish in the “livewell” (zander does not count). I believe the right equipment had played a role to make it happen. I had to rods with me, as follows 1. Major Craft Rizer, 8.3-foot Medium Heavy rod, paired with Daiwa Certate spinning reel, 13lb braid line. This was used for jerkbaits, wacky, drop-shot and Moscow rig. 2. Major Craft Volkey, 7-foot Heavy rod, paired with Abu Garcia Revo Rocket baitcasting reel, super-fast 9:1 gear ratio, 15lb fluorocarbon line. This is in my opinion a perfect setup for texas rig and especially jigs. PS: Respect the nature, practice catch & release! Especially now during the spawning season.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 16:13:54 +0000