Potomac River FLW Stren Series
Well we did it. On July 17th, 2007, we left for Charles County, Maryland, U.S.A. We were on our way to fish as co-anglers in a FLW Stren Series event, fishing’s equivalent to the PGA Tour. It was a 13 hour drive and when we arrived we had only 2hrs to check into our hotel, buy our fishing licenses and get to the registration. We had some trouble getting our licenses at Wal-Mart because we were from out of State. After talking to some tournament anglers at the hotel we were directed to Fred’s Sporting Goods. It was an odd place because not only was it a tackle store but it was a furniture store as well!
Our next step was to get to the registration at a local high school. I was expecting a very large crowd and confusion, but I was pleasantly surprised to see no lines, but only friendly FLW staff. In 5 minutes our registration was confirmed and we were headed back to the hotel wearing our new Rangers hats. Another meeting was 2 hours later, to go over the rules and meet our pros. It was so quick and organized. You could notice immediately we were in another league. I’ve never experienced such professionalism. The FLW staff paired 173 pros and 173 co-anglers in less than an hour.
When we got to the hotel we re-spooled our reels with Gamma Co-Polymer. No one was able to sleep on the drive down so we were ready for a good nights sleep.
The next morning I met up with my pro for the day, Fabian Rodriguez. He is a local tournament pro and on our drive to the launch we had a good talk about our kids, our faith and fishing. Fabian’s boat was a brand new Ranger, which was picked up only 5 or 6 days before the tournament. Before you knew it, we were running down the Potomac River at 68mph. The seats in the Ranger were so comfortable I felt like I was sitting in a lazy boy chair. We ran to an area that had clear water and lots of hydrilla. Top water frogs were the only thing that would work in these thick weeds. Fabian caught two fish in 3 hours that morning. I learned right away that it was a lot of work just to get 5 bites a day on the Potomac. Our next productive area was a small creek during high tide. The creek was only 24 feet across and 12” deep. Fabian caught his limit in this area. I was impressed with my pro’s skill but was concerned about the number of bites we got. My pro had to work hard for 5 bites all day. All five fish were weighed in on stage. Unfortunately for me, I had 2 bites and they were under the 12” size limit.
We fished 2 more days with 2 different pros and saw more of the river. On day two, I caught my only fish big enough to weigh in for the tournament. It was a long strong fish that weighed only 1.1 lbs. Up in Canada a fish that long would of weighed at least 2 lbs. I quickly learned that these fish are always fighting the current and their forage bass is small and limited.
Day three, I fished with Jerry Cross Jr. from North Carolina. I was glad to see he decided to fish the Mattawoman Creek. This was where Dave Lefebre won the year before. As we were fishing the creek, I began to see some of the leaders fishing the same area. The area was full of pads and I began to realize it was important to use small lures on the Potomac and the creeks that join it. At the end of the day I interviewed Jerry Cross about the basics of fishing tidal water. You can watch the interview on the webisode page.
Bobby Lane from Florida won the 4 day tournament. My friend Craig from Oshawa, witnessed Bobby Lane catch a 7lbs Largemouth while flipp’n the mats. Bobby Lane’s best day was on the Thursday, when he caught 23-3 pounds. He went into the final day with an amazing 7 ½ lbs lead. His final day got tough, when he only brought in 9lbs 3 ounces to the stage. He hung on for his first FLW win. The presentation he was using was a 1 ½ chrome tungsten weight rigged with a Berkley chigger craw. The colours that were working for him were green pumpkin in the morning and watermelon candy in the afternoon. One trick he did, was sand his tungsten weight to give it a bit more sheen. At the end of day 3, the guys and I went up to Bobby Lane to get our Ranger hats autographed.
It was well worth the effort to go. Nothing beats experiencing things for yourself. I’m keeping notes and hope to return someday on the pro side. Recently Fabian Rodriguez won a three-day TBF Mid-Atlantic Divisional on the Nanticoke River.
He was the overall champion and No.1 on the Delaware state team.
Fabian Rodriguez FLW outdoors profile
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