Rojas' stringer was a pound heavier than his previous day's bag, but it gained him no ground in the standings.
"I still think I've got a shot, being 2-12 out," he said. "I need to have a big bag tomorrow, but if I come in with 18 I could win it.
"It can happen. The conditions are changing, so we'll see what happens tomorrow."
He went through eight keepers, including one that weighed nearly 5 pounds. That was his second fish and it bit his SPRO BronzEye Frog before the day was an hour old. He lost a couple that might've gained him a few ounces.
"I think what I'm doing is conducive to whatever conditions we get tomorrow. The frog has been real good the last 3 days – they bit it when the water was high and they bit it when it was low. Either way, it should be good.
"I've also been doing a little flipping and I'll probably do some tomorrow. It's on my radar, anyway." Read more
Rojas got 12 keeper bites and put all of them in the boat. His weight was off by more than 2 1/2 pounds from day 1, but his execution was better.
"I basically expanded on what I did on day 1 and I'm just covering a lot of water," he said. "I'm just trying to catch a good limit every day to put myself in position to have a chance.
"Today I never had a big bite – I had two of those yesterday, and I'm only talking 3 1/2- to 4-pounders. That's really what I'm going to need tomorrow to continue doing what I'm doing."
He's spending some time in clear water, some in stained water and some in muddy water and varying his baits and presentations to suit the conditions.
"Today was awesome – I really feel good about it. I fished very clean today, and that's nice because it hasn't been that way for me all year.
"I've been pretty consistent (at this event), even through the practice days. So far, so good. Tomorrow's a new day and I'll go back out and see what I can do." Read more
Editor’s note: In an article published in this space last week, Jason Elam detailed his approach to high-water scenarios and how he game plans for the constantly changing variables, especially on river systems. Today, in part two of a three-part series, longtime Elite Series competitor Dean Rojas offers his take on the same topic.
Over the years, Dean Rojas has earned a reputation for being one of the most consistent anglers across both pro circuits, but his take on fishing flooded bodies of water is a little different from others. He’d rather find a pattern all to himself out away from all the newly-submerged cover rather than beat the bank with the majority of the field. Read more
It's time once again for one of the top pros is bass fishing to tough it out and answer Three Questions from BassFIRST. This time around we have a brave soul who hails from Lake Havasu City, Arizona. The one and only Dean "The Machine" Rojas.
Sure, Rojas quaked in his shoes when the challenge of Three Questions was presented to him, but he bucked up and answered them. What was his reward for his efforts? He was asked Three Questions from BassFIRST, that's the reward. The Three Questions
