Arizona’s Dean Rojas Takes Back The Bassmaster Elite Series Lead In Texas
Photo: B.A.S.S. / Seigo Saito ORANGE, Texas — Saturday morning, Dean Rojas felt like his game was dying, that perhaps his chance of victory in the Sabine River Challenge presented by STARK Cultural Venues was slipping through his fingers.
He had zero fish for the first hour of competition. He finally boated three keepers. Then three long hours passed without another bite.
How do you spell relief? With only about 35 minutes to go in his fishing day, he boated his fourth keeper, a 3-pounder, then his final bass 15 minutes later
Armed with a five-fish limit, crucial in this event, “I got out of there,” said the Bassmaster Elite Series pro from Lake Havasu City, Ariz. Read More
What were your expectations heading into the day?
“Just to catch five keepers. Based on practice, I felt like today was going to be a grind, but I also felt like catching a limit was doable. As it turned out, the keepers came a little bit quicker than I had expected.”
How would you summarize your day as a whole?
“I made a long run and was able to get to where I needed to go. I also was able to execute my bites and I didn’t lose any quality fish today and everything turned out really well. I caught my fifth keeper at around 11:15 and I only had four or five short fish in the mix. I got in a total of about six hours of fishing time today.” Read Complete Story
12th: Better Day for Rojas
> Day 2: 5, 15-07 (10, 28-07) Very little changed in how Dean Rojas fished today, but the results were much different.
“I didn’t change anything,” he said. “The big ones just bit today.”
He looked at day 1 as a step back from practice, but feels like he has some momentum going into the final day as he looks to collect a fourth career Top-10 finish in the Classic.
“They’re where they were at in practice,” he said. “They should bite tomorrow.”
> Day 1: 5, 13-00 Dean Rojas fished areas on Friday that he thought would harbor above-average fish. While they still might, he didn’t encounter any on day 1.
“You always try to improve on what you did in previous years,” he said. “I just never had a big bite today. If I would’ve had a 5-pounder, I’d be right up there. It just didn’t happen.”
He caught eight keepers and planned to start day 2 where he finished day 1 – the back of a pocket where the water temperature had climbed to 46 degrees and produced two 3-pounders.
“It’s not like it’s the glory out there,” he added. “It’s hard.”
Rojas roughs out lead
Photo B.A.S.S. / Seigo Saito ORANGE, Texas — Must be something in the water.
Dean Rojas of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., with a history of wins on Toledo Bend Reservoir, shone equally bright Thursday on the Sabine, the big lake straddling the river to the north.
He took the first-day lead in the March 14-17 Sabine River Challenge presented by STARK Cultural Venues, the season opener of the Bassmaster Elite Series. Read Story
