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4th: Dean Rojas Douglas Pattern

Dean Rojas proved long-lining wasn’t the only way to catch Top 5-worthy fish at Douglas. He had three productive patterns going that allowed him to attack all segments of the water column.

Not surprisingly, one of them was a frog pattern that helped him on days 1, 3 and 4.

“The frog played a pivotal part in the weight I caught,” he said.

For bottom-hugging fish, he threw a Spro Little John DD crankbait, but didn’t employ long-lining to reach the deeper fish which were holding near the bottom in 20-foot depths just off points. Keeping contact with the bottom on his retrieves was important. He also targeted mid-range depths with a jig.

Once he saw the mass of boats beating the bank during practice, he knew he’d need more than one pattern going in order to contend. His cranking and jig bite were better in the morning and then he went frogging with a Spro Bronzeye 65 in the afternoons.

“I had to do three different things to try to come in with big bags every day,” he said. “All three techniques played a pivotal part in weighing consistent bags all the way through. I didn’t think it was much of a pattern lake for what I was doing. I just tried to stay in areas and fish my strengths.”

He focused on certain stretches of bank that others may have overlooked.

“Everybody’s going to look for the obvious stuff, but I try to find the stuff that’s just a little different,” he added. “I left a lot of fish out there. There were still a lot of fish I never went to.”

> Crankbait gear: 7’ medium Quantum Tour Rojas casting rod, Quantum Tour KVD casting reel (5.3:1 ratio), 14-pound Sunline FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, Spro Little John DD crankbait (nasty shad).

> Jig gear: 7’ medium-heavy Quantum Tour Edition PT casting rod, Quantum EXO PT casting reel (6.6:1 ratio), 5/8-ounce Spro K-Finesse jig (green-pumpkin), 3 1/2” Big Bite Baits Fighting Frog (watermelon red).

> Frog grear: 7’ medium-heavy Quantum Tour Rojas frogging rod, Quantum EXO PT casting reel (7.3:1 ratio), 80-pound Sunline FX2 braided line, Spro Bronzeye 65 Frog (killer gill).