When you’re done, you’re done. Justin Lucas has put away his tackle for the day, more or less. That happened after he culled up and added a 4-pounder to the livewell.
“I’m not setting the hook anymore,” he said.
His last hookset came from a spot recently fished by John Crews, whom he gave a few friendly tips about how to catch bass there. Crews left and Lucas trolled over and caught the bigger bass.
Amazingly, Lucas had the pier and surrounding area to himself, with exception of the brief visit by Crews.
Also impressive is pratically every concurrent bass he caught resulted in a cull up.
“This place replinishes itself with the tide,” he said earlier. “I can catch one from a spot and then go back later and it’s reloaded with another bass.”
And another. And another. If timing is everything he was at the right place, at the right time. Although at the time he didn’t know it.
“My spot doesn’t really turn on until after the tide comes back in at 10 a.m.,” he said, at 8 a.m. this morning.
Between then and the magic hour Lucas broke the 20-pound mark.
Unofficially, Lucas just outdid himself from Day 1. Should he duplicate the effort tomorrow then he stands a good chance of scoring a win. Ironically, the conditions match what Lucas encountered in winning the Elite Series event last year in at the California Delta in his hometown of Sacramento.
We leave Lucas after he did indeed finally leave the magic spot to travel upriver just to burn time. And stumble upon a fallback plan he’ll likely never need.