The setup
Robertson pulls no punches in saying that his late-October tournament week did not begin with an optimistic tone. For most of his practice, the Kentucky pro struggled to find consistency, but fortunately, he located an area that, at least, provided a starting spot.
“That was one of the worst practices I ever had,” Robertson said. “I had a few topwater bites, but not much else.
“The last day of practice, I caught two decent ones off this hump in the midsection of the lake. It was a flat area with little boulder piles in about 25 feet.”
Of course Robertson was thankful to have something to start on, but he admits he did not enter the event with much optimism. Essentially, the game plan was to get the Day 1 ball rolling on that boulder-strewn flat and then see what else he could find.
Robertson said the results were much better than he could have imagined.
“It was literally an area where I thought I could stop and catch a couple of keepers,” Robertson said. “I pulled up there the first morning of the tournament and caught 15 pounds in about 30 minutes.
“I thought I’d stick around and milk it, so that’s what I did the next two days.”
Robertson’s Day 1 limit of 14 pounds, 8 ounces put him in second place. A day later, he’d add 14-0 and earn a most unexpected Championship Saturday in the top spot.
“I was just looking to survive and hopefully cash a check,” Robertson said. “If you’d asked me after the last day of practice if I was gonna win that derby, I would have said, ‘Not a chance.’”
Pleasantly surprised with how many cooperative fish he encountered, Robertson did most of his work with a Ned rig. Repetition was key, but he found a way to trigger interested fish.
“I was just putting that Ned rig in front of them, and I learned I could get a reaction bite,” Robertson said. “If one was suspended by my bait, I could stroke it and get a reaction bite.”
The variables
After two days of moderate winds, a Day 3 cold front brought a stronger northeast blow.
“It wasn’t a severe cold front, but the water clarity was the bigger factor,” Robertson said. “That place has those clay banks and that wind had been pushing in there.”
The changing weather and the resulting decline in clarity left Robertson with a goose egg well past the midday point. Concerned with the potential of letting opportunity slip away, he made a bold choice that literally turned his day 180.
“I started on my original spot, and I didn’t have keeper at 12:30,” Robertson said. “I had to do something where I could catch them fast and with fall time fishing what else do you do but throw topwater?”
The key ingredient
Recalling that transitional moment, Robertson said: “I was surprised when I didn’t catch them on Day 3. I got nervous, but I like to fish fast, so I picked up a topwater and went to work.”
Robertson threw a Strike King Sexy Dog and, while that bait’s effective right out of the package, he noted a couple of key modifications.
“I had Suspend Dots on the bait’s belly to keep it weighted down in the water,” he said. “It creates a different action, and the fish wouldn’t blow it out of the water when they bit.
“I also had Japanese round bend treble hooks. They’re a little heavier hook, because I like the bait to ride a little lower and those hooks helped. Those hooks have a little bigger barb, so fish don’t come off when they come up and shake.”
Robertson threw his topwater on a 6-foot-8 medium-heavy rod with a 7.1:1 reel carrying 50-pound braid.
“The short rod allows you to throw farther, and you have greater accuracy,” he said. “When I was casting around docks, I was making little roll casts, and that shorter rod allowed me to be more accurate.”
Robertson described the best presentation as “fishing it as fast as I could. It was a snappy, walk-the-dog action. I was just covering as much water as I could.
“I was targeting shallow wolf packs. You’re fishing so fast you don’t have time to look for fish, but when they saw that bait, they’d react.”
The outcome
Robertson’s Day 3 adjustment yielded a final limit of 12-14 that gave him a three-day winning total of 40-12. What’s interesting is that, while we often hear anglers say their win was a dream come true, Robertson’s victory was just that.
The week before the Cherokee Lake tournament, Robertson placed second at Neely Henry after having a pre-event dream that he would win. Falling short on the Alabama lake stung a little, but an amazing realization made his East Tennessee win even sweeter.
“It didn’t hit me until the morning of Day 2 at Cherokee, but the dream was on a grassy hill and Neely Henry is more of an urban setting,” he said. “That second morning on Cherokee, I looked around and said, ’Maybe this is where my dream was. It looked just like the hillside at Cherokee.”
Adding yet another meaningful element to Robertson’s tale of victory was the gut-punch loss he suffered about a month and a half earlier. During practice for the Bassmaster Open at Sam Rayburn Reservoir, someone broke into his truck and stole nearly all the tackle he owned.
When management at Tackle Addict, a retail shop near Rayburn, heard of Robertson’s plight, they made a generous gift card offering. Others helped as they could and got Robertson back in fishing form.
“Man, after that, I contemplated dropping out of fishing,” Robertson said. “Honestly, it took my best friends around me and the fishing community to step up. They offered me all the tackle I needed.
“Without those people I wouldn’t have been there.”
Reflecting on his victory, especially the way in which it came about, Roberston said his biggest takeaway was one of confidence.
“Don’t ever be scared to change everything and trust your gut,” he said. “If I hadn’t abandoned what I was doing that final day, I wouldn’t have won.
“No matter what you’re facing, trust your gut because your gut knows more than your head.”