Settling into a single area was the key to Bradley Roy's big second-day rally last week at BASSFest at Lake Texoma.
The Kentuckian was in 66th place after day 1, but caught an 18-12 stringer on day 2 to rocket all the way to 10th. He eventually logged a 12th-place finish – his best since a 3rd at Lake Wheeler in 2011 – and now sits at No. 14 in the Angler of the Year race as he attempts to qualify for his first Bassmaster Classic.
"Practice was really tough and I wasn't setting the hook on hardly anything – I was shaking everything off," he said. "When the tournament started, I knew places where I'd gotten a few good bites, but I didn't know exactly what area I needed to be in.
"On the first day I made a mistake – I tried to fish every waypoint where I'd had a bite all over the lake. I finally caught one 3-pounder late in the day that gave me 10 pounds, which obviously wasn't that good of a bag.
"I regrouped that night and decided to stay in that one area all day, and I got eight to 10 bites and ended up with almost 19 pounds. It was just a matter of figuring out which area held the better ones."
That stout sack was highlighted by a 7-pounder that he caught at mid-day.
"When I set the hook on her she was dead in the middle of a big bush, and she just swam straight to the top and swam out. It was a beautiful thing – she never gave me any trouble as far as the bush."
He alternated flipping a 1/2-ounce D&L tackle jig (black) with a Cabin Creek Craw trailer and a 5-inch craw bait.
"I went back and forth between them and it didn't seem to really matter. I got bit on other stuff, too. The one thing you had to figure out is where the fish were because there just weren't that many bites to be had."
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