BAINBRIDGE, Ga. — Joey Cifuentes’ family moved from Florida to Clinton, Ark., when he was 15. But pitching a baseball, not catching a bass, was his sport through college graduation from Southern Arkansas University. Oh, Cifuentes had long held a passion for fishing, especially in the Florida saltwater flats for redfish, snook and trout. He viewed it as a pastime, not a potential career.
But one thing led to another in Arkansas, including a friendship with B.A.S.S. legend Larry Nixon, who lives in the same area near Greers Ferry Lake. The 34-year-old Cifuentes is a rookie on the Bassmaster Elite Series, but he’s earned big money bass tournament fishing as he graduated from co-angler to boater on other circuits.
Nixon, now 72 and competing for the first time on the Elite Series, was asked what knowledge he’d passed down to Cifuentes over the years.
“Joey was a good fisherman before he started fishing with me,” Nixon said. “I taught him patience. He wanted to get in too big a hurry and do this and do that. I said, ‘Joey, you’re trolling over more fish than you’re ever going to catch. So quit that and learn to read the water and slow down.’”
If you’ve watched or read about Cifuentes leading the Gamakatsu Bassmaster Elite at Lake Seminole the last two days, you know he’s been the picture of patience. He’s been drop-shotting a 6-inch hand-poured worm in 22 feet of water around standing timber in the Spring Creek area. His totals have been 19-13 on Day 1, 26-1 on Day 2 and 20-13 on Day 3 for a total of 66-11. He leads second place Tyler Rivet by 4-1 and third place Greg Hackney by 5-2 going into Championship Sunday.
Cifuentes has been “video game fishing,” watching bass swim amongst the trees on his Garmin LiveScope sonar and react to his drop shot bait. He’s confident he can bring in another 20-pound bag Sunday.
“Today all my fish were post-spawn,” he said. “Yesterday they were all pre-spawn. I think I’ve got fish coming to me too. I learned that today. That’s exciting.”
Cifuentes agreed that patience was at the top of the list of skills he’d learned from Nixon.
“That’s No. 1 for sure,” he said. “You could tell that today. I stuck around in that area. Patience is the key.”
A familiarity with fishing standing timber contributed too.
“I’ve been fishing a drop shot for a while,” Cifuentes said. “Back home we have a lot of timber in Arkansas. I do that a lot in all those lakes in the Ozarks – drop shot around timber. I’m used to looking in timber and finding bass.”
Cifuentes noted that this is his third time to fish a tournament on Lake Seminole. That experience has been a factor in his success too.
“I’ve learned where I need to be,” he said. “It’s Spring Creek without a doubt, so I spent all three days of practice there. The water is clearer. It’s got everything you need for bass to thrive. It’s the best place that suits me.”
