In a tournament with 225 boats, anglers must find ways to separate themselves from the field to secure a top finish.
Alabama pro Keith Poche has done just that during the St. Croix Bassmaster Northern Open at James River presented by Mossy Oak Fishing by using a small aluminum boat to get into back waters that the typical fiberglass bass boat can’t access.
As a result, Poche vaulted up the leaderboard with a 23 pound, 10-ounce Day 2 and leads the event with a two-day total of 41-0.
“I found a little deal back in a place that is really shallow,” the former Elite Series angler said. “I was able to get back there in practice and had a lot of bites on Monday. (On Day 1), I went back there for the first time and caught a bunch of fish. I should have had over 20 yesterday. It was really windy and they bit funny. It slicked off today and I was able to really pick some stuff apart and really fine tune it and capitalize on some of those bigger bites.”
Poche designed his 1650 Gator Trax Marsh Series boat specifically for tournament fishing, and he fishes all of the Opens out of it. The 17-and-a-half foot boat is powered by a 90 HP Mercury and with a Bob’s Low Water Pickup nose cone, he can run with the motor out of the water with no issues, allowing him to run in places other boats cannot.
“I forgot my Push Pole at the house and went and bought a two-by-four and pushed myself in there because I didn’t want to chance running it,” he said. “Today, the tide was a little later and it wasn’t out quite as much. I ran it and I hit some trees but I got in there no problem.”
He remarked that he hasn’t seen another competitor around him all tournament.
“No fiberglass boat is getting in there.” Poche said. “I have it to myself.”
That means Poche has a group of bass to himself that are in all stages of the spawn. In the lower tide, he was able to see some of the bass he was catching today and noticed there are certain times when they pull up. One of his bigger bass on the second day pulled up on a stump he had fished previously in the day.
“I noticed today, the tide being out is going to help me tomorrow. With the tide out and I can really see them. They aren’t spawning on the bank. It is kind of flat and I am able to see those stumps and dark spots. I can cast to them and pinpoint them,” he explained. “I think they are relating to the beds more or less. I’m catching a lot of big bucks and some of the fish I weighed in were bucks. I think the females are hanging around in the vicinity and some of them may be locked on.”
