Perris.. DeJa Vu ....I guess It wasnt a fluke!!! lol Long story!

[Pete Marino]

So After some epic trips to Perris the week before last and my win at the NBW event there last Sunday I decided to give my fish a rest last week heading into my ABA Perris tournament yesterday. I tried my best to stay off the lake leading into this tournament because I REALLLY wanted a good finish at this ABA event because Me and my partner Kevin were tied for the series points lead.
I knew that if I wanted to take the lead in the series solely Id have to be up or near the top of the standings come tournament day. So I spent the early part of the week just preparing my tackle and the rest if it just doing things to keep my mind off the tournament.
I knew what I was going to throw and where I was going to throw it.. I just needed tourney day to come so I could get to work.
The only thing I worried about was that GIANT bright white thing in the sky each night on Weds, Thurs and Fri...Yes the MOON. I was afraid that with the high temps we had and the bright moon in the sky at night that these bass at Perris would move up on beds in a moments notice which they are famous for.
Ive seen years in the past where the bass at Perris have literally made such a strong push towards the shallows to spawn overnight so fast that they were blowing up with air and were floating on the surface as if they were caught out of deep water. So in the back of my mind that bothered me as I told my wife each night before the tournament.
I consider myself a really good bed fisherman so catching bass on beds wasn't what troubled me...what trouble me was the fact that the areas Ive been fishing were far away from the spawning areas in 1-4 ft of water. If they were up on beds that would open the door for other sight fisherman to bedfish. And I also knew that some of my friends in this tournament are some really good sight fishing guys.
But, If I were to go up and sight fish it would completely throw me off my game plan so that's another reason I stayed at home on Thursday and Friday and stayed as far away from the lake as possible...lol I knew my fish would be there in the prespawn spots Ive been fishing I just needed to go with my game plan and make it happen.

Friday night I got with Kevin and had him rig all his tackle EXACTLY like mine...reaction baits, finesse stuff ...EVERYTHING...The same way I did the prior weekend with my other partner when we won the NBW event. Hey when I say Im dialed in, its a good idea to have my partner copy what Im doing...

Kevin gets to my house about 5am Saturday morning and we head to the lake.... We talk about the game plan and I try not to look at the bright moon that is lighting up lake perris.
We sign up and get boat #3 ,So I tell Kevin that we will get our starting spot.. Now Im really getting excited...
So they call our number and we take off for our starting spot with a lot of hope and anticipation for the day ahead...

Will we start slow like last week? will we get a giant? will we fish clean? will we be perfect? will we destroy them ? will my pattern hold up? will they be spawning already? Did I make the right call to stay off the lake Thrusday and Fri? Will my bass even bite? All those questions and more were about to be answered....

So we get to the spot and I put down the troller and we both start firing away.. Same exact baits (reaction Baits), same long casts, same retrieve... We work the shoreline just off shore in 16-17ft of water...The area has a great ledge in 16ft of water with grass on it and the bass love it...especially prespawners.. We make a pass down the stretch and no bites but we have the area all to ourselves.. We get to the end and turn around and start heading back down the line...We get to the end and I make the same cast I made on my first cast and IM ON!!! As I swing a 14" bass into the boat.. NOT A KEEPER! "That's okay keep firing", I tell Kevin... we work the stretch like a surgeon all the way to the end again...no love. I turn around and we begin to work the area back again.. This time through Im throwing the worm and Kevin is throwing another plastic... NO LOVE.. We get to the end of the stretch and turn around once again. I tell Kevin to pick up his reaction bait again as do I.. He knows that when I think something or have an instinct on the water, Its best to trust it..So we both start firing our reaction baits again as we slowly and methodically work back down the stretch for the 4th time. As we get about 3/4s the way down the stretch I tell Kevin to make sure he pays special attention to a certain cast where I know the grass is thicker on the ledge.. I make a cast and my bait gets swiped at..So I tell Kevin and he makes the exact cast...And His Bait gets SMOKED!!! Hes on and its a GIANT!!!!!!!
He works the fish slowly to the boat and keeps it down, The whole time Im trying to keep him calm so we make sure this fish makes it to the boat.. We tell each other "Be perfect" every time we start a tournament because if we fish perfect good things happen. So he works her to the boat, she stays down and come up right to the net.....10lber I say!!!!!!! BOOOOOM!!! A true GIANT.... We both let out a HUGE scream with joy and high fives are endless..."I freaking knew they were here", I say.. That takes ALOT of pressure off..

"What to do now", I ask myself...? Do we continue the stretch or do we go fill our limit deep where I know we can slay them?? The decision... We're continuing the stretch we're on...
So we keep firing, although both of us were still shaking from what just happened. On my 3rd cast Im on...as Kevin nets our 2nd keeper... Then 2 casts later.. Im on again and Kevin nets our 3rd keeper... Now we're rolling!!! Kevin say, "you made the right call to stay"!!! On my last cast on this stretch Im on again... And Kevin nets our limit fish. (Its a 4 bass limit).. I look at Kevin and say... Its time to hurt them DEEP"... and Kevin says.. "Lets do it".

So we head out to the deep water that I know so well at Perris. We get to the spot...Theres nobody around... All the boats are on the bank.. I put the troller down and the graph lights up with bass!
First cast...IM ON!!! Kevin nets a cull fish.. Next cast Im on!! As Kevin nets another good fish.. ...3-4 minutes later minutes later...IM ON again.. Another cull fish... 3 culls in less then 10 minutes.. ( a cull is when we catch a fish bigger then one in our livewell..we get rid of the smaller one and put the bigger one in, upping our weight.)
A few minutes goes by because we had to balance beam my last fish with our smallest one.. Back to work... I make a cast.. Im on again!!! Kevin shakes his head And says... " your killing them"... I just say..."Im feeling it" as I set the hook on another bass... This one feels good... as I play it to the boat and Kevin nets it...Another keeper. We're increasing our weight by ounces at a time.. I tell Kevin we need another two lbs and I think we can win.. Im thinking 20lbs for a 4 bass limit will win it today because I have no idea whats going on on the shore line. All I know is that we are rolling!!!
After that last fish Kevin gets one..and I net it...non keeper.. Then I hook up again and Kevin nets it...non keeper. A couple minutes later I tell Kevin that there are ALOT of bass under the boat and about that time I set the hook...IM ON...AS Kevin Jumps to the front holding his rod in one hand and the ne in the other.. ABout that time his rod gets bit... and he misses it because He couldn't reel into it because he was holding the net..hahaha Bummer!! But he nets my fish anyways. Then he gives me the net and reels into his slack line...FISH ON... The fish had it the entire time! As he swings the bass into the boat..non keeper but cool that he didn't miss it.
Then it slowed down for a while and I tell him were gonna go look at some fresh fish...as I make a move to a sunken boat I know of nearby.. I get over it and there are some good marks on the screen. I drop down and Boom!! IM ON!!! This one feels good.... I work it slowly and Kevin nets it.. 3 1/2 lber...KEEPER!!
But we couldn't get anymore to bite in the next 10 minutes.. These fish are on the move...I cant get them to stay still to work them so I say ..."Time to move"...
We're heading to throw reaction baits again...We got some cloud cover so we may get a big one..

So we get there and start firing away... I see people up tight in the bushes... "There must be Bedfish", I say. I tell myself, Im not doing it today, we're gonna stay with the pattern that has us doing well. Any other day Id go in and join the sight fishing fun..BUT NOT TODAY!!

We worked about a 1/2 mile of bank with no bites... Finally I move up tight to the bank and we both start casting out deeper... Kevin yells "IM ON" as his bait gets crushed.. As I net a keeper bass!!...
We continued to work that bank for a while longer for no bites...Time to go hit our starting spot for some afternoon action...We get over there and start working... We both get bit but miss both bites...or rather the bass missed the bait..lol
Time to go deep again... we head out there and I catch another 4-5 and Kevin caught a couple more but none of them helped us..
Time to head in for weighins.... I know we have a good weight, not sure how good. I know we have a big one not sure how big because we hadn't weighed it.. I look in the livewell and tell Kevin it looks smaller now... maybe 8-9 lbs I say...still a giant. And I know the others are decent.. I tell Kevin we have 19-20 lbs But I hoped we had 20+. So we head to the scales and they put big mama on the scale... 9.68 lbs NICE!!!!!!! Then they put all the bass together and our total weight was 19.30 lbs!!!
We sat and watched boat after boat come in with less weight,,,most boats had 10-12 lbs for their limits so it was apparent that it was a tough day on the water for some.. But there were still some REALLY good teams that had to weighin..
Word got around that one of those teams had a GIANT..and he got it and all his bass Bed fishing... Now I started to get nervous... as they pulled to the scales they took the bass out of the well and I tell Kevin...We may get beat right here...all three of their smaller bass look good and then he pulls a TOAD out of the livewell...ITS A BEAST... I tell Kevin "its gonna be close".. They weigh the Giant and it weighs.. 9.42 lbs... Just smaller then ours.. And their total weight was slightly over 18lbs...
But there was no time to celebrate there were still a couple teams to weighin.. A team of swimbait guys and one of the best teams in Southern California.. So they weigh in and our weight holds up... WE WON!!! I pulled it off...I went BACK TO BACK!!!! Two wins in a row!!





As it turns out there were fish up on beds and there were ALOT of them I hear... Im glad that we pulled it out and got the win despite not bedfishing at all.. If I had to go back today Id be bedfishing some as well...
I have to thank some of my sponsors.... Bass Pro Shops, Fairview Ford (in San Bernardino), Dobyns Rods, Bass King Clothing, Eye Surrender eyewear, MAxima Fishing line and B.A.B.A.

Guys its time to go fishing...SPRING IS HERE... There are deep fish, mid range fish and Bedfish..... .Call me and book your trip today.

PeteMarinoGuideService


Pete

(909)510-5679

[Stinkbait]

I like it....

Question for you? Did you have to be that worried about the bed fishing guys with the moon and the higher temps.? Even with the weather kicking some fish into spawn mode, wouldn't the males have to get established beds first before the toad females come in shallow? Meaning the bed fisherman would have mostly males caught and the weights generally being lighter.

Trying to learn something here and thinking aloud. Thanks.

[Stormcrow]

Wow man 2 in a row!! Good Job! I wish I had the time to study during the week like you do. It is really paying off!

[inlandghia]

Hey congrats again Pete!!!!

[Pete Marino]

Stinkbait... I really thought Id be okay and didn't think it would hurt me because there hadn't been any beds prior to the heat spell we had last week. BUT, With the heat we had and the moon phase It started to worry me some.
It worried me because I knew I didn't want to abandon my game plan and it also worried me because the are some guys that fished in that event that are really good bedfisherman. I knew they would be on my patterns but if they sight fished they would be a factor.
Those fish must have went up on Monday and Tuesday and fanned out beds and the females must have come up Weds, Thursday and Friday to drop eggs..
Even when I heard of and saw some guys bed fishing I didn't think they would find enough big females to make a run at me..as it turned out I was right but the 2nd place guy had a 9.42 lb beast and he caught it on a bed as well as the rest of his limit so it was close. I got lucky that I won without bedfishing. If the tournament was next weekend Id definetly incorporate bedfishing to my gameplan for the day because more and more females will be moving up to drop eggs in the next 3-5 days... They will still be on the prespawn spots that I fish but they will also be on beds.

Pete

[Misfitdog]

Awesome job again and a big congratulations is in order to the both of you .

Is there a 3rd tourney coming up on the 22nd by chance ?

[Pete Marino]

There aren't any tournaments on Perris or DVL the weekend of the Feb. 22nd or 23rd that I know of.. That's an off weekend..

Thanks guys!!

Pete

[Fishbreath]

I'm thinking maybe the tournament directors should just have everyone else sign a disclaimer acknowledging that they are merely competing for second place.

[Pete Marino]

I wish that was the case Fishbreath...unfortunately wins are tough to come by because So. Cal. is full of great anglers that can win on any given day. Ive just been trying to stay consistant, fish hard and let the chips fall where they may..

Thank you!!

Pete