Elias's Falcon Win Sets Elite Record, Triton Anglers Dominate The Standings.
Posted:
4/7/2008
ZAPATA, Texas — Triton Pros topped the field this weekend placing in first thru fourth place. Falcon Lake was full of big surprises this week, but maybe none bigger than Triton Pro Paul Elias jumping from fifth place Sunday to win the Bassmaster Elite Series Lone Star Shootout presented by Longhorn. And the fact that Elias edged Triton Pro Terry Scroggins by a mere 4 ounces to win the $100,000 title made this event even more of an eye-opener. Scroggins entered the day in the 12th and final spot among Sunday's finalists — 21 pounds, 8 ounces behind Day Three leader Triton Pro Aaron Martens.
In a tournament that established Falcon Lake as "the best bass fishing lake in the world," according to several Elite Series pros, all 12 anglers Sunday went over the 100-pound mark and entered the BASS "century club."
Six of them broke the previous BASS four-day, five-bass limit record of 122-14, set by Steve Kennedy at California's Clear Lake on April 1, 2007. Elias now owns the mark at 132-8, averaging almost 7 pounds for the 20 bass he brought to the scales over four days.
"I had the best day on the water that I've had in 32 years of tournament fishing," said the 56-year-old, Laurel, Miss., resident.
Elias knew it would take something like that to overcome Aaron Martens, Mark Davis and Triton Pro Byron Velvick, who had been among the tournament leaders the previous three days. Martens had led all three days. He started Sunday with a 7-7 advantage over Davis, 7-12 over Velvick and 14-11 over Elias.
"I knew Aaron would have to have a train wreck, and Mark would have to really drop off," Elias said. "I thought I would have to catch 40-plus pounds to win. It was just one of those days."
Martens did have a train wreck — bagging only 19-15 Sunday, after starting this event Thursday with the second-biggest five-bass limit in BASS history of 42 pounds. Davis did drop off, finishing with 26-14, the first day he hadn't sacked at least 30 pounds this week.
Elias' total of 37-11 was actually his second-best bag of the week. He jumped into contention Friday with 39-1. But it was the way he did it Sunday that made it so special.
"I started with a little ol' 20-, 22-pound limit," he said. "I kept pecking away and pecking away. I knew I wasn't getting there. I left and didn't stay gone 30 minutes. Something told me to go back there. "When I was coming back, I decided to get up on top of that point and start throwing out. They were right in the same place they've always been (this week). They just weren't going to take it coming down the point. They wanted it coming up.
"I culled everything I had except one fish, and I might have culled it, too. Everything from then on was 7 or 8 pounds. I think I caught them in an hour-and-a-half."
Elias, who is known as a deep-structure, crankbaiting specialist, used Mann's 20 Plus and Luhr Jensen Hot Lips crankbaits, then at times slowed down by dragging a Carolina-rigged Mann's 12-inch Jelly Worm (watermelon red) and a one-ounce sinker up the point.
"I caught two real quick on a Mann's 20 Plus," Elias said. "Probably the biggest fish I had was the first one."
Of the five bass he weighed, Elias said three came on crankbaits and two on the Carolina-rigged worms.
The Mann's 20 Plus he used was an old, bright chartreuse color pattern known as Ol' Homer.
"People hardly throw it anymore," he said. "Something told me to tie it on this morning. That "something" was talking to Elias all week.
For a lake like Falcon, which covers more than 80,000 acres at full pool, it sure did fish small this week. Martens and Velvick occupied first and second place in the standings after two days. Velvick's bag of 41-11 Friday was the third-best, at that time, in BASS history.
But after Martens, Velvick and their co-anglers weighed-in 266 pounds from that spot in two days, it began petering out Saturday. Martens decided to start on another section of Tiger Creek Sunday morning, and Velvick went back to the sweet spot. Velvick stayed there all day and brought in another 30-plus-pound bag that kept him in third place for the tournament. With a total of 131-15, he finished less than a pound behind Elias.
Aaron Martens' Day Four weight: 19-15; total weight 129-7.
"I'll get over it. He was trying to win, too. But it was a lot easier for me to win it. I told him that today on the water. If I was in that position, I would have given him a little more room.
"I should have stayed there. I should have thrown some elbows, too. It was my fault. My wife is going to kick my ass for it, too."
And there has been only one example in BASS history of anyone catching more than Scroggins' 44-4 Sunday. That occurred on Jan. 17, 2001, at Florida's Lake Toho when Dean Rojas set the single-day, five-bass record of 45-2.
"Twenty minutes before I came in, I lost one that was 10 or 11 pounds," said Scroggins, who is from Palatka, Fla. "I would have shattered the record if I'd caught that one."
And that's about the only BASS record that remains unshattered after four days on Falcon Lake.
