Pace seventh in Elite Series event at Georgia’s West Point Lake
Three hours after matching his highest finish ever in a B.A.S.S. Elite Series event on Sunday (May 5), Pete Ponds was already in his camper in Alabama at the site of this week’s tournament.
“I’m studying maps of the Alabama River right now,” said Ponds, of Madison, Miss. “The first day of practice is tomorrow and…”
Though he’d had little time to ponder what had just happened — a third-place finish after briefly having the lead Sunday at West Point Lake in LaGrange, Ga. — you could hear the dejection in his voice.
He was clearly tired, too, evidenced by his failure to end sentences.
“I had a good tournament, and it felt great to be in contention again in the final round,” said Ponds who started the day in second place. “But I am extremely disappointed, too. I thought I had a good chance to win today. I had a good day. It just didn’t …”
Mississippi had another angler in the final round, 2013 Bassmaster Classic champion Cliff Pace. He finished seventh, called it a “little disappointing” after being in third after the first day, but sounded confident in saying “I am ready for the Alabama River.”
Ponds obviously felt worse, even though he clearly didn’t lose the West Point Battle, despite the B.A.S.S. tournament tracker showing him in the lead halfway through the final day.
Skeet Reese simply won it with a late run in the final few hours, taking 15 pounds, 4 ounces to the stage. It was the day’s biggest sack, fourth largest of the week, and it pushed the Californian from seventh to the championship with a four-day total of 46 pounds, 6 ounces.
He started the day 2 pounds, 7 ounces behind third-day leader Tommy Biffle, and knew he still had a chance in a really close event.
Said Reese: “I saw how tight the top 12 were, and I realized it was one of those tournaments wide open for any of the 12 to win. I thought 15 or 16 pounds would wind up winning it. Fortunately, I was the one who caught 15 pounds.”
If anyone hinted at having lost the tournament, it was Aaron Martens of Leeds, Ala., who broke off a 5-pounder late on Sunday after losing two 3-pounders earlier in the day. He said the big fish would have allowed him to cull and given him a chance to beat Reese. Martens caught 11-12 Sunday and finished second two pounds back at 44-6.
“You have to have a flawless event to win one of these, and Skeet did,” Martens said.
Ponds, who caught 11-1 Sunday and finished five ounces behind Martens at 44-1, didn’t make many mistakes, at least none he could remember. He was consistent and his worst day was Thursday’s opening round, when he managed 8-11 and was 24th. But he was satisfied with that, considering the draw left him the last boat out and eliminated his No. 1 fishing spot.
“In practice, I was fishing back in this pocket and I heard some water running,” Ponds said. “I checked it out and found a drain, a small waterfall back there and I knew it would hold fish. It was early in practice and I knew it was likely that somebody else would find it. So I fished it pretty hard that day and hoped I caught enough fish that anyone who did find it wouldn’t catch much and not put a lot of stock in it.
“I hung a brand new Bandit crankbait on a limb right there by the fall and knew that if anybody came along and fished the spot they’d take the lure and I’d know it. Next time I went, it was gone.”
Still, Ponds had hopes the spot would produce for him during the tournament, but he quickly found out it wouldn’t be on Day 1.
“When I drew out boat 100, I knew whoever had found it was going to the waterfall so I didn’t bother going,” Ponds said. “I went and got a limit of spots and then I went to another pocket, threw a Pop-R and scratched out a limit at 8-11, getting a bite about every hour and a half.
“Next day, I was Boat 1, so I went straight to the waterfall and caught a four-pounder right away. It was funny; it was real tight in there and I got my rod tip caught in some tree limbs and I had to reel that big fish in by hand. I ended up catching a couple more and then filled out the limit with the Pop-R. It was slow again on topwater, getting one about every hour and 15 minutes or every 1½ hours.”
That second-day bag of 13 pounds moved Ponds to No. 10. He kept moving toward the top on Saturday, when he added 11-5 and found himself No. 2 and trailing only Biffle.
“Saturday, I started pretty high up the list and decided to go straight to the waterfall and I caught two more pretty quick,” Ponds said. “Then I did what everybody was doing and moved out and got a quick limit of spots, then culled with the Pop-R.”
Ponds was nine ounces behind Biffle overnight, but quickly made that up and had the on-the-water lead. Biffle caught only one fish Sunday and finished 10th.
“I caught two fish pretty quick, on the waterfall, and stayed four hours and caught four fish,” Ponds said. “I never went after spots to fill the limit. After the waterfall, I went back to the Pop-R and got the limit.”
But it was slow. The Pop-R was still only producing a bite about 90 minutes, but they were usually quality fish. Ponds went back to the waterfall for the last hour and culled one fish before going to the weigh in and learning his fate.
“I honestly don’t know what I’d change if I had it to do over again,” Ponds said. “I really don’t think I’d do anything different. I was very consistent and I got everything I could out of the bites I was getting. I’m satisfied with decisions I made.”
He pointed to three key decisions that produced his two productive patterns.
“One was at the waterfall,” he said. “I caught a striper and when I pulled him in he was spitting up threadfin shad all over. I looked at the shad and I matched them to a big willowleaf blade on a Talon spinnerbait in a shad pattern and that was what I caught all my keepers on at the waterfall.
“The other was the topwater pattern and the Pop-R. I think just about everybody was throwing topwater and throwing the newer and high-dollar lures. When I grabbed my box, the first lure I spotted was an old Pop-R that has been good for me, probably producing 200 or 300 fish. It doesn’t have much of the original paint on it. I had confidence in it so I replaced the hooks and it was good to me.”
The third decision also involved the topwater bite.
“I noticed everybody else was beating the banks for their topwater bites and I wasn’t catching any big fish doing that in practice,” he said. “I figured we were fishing for post-spawn fish and I figured the females would be further out. So I was fishing out from the bank catching most of my fish where everybody else was positioning their boats to throw at the banks. I got quality bites, maybe not in the quantity I would have liked.”
Putting the two patterns together, the waterfall and the ol’ Pop-R, Ponds was in a position for his first Elite win, and his second B.A.S.S. victory (2004 Southern Open on Lake Eufala).
A career grinder on the Elite Series, Ponds is having one of his best seasons. He has finished in the money in all four Elite series events this year and at the halfway point he ranks No. 13 in points.
“I’m 13th? I didn’t realize that, but I am glad to hear it,” he said. “I need to keep making good decisions and keep it going.”
Pace caught 9-2 Sunday and finished seventh with 38-10. It was his second straight No. 7 finish in an Elite, and he has finished in the money in three of four events. He is No. 10 on the yearly points list.
“I had that good first day, but after that I couldn’t find anything consistent,” he said.
Next up on the Elite Series is the Alabama River Charge starting Thursday at Montgomery, where Mississippi’s other Elite angler is hoping to jumpstart his disappointing season.
Paul Elias of Laurel has only one top 50 finish in the four events this year, but scored the biggest win of his storied career on the Alabama River at Montgomery. He won the 1982 Bassmaster Classic on those waters.
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