As predicted, smallmouth bass are the key to the Green Bay Challenge and Dean Rojas has pulled into the lead. The largest smallie of the day was a 5 lb 10oz pig.
Smallmouths rule Green Bay Challenge
Four-time Bassmaster tournament winner Dean Rojas has taken the lead at the Bassmaster Elite Series Green Bay Challenge. Rojas, who was in second place coming into today’s round, added a limit of five bass weighing 17 pounds, 14 ounces to his tally, for a total of 37-12. First round leader Aaron Martens caught 16-15 today and trails Rojas by 13 ounces.
Rojas is rotating between three different soft plastic baits for his catch, including a lure from Big Bite Baits and a couple of custom hand pours. His drop shot weight is 3/8-ounce. Beyond that, he doesn’t want to elaborate on his methods until the tournament is over. Source
Interestingly, as big as the lake boundaries are, most of the fishing is taking palce in a very narrow section.
“Everyone’s basically fishing in the same area,” Martens said, describing a 3 or 4 mile stretch of Lake Michigan on the west side of the lake, not far from Sand Bay. “I’m concerned that all the fishing pressure might affect the bite and make things tough tomorrow.”
David Walker, currently sixth with 17-13, estimated that there were as many 80 boats in a 3-mile section of the lake. “In places, the boats are just 50 feet apart.” Source
We’ll see if the leaders can keep up the pace or if the Green Bay weather will change and cause these pros to innovate and find new patterns to win big in Green Bay. The thing we can see so far is that smallmouths Rule Green Bay challenge
