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Johnny Walker wins Lake Shasta National Guard Western Series stop #1 !

I'll start by saying I got a little wordy!!!!

Momentum is a wonderful attribute to success. Success, I was told by someone once is when preparedness meets opportunity. With all that fluff out of the way, I won the 2010 Lake Shasta FLW Western Series event!

My 2010 season started with a phone call assuring me that I would be fishing again this year after coming off a Top 10 finish at Clear Lake during the 09 season. By the way, I'm really not worthy to have such a great sponsorship like the National Guard and the fact that they stuck with me another year after me missing the FLW CUP by 2 spots and finishing 22nd overall was very good news! The tournament series this year has a free contingency program through Cabela’s, The Foremost Outfitter, and all you have to do is wear the appropriate Cabela’s emblem on your attire and register online for a chance at a $1000 gift certificate if you win… so I definitely signed up for that!

FLW finally published the schedule and I saw that stop one would be Lake Shasta in January. I think to myself Lake Shasta in the mountains and it’s got to be freezing! I began researching the lake and checking out every Google and Bing.com angle you could search on “Lake Shasta bass fishing in January” leading to a base knowledge of the lake and the knowledge that it’s really not that cold there. To me the most important finding from the internet search was that the Jan 2007 Stren series tournament was actually won on a Senko! I like throwing Senko’s so sounds interesting. The winner, whose name skips my mind for now, said he was working a Senko from like 20-40 feet on main lake points. When I read this I'm thinking to myself. "This guy was fishing super slowly to get a Senko all the way down to 40 feet". I thought he had to be using a nail or something to get the bait down there. I had fished a Senko with a nail in the head many times but usually in shallow water like Clear Lake and the Columbia River. I had never experimented with in water deeper than 12 feet. The internet also gave me another tidbit of joy in finding that the fish on Shasta like Tubes! Which has been called my "GO TO" a few times and I can usually throw it in a mud puddle and catch a bass. the Senko/ Nail rig and Tube combination that I used to Top 10 Clear Lake was back in action in my mind. (Confidence is high at this point)

I call up my travel partner / mentor... (Ron Hobbs Jr.) and started discussing it with him and he informed me that yes indeed it was a nail weight getting the bait down to the 40 foot range but a much heavier one called the "Neko" rig. He had used it before in the range of 1/4- 5-16 ounce weight but I couldn't really grasp how he was implementing it. I knew the fish in Shasta were schooled up during that time of year from my internet searches and thought that maybe the fish would be attacking the fast moving Senko on its way to the bottom in a sort of reaction bite or something. Either way he said that's what's going to get the big bite so I was willing to see it in action and try it out myself. We discussed his pre-fish before the Cut-off and he assured me my plan on throwing a tube would be effective but that the Neko rig would be key to victory… all was coming together in my mind about what to bring. I went out a few times around home on my 2003 Ranger 520, which does qualify me for $1500 Ranger Cup contingency money, and started figuring out which rods and reels I would take. Didn't really have any luck around here but just throwing the rigs and learning the feel of heavy Senko rig to me is half the battle.

Next step is the tackle store. Tackle is usually an expensive situation but I ended up spending around 200.00 total with most being Neko nail weights and some jig heads I bought to break the hook off because I would probably run out of the Neko rigs. I did buy a few Swim baits also but mainly I focused on the Neko rigs and Tube Jigs I always get Bob at Angler's marine to pour for me for my little go to green pumpkin tubes!

So I'm off to the tournament, Ron Hobbs Jr., Kelly Kellogg from Kelso and I will be following each other down to Shasta on Saturday morning and rooming together for the first few days because my rooming arrangements fell out at the last minute. I usually ride with Ron but he had a wedding to get back to on Saturday and I have sponsorship requirements on the Saturdays so... sucky ride down for all! Little things like having friends around are crucial in winning. Just think if my room had fallen out and I had to sleep in the truck or worse had to pay an expensive hotel bill all by myself. That would have added additional stress to the situation possibly leading to me unable to concentrate on the mission... Winning! I meet Ron Jr. down in Kelso at the link up point. Talking on the phone most of the way down and discussing techniques and the finer details of what it will take to win down at Shasta. You can't really imagine how much you learn from talking with other angler's about fishing and especially talking with professionals like Ron. I arrive at the link up point before Ron and start talking with Kelly who has become a good friend over the last few tournaments as we have roomed and camped for the last 3 tourneys together. Friends are easy to come by in the bass fishing society and most guys I have met have been genuinely good people.

We ended up staying in a luxurious Motel 8 or something like that and with 3 anglers’s with tons of gear packed into a 200 sf motel room. It’s pretty tight and stinky,” that’s what she said”, that’s a funny joke…, after a night of tacos an beer... especially for the guy sleeping on the floor in the middle of Kelly and Ron’s beds.

Ron and I head out the next morning to the lake for day one of the pre-fish. On the way to the Lake Ron told me this is going to be “Johnny Walker tournament” as he felt it would suit my style... I guess he called it! As usual Ron starts giving me crap because he's catching tons of fish and I'm still trying to figure it out. He got a heavy Neko rig he's working around 30'-45' deep. I'm throwing drop shots, jigs, tubes, jerk baits and nothing... not even a bite. It's usually my game plan during pre-fish to throw something different than Ron because it's important come tournament time to be doing something a little different than what your pro is doing. After a few hours of getting my butt handed to me and all I have to show for myself is a smallie and a mean-mouth bass, both being around 1.2 pounds, but everyone knows your not going to win a tournament on Lake Shasta with Smallies or Mean-mouths. So I give in a start using a heavy Neko rig and completely concentrate on keeping my bait in the water directed at the back of the boat as I would in a tournament and get my first spotted bass. Not a huge one but it's always good to break the ice on a new technique. After a while I start catching fish more regularly but my learning curve is always sped up because I take advantage of fishing behind Ron and taking plenty of mental notes. I also try to figure out how to best suite the technique to my fishing style. I think the biggest learning curve on my part was when Ron started telling me that he seen a fish on his graph and he would cast down to the fish and a sure enough he would catch it. Once he said that I started looking at the graph more a started calling my shots also. Eventually because I had my own graph at the console and had the better angle to keep my bait in the water no matter what Ron was doing with the boat I started sometimes catching more fish than him! For the majority of the day he caught way more fish than I. (Probably 5 to 1) The only problem I had of the day was once I started getting the bites I was missing fish. Ron had told me before that he was having the same issue but through process of elimination he found out the craziest of choices for hooks ended up being the best. Believe it or not a straight shank Gamakatsu 1/0 worm hook… sounds funny but the traditional Senko hooks everyone uses wouldn’t penetrate the spotted basses mouths at 40 feet deep all the time. The fish at Shasta have the hardest mouths I’ve ever experienced and Ron figured out that a lighter wire hook with a longer shank was necessary to properly get the hook set into the upper jaw of the fish. After I switched over to the straight shank hook I would literally have to dig the hook out of the upper jaw of the spots with pliers. The rig looked pretty stupid with a straight shank but it worked so who’s going to argue.

So we get off the water and get some chow and set around doing the usual re-tie procedures and start focusing on the next day. At this point I’m completely sold on the Neko rig and think it’ll be what I use most of the time during the tournament. I tied up 3 rods rigged up with Neko rigs, 1 swim bait rod and can’t leave the tube at home so I’m done for the night with 5 rods selected.

Day two we get out on the water and it’s pretty much the same as yesterday with Ron putting on a show for me but I’m getting the hang of it. I ended up breaking both my spinning rods Nekos off in the rocks but I was was fishing 6lb Seaguar Fluorocarbon line which is strong but not suited for the presentation in my opinion. I decide to start casting out my bait caster set-up with the heavier 5/16 weighted Neko rig and I realized it felt great. The rod I was using was a MH action Fast Action Diawa rod I’ve had for years for throwing lighter jigs and heavier tubes. I had 12 lb Seaguar fluorocarbon on the set-up and due to the reservoir being more on the clear side I figured I’d be wasting my time. Turns out what I actually did was allowed myself to feel the bottom, rocks, sticks, depth and bites all 10 times better! Plus I was getting the bites meaning these fish are not line shy at least up to 12lb Seaguar line so I start horsing one fish after another into the boat with no net and no worries about snapping the line. In my mind the faster I can get the fish in the boat the better because that allows me to get the fish in the live well and the bait back in the water in minimum time. Many times as a co-angler I’ve been in the back worrying about the fish coming off or line breaking due to lack of ability to position the boat for landing the fish. I’m telling you what the ability to get a solid hook set and have strong enough line to man handle the fish even when you are out of position build confidence. I’m ready for the tournament at this time. Ron makes a stop by his honey hole were he had some luck during his prior visit and caught on average the bigger fish for the lake. With that said we made really 2 casts and had a double hook up leading to him a 4.5lb and me a 6lber. Ron said “we need to go” and I agreed because either one of those fish are tournament winners combined with four 1.5 to 2 lbers on Lake Shasta. I apologize to Ron for catching that big fish on his spot but he’s always bad about not telling me to set the hook so no harm no foul on either of us. He was excited that I caught my biggest spotted bass out of his boat as every time I fish with him I break a personal best of some fashion. So far they include an 8.8lb Large Mouth at the Delta, 6lb Spot at Shasta, deepest bass 70’ at Shasta and heaviest bag of 17.5lbs at Clear Lake all during pre-fishes. He’s good teacher I guess! We head back to the motel and I tie up all my rods for the tournament and plan on taking them out tomorrow for the half day pre-fish before registration to get the kinks out.

Day 3 we sleep in because it’s raining but once on the water the fish are biting as usual. We spend some time fun fishing in some areas Ron wouldn’t be fishing during the tournament and we set the hook on probably 30 fish for our boat before one o’clock. I had all the rods in the water for a little while and made sure my line was straight. At this time I’m so confident it’s crazy. If I saw a fish on the graph there was a 85% chance I could catch it, I knew the bait worked, I could use heavy line, bait caster reels and I had successively caught well over 45 fish in the past 3 days on the Neko rig giving me the confidence to throw it the entire day no matter where I was on the lake.

Registration is going on at 4:30 PM so we got off the water and I switch hotels because my room is now available, I get cleaned up and looking good before heading down to the registration. Registration is where all anglers go to sign in for the tournament and they find out who there partners will be for the next day. I’m fresh and feeling confident, walk into the registration room and step up to the counter for step one in the process, which is signing in on the roster of registered anglers, and my names not on the list which is confusing because I’m a sponsor slot co-angler and I’m guaranteed to fish. This turns into a stressful 30 minutes waiting on the FLW outdoors folks to figure out how or if they could fix it. I’m patient but worried and think to myself that it’s my luck to be the most confident I’ve ever been at a tournament and not get to fish. it turns out there was a typo and I’m in! I walk over to where Ron and Kelly are sitting and tell them the good news and all is well. We’re setting there watching the FLW Clear Lake tournament on the big screen and I see my name in the Top 10 list from last year and say look, “I’m finally on TV!” While sitting there I jokingly mention to Kelly that I bet him 10:1 odds I draw Ron for Day one because the odds were almost impossible seeming I drew Kelly day one of Clear Lake at the last tournament and the fact that we all travel together would make it even rarer. 30 minutes later Chris Hoover is calling the partners for the next day and I draw Ron. We are stunned! It’s bad news for us in our books even though we are friends. It’s just a bad situation because we both want to do well but Ron has a winning spot and I really don’t want to hurt his chances at a win by catching up some of his fish when they need to last him 3 -4 days possibly. Ron and I talk about it later and I assure Ron I will not cast out towards his honey hole because that’s just an unfair advantage on my part and I was confident I could catch them casting somewhere else. I told Ron I would treat him with the same, if not more, respect than I would show any other angler I drew in a tournament. He said he’s just going to cut off the graph to limit my ability from the back and I agree that’s probably a good idea. There’s not much conversation after that besides the usual jabber and back and forth type mockery of each other like always. I tell Ron I’ll meet him at his room in the morning and I’ll bring some drinks and snacks.

We link up and get the boat in the water, wait for our number and speed down full throttle to the winning spot… and one of the worse things that could possibly happen upon our arrival happened. Another angler is setting on Ron’s spot or in close vicinity anyway. We pull up and Ron gets a quick limit as usual and I’m a little nervous so I’m jumping the gun a tad and missing a few fish. Finally the energy drink infused shakes and anticipation of getting my first fish in the boat is put to rest with a decent fish. It was a overcast day so I had just switched over to a all black 5” Senko with a brown ¼ ounce jig head inserted into the head which I labeled the “Poopy Rig” cause it looks like a black Senko pooping and brown ball… it’s stupid looking cause I didn’t even break off the eye of the jig head just the hook. Once I caught the 1st bass I continued to catch them for many hours and eventually after landing a 3.8 Ron told me I probably had over 10 lbs. I felt very comfortable with that weight and decided I wouldn’t beat up Ron’s fish anymore and I would go for a bigger bite by moving up to a 6 inch Black and Blue Senko and 5/16 head. I believe my first cast with the 6” Senko landed me another 3.5 bringing my total to 11.13 lbs! It was about 1:30 at that time and we had another hour and a half to go so I started chunking a Osprey swim bait around just for the heck of it because I was really feeling bad about catching so many of Ron’s fish but I literally was catching them up under the big motor and being very respectful to his honey hole! About my tenth cast with the Osprey I hook up and yell “FISH!!!” I don’t have the best vision and was so excited I didn’t realize that it was big Trout that smashed my swim bait until 20 feet from the boat. It definitely had my heart pounding though! It was just my day I guess. Ron did have over 10 lbs for himself and did finish the day in the Top 10 so I didn’t feel that bad. There is some luck involved with my strategy of not using a graph, keeping the bait in the water at all times and making casts last 20-30 minutes sometimes. Ron asked me one time during the day “Do you ever cast?” I was definitely soaking the rig and jigging it in place for up to an half an hour sometimes. Most the time I reeled in was either to land a fish or to reposition because Ron was turning the boat 180 degrees. It’s pretty easy to keep your bait in position when you don’t have to worry about maneuvering the boat. I definitely had a bit of luck running my way with being so comfortable with my day one partner but I had also put in the research, donated my time for practice and worked hard at learning a new technique so I felt I earned it. I finished the day with a 1.12lb lead and was ready for the next day.

Next day I drew a local guy, Craig, who basically was fishing main lake like Ron but spent some time fishing bridge piling and left me out in the middle of no where for a little bit. He would let me know when we were heading back to the bridge so I would utilize this time to re-tie or eat an energy bar. The weather conditions had changed and the skies were clear with little wind. I caught a five fish limit early on darker color Senko’s but once the sun came out and the water cleared up I didn’t get a bite for hours. I had a few fish that drastically needed to be culled out. I finally realized I should switch to a lighter color and started throwing a natural shad 5” colored Senko and immediately started getting the better bites again. I ended up culling 3 of my original 5 fish for a total of 8.8lbs which was enough to keep me in the lead but by only 12 ounces.

Day 3, the morning as I’m waiting on the dock for my pro all my friends and associates are telling me good luck and good job. Charlie Evans had told me at dinner the night before “Do it one more day” and I’m thinking to myself I think I can do it but if it doesn’t happen it was still a great experience. (I’m confident though) I’m on the water with another pro name Tommy Cardoza who is guide on Clear Lake and one of the coolest guys I’ve had the pleasure of fishing with. He was out of check range unless something major happened like him catching a couple of 4 or 5’s so he through a swim bait a good amount of time that day. Swim baits are usually fished pretty slow so it give the Neko plenty of time to get to the bottom and the movement of the boat gives the bait the perfect erratic action on the bottom just by dragging it like a jig and feeding line as necessary. He split his time between swim bait and a jig. I didn’t have a fish in the boat until 10:30 so I was really nervous. He had a limit pretty early on his jig but mostly smaller fish. Around 10:00 my worm started getting bites but I missed 4-5 bites in 30 minutes. Tommy told me he had some jigs if I wanted but I said I’m sticking with the program because I want to win by pounds not ounces. Turned out to be a wise decision cause at the next spot I checked the graph out as he was trolling along throwing the swim bait and I saw 2 good size fish about 42’ down. I quickly toss out my Neko rig and feed line to get it down quickly enough. I feel the bottom, I jig it twice and the rod loads up and I set the hook like it was a great white on the other end! I land the fish so quickly it’s skimming across the top of the water and I throw the 2.5lber in the live well and cast back immediately to the same spot I had noticed the fish on the graph. Almost simultaneously as the worm hit the bottom the other fish grabbed the worm and I landed another 2.3lber on back to back casts! I’m thinking at this time I’ve got just shy of 5 lbs and I need a limit to sure the deal. Once again the sun comes up and the dark colors stop working. I noted this from the day before and switched to a lighter color but still no bites. I’m so confused but I start to notice that I haven’t fished these areas or this type structure before during my event so far and the pro was catching plenty of small fish so there had to be a way for me to catch them on the Neko rig. I noticed the pro was throwing a 221 Hula Grub and I had heard that color worked at Shasta for fish feeding on crawfish. I luckily had some 221 Senko’s in my tackle and switched. The first cast with the new cinnamon colored Senko I landed a 2.1 and within 30 minutes I finish out my limit. One of the fish was probably .5lbs so I needed to cull that one to seal the deal in my book. I stick with it and end up culling 2 more fish for a total of 8.10 for the day!

My 8.10 plus the 12 ounce lead from the day before made my bag actually over nine pounds and I felt I had given the tournament my best and if I didn’t win I would still praise God for the experience! I tell you setting in line and getting all the text messages from my better half Jessica, my family, the Evergreen Bass club members and all the soldiers I work with on a daily basis in the National Guard made the experience that much better. I’m waiting in the audience watching the angler’s come in with their bags for the day and I see that everyone who realistically had a chance for catching me had already weighed in. Jessica, minutes later tells me on the cell phone that the closest person would need 17.8 to catch me! Judging by the weights of the week, that’s almost impossible. Ron and Kelly stuck around for the final results and the trophy presentation like true friends do and I ended up winning by over 2 pounds. A wire to wire finish!

I believe that to be successful you have to set yourself up for success by having the best religiously, physically, socially and financially. All this possible through God and my supportive Jessica, my family, my travel partner, my career, my sponsors and the National Guard giving me this great opportunity. All that combined means I have the best of all! Jessica and I have a Johnny Walker Jr. due on March 24th for a 3rd child so this win couldn’t have come at a better time! Thanks to all… and anyone need a boat????

Special Thanks to-
Jessica, D-Man for the reel, my lovely daughter Olivia Jane for being beautiful, Brother Tim my spiritual advisor, My family, Ron Hobbs Jr., Kelly Kellogg from Kelso, B-Mac with Docupak, Robert and Ellen, The Army National Guard, Sniper Lures, Panic Minnow and Angler’s Marine for keeping my boat running at a reasonable price!

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Comment by Johnny Walker on January 28, 2010 at 8:44am
We'll see when I get down to pre-pre-fish Lake Mead on what the future holds! Never been there before but from what I hear it should be a good one. I'll give an update on the pre-pre-fish in a few months. I'm most likely heading down with a buddy for 3-4 days in April .
Comment by Steve Hastings on January 27, 2010 at 11:00pm
Johnny,

Congrats!..again... on your win, and on the coming new member of your tribe. I'll expect as thorough a play by play of his birth.....LOL!! Anyway, thanks for the details, yes I read every word, truly wish others would take your lead and share their stories. For those of us that fish tournaments, this kinda stuff is not only informative, but also inspiring. Keep up the excellent work and just know you've set the bar higher.... what should we expect next?.... consistency is king.
All the best buddy,

Steve
Comment by Jake Anderson on January 24, 2010 at 6:39pm
Very cool post. I feel like I was there! Congratulations on an incredible accomplishment.
Comment by Johnny Walker on January 23, 2010 at 8:49pm
That's a big spot! Good times Ron!
Comment by Ronald Hobbs, Jr. on January 23, 2010 at 4:25pm
Johnny's P.B. Spot in practice at Lake Shasta
Comment by Ronald Hobbs, Jr. on January 23, 2010 at 4:23pm

Comment by Shawn O'Connell on January 22, 2010 at 7:57pm
Great job and thanks for the info.
Comment by David Watkins on January 22, 2010 at 4:08pm
Hey Johnny, just wanted to say congratulations man and great write up! I watched the FLW Live broadcasts every day to see you, Ron and Kelly weigh in! It was clear from hearing you talk on stage, that you are a class act all the way! Good luck on the next one!
Comment by Johnny Walker on January 22, 2010 at 8:04am
You know Ron... "Top Water fishing is the most exciting technique ever!" That's funny! I think I have some typos and such in the article but I'll look over it again and contact them about it. Thanks for suggestion. I know we had talked in the past about it and I have been contemplating it.
Comment by Kelly Kellogg on January 22, 2010 at 8:04am
Great read, You had a great tourney, I bet your at the top of the leaderboard often this year.. If these results keep up The student may become the teacher.. I had a great week with you and Ron, look forward to the next derby.

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