How Jacob Foutz slammed the door at the Arkansas River

Jacob got his first blue trophy with a door-slammin’ 7-lb margin. Pretty dang stout considering the next 6 guys were all within 1 lb of each other. How did this former college “stah” git er done – that good? Here we go.

Going in and practice

> “…it’s one of the events you kinda circle at the beginning of the year – river systems can be very volatile…you never know what you’re gonna get. …circle it and hope to have a top 50 and get out of there with some points – and try to avoid a bomb at all costs.

> “Practice was pretty tough for me. I didn’t catch ’em that good. I didn’t know what I was around, and I didn’t have high expectations going into the event.

> “I had a couple areas where I had some bites. The area I ended up catching my fish out of, I fished through there late the 2nd evening of practice. I had taken my hooks off at that point. I had 6-7 bites and never did see any of them. I didn’t really know if they were big ones or not.

> “It kinda felt like a big one when it hit, but you never know.

> “I figured, If I don’t see anyone turn off in there out of the lock [down to pool 15], I’ll whip in there to see if I get a few bites to get the day rolling.

> “It was just a river that flows into the main AR River – the IL River. It’s got really clear water in it, like gin clear. One creek I was fishing [in it] had a little color, but it was still clearer than everywhere else.

> “What ended up being the most important factor is it had much cooler water – 5-10 degrees cooler than anywhere else I found. That put the fish behind. Most of the [other guys’] fish were spawn/post-spawn, and most of my fish were pre-spawn/spawn [and thus heavier]. And those fish were coming to me rather than leaving me.

> “…a lot of stumps, rock and gravel. That was the 3 main deals. Just one of them seemed to hold fish. You didn’t have to be on 2 or all of them together. Most fish were in 2-4′ of water.”

Tournament

> “Day 1 I went in there and had about 13 lbs in like 25-30 minutes. I felt like I got off to a pretty good start.

> “I actually left and went and checked some other areas down the river. I did catch one 4.5-lber down there and fished in those area pretty quick.

> “I had a little time to kill before I locked back through so I went in the creek I started in and caught another one. And all of a sudden I saw pairs of fish spawning…they hadn’t been there that morning.

> “It hit me – these fish are coming in here to spawn. They haven’t spawned yet. …I’ll spend a little more time in here day 2…stand on this a little bit.

> “Day 2 I started in the same [creek] and caught a 4.5, a 3.5 and another one close to 3…my first pass through. [He went] back through and caught another 3 and a 2.25. I knew I’d made the cut and I was in a pretty good spot.

> “I had 3 hours before I had to lock through at that point…need to see if I can find another area where the same thing’s happening. I’d looked on Google Earth and saw a little backwater pond and some places out of the current that looked like they had a little depth to them.

> “…fishing around…seen a couple good ones…I couldn’t get them to bite. I looked on the point of this island and saw a big one up there spawning. I ended up catching her, a 6-02. That got me to a little more than I had the day prior….

> “I could see a pond back in this little gap…. [He got in it and] was fishing down the bank. I didn’t have any bites. I turned on Perspective Mode on LiveScope, panned out to the middle and saw one sitting on a bed…can use some of those tomorrow. I just kinda saved it.

> “When I put my Poles down I could hear it was straight gravel. So they were probably out there spawning in the middle. It was only 2-3′ deep.

> “Day 3 was the same deal. I started in the same area, and caught a 3 pretty quickly – a 3.5 and a couple 2-lbers. But I didn’t spend nearly as much time in there that morning. I wanted to get to that pond and…see what lives in there.”

He caught a dink and whiffed on a fish, then:

> “…20 yards [out from his boat he saw] 3 big dots sitting there. There were a bunch of carp, gar, bluegill and shad all swimming around so it was hard to pick out what was bass and what wasn’t. But they were just sitting there.

> “I made a little flip out in front of the boat and they all moved. I caught a 5-02 and a 4-lber…. The one left looked just as big as the others. It took me 10 minutes to catch it – I caught 13 lbs of bass in 10 minutes off the same bed.”

He culled his smallest fish up about 1 lb and then called it a day.

> “Day 4 I had a 6-09 lead. That’s a pretty substantial lead, especially on the AR River. There’s big ones there, but it’s hard to catch more than 17-18 lbs. But I knew I needed to catch them really good…someone will catch 20 lbs and come from behind and make a run at it.

> “I was getting the suspicion I was running out of fish a little bit. It was a really cool night Fri and Sat nights, which slowed what was happening down a little bit.”

He started in his creek and caught two 2s, then headed to the pond where he had at least 4-5 fish marked. Nothing really going on, so he went back in the creek and caught a couple more. He had about 10.5 lbs and figured that could be enough – but maybe not.

> “…if I can catch 1 big one, it should put the nail in the coffin. I felt like I needed to go back to that pond. With 40 minutes left to fish, I went for a big female I [had seen] on Perspective on the bed…it wasn’t there.

> “I was trolling out of the pond, looking as I was going, and I could see 3 logs on a really hard spot sitting out there. I didn’t see anything…I’ll just throw out there anyway. One picked up on it, the line eased off to the right…came back with no pinchers. I figured it was a gar.

> “I rigged up a new Bug, flipped in there again… I’m working it and I get literally to my trolling motor [and] thunk. I thought, There’s no way a bass bit that that close to the trolling motor. So I gave it a halfway hookset and it shot right out of the water – a 6-lber. I flipped it in the boat and figured that was the one that would seal it for sure.”

Baits

> “I caught everything on a Magdraft and flipping. I was just throwing the Magdraft around and flipping the Bug when I saw one with my eyes or on Perspective.”

> 6″ Megabass Magdraft swimbait (white back shad – “that’s my favorite color”) with a #1 Owner Stinger Treble, 20-lb P-Line Tactical Fluoro, 7.1 reel, 7′ 3″ H Fin X Foutz Signature Series Rod.

> Why he likes the Magdraft: “It seems like especially in clearer water they like to bite it, especially around the spawn. It also acts as a search bait. It has a lot of drawing power. If they’re spawning, they’ll rise off the bed and follow it. Then I’ll flip in there…”

> 4″ Burtek Crankin Bug (moonbeam), 5/0 Owner Jungle Flipping Hook, 3/8-oz tungsten weight, same rod/reel/line.

Electronics

He used Garmin LiveScope:

> “With that big NBT screen you’re able to pick out fish spawning on the bottom so much easier with the increased detail you get. Especially with a hard bottom. That gravel has a bright return and the fish do as well. They kind of blend together a little bit…a whole lot more easier with a big screen like that.

> “Power-Poles were a major factor as far as being able to move around quietly and not get blown all over the place.”

Shoutouts

> “All my sponsors are important and they all play a part. I’m certainly appreciative of everybody that believes in me and backs me.”