Interview with Gary Dobyns

PRO ANGLER'S INTERVIEW
Interview with Gary Dobyns (July/2002)

Gary Dobyns is a professional angler who participates on the tournament organizations, mainly based out of the West Coast of the U.S. Because he basically fish the tournaments out West, he is not well-known in the nation level fishing competition, yet he is certainly one of the top pros out there. As a matter of fact, he was qualified to B.A.S.S. Bassmasters Classic back in 1999.
Especially among the anglers of northern California, Dobyns is one of the most respected guys out there. He has a lot of experiences including B.A.S.S. tournaments, recently, he won the Don Pedro tournament of the WON BASS Northern Region tournament (June 6 to 8th). His strength does not show the sign which declines.
Now it's the turning era that many pros are trying to fish on larger nation level tournaments, such as Bassmaster Tour or FLW Tour, but Dobyns determines to stay out West. basswave.jp asked him the reasons why he does not participate the nation-wide tournaments, and the things he prefers to fish Western tournaments.
He just received the Angler of the Year title of WON BASS Northern Region, and he has also made 8 single wins on this organization. This interview will reveal a little bit of secrets.

basswave: Congratulations for winning WON BASS Northern Region tournament at Lake Don Pedro. We would like to have a comment of what sort of strategy you used in this particular tournament.
Gary Dobyns: I don't fish Lake Don Pedro very often. I only go there for tournaments because it's a long drive for me, and it's out in the middle of nowhere. I knew this would be a tough tournament and I was basically just looking to get a limit each day. I looked for areas that wouldn't be beat to death by other anglers, and found a subtle bank that didn't look spectacular but had plenty of baitfish. I figured since it didn't look like much I'd have it to myself. The baitfish were important, since the trout at Don Pedro eat the baitfish, and the bass eat them both. I decided I'd try to get a limit of good fish in the morning with rip baits, Lucky Craft Pointer 128, then round out the day worming a little deeper.

basswave: Japanese readers are not familiar with Don Pedro. Could you explain about this lake a little? The type of lake like a reservoir?, the size of the lake, water quality, average size of bass, nearest big city, etc.
Dobyns: Lake Don Pedro is a little over an hour away from Modesto, California and the nearest town is Oakdale, which is about a 45 minute drive. The lake has 160 miles of shoreline and covers over 13,000 acres at maximum pool. It has bass, trout, salmon, crappie, bluegills, and catfish, and gets a lot of boating traffic from fishermen, water skiers, houseboats, and sail boats. There are 550 campsites at the lake, and two full-service marinas. Don Pedro is a clear-water lake about 25-foot visibility near the dam, but it's fertile and full of fish. In the summer, the average bass runs about 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 pounds, but there are a lot of big fish in the lake, too. I won at Don Pedro with 23 pounds for ten fish. At other times of the year I've seen plenty of 10 to 12 pounders at Don Pedro.

basswave: Now, you won 8 winnings, which are a new WON BASS record. How do you feel about this?
Dobyns: I'm really happy about setting a new record for wins on the WON Bass circuit. I know that John Murray, who is a tremendously good fisherman, has seven wins, and it's just a matter of time until my record is broken. But I'm enjoying it while I can and I'd really like to break my own record.

basswave: And you also won the Angler of the Year title for 2002 on WON BASS Northern Region. Now I am looking at your result of this year. You finished in 3rd, 6th, 11th and 1st place. You kept good positions through the year; however, the types of lakes are very different in my opinion. A simple question but you might have been asked thousands times: How do you stay focused like this?
Dobyns: First of all, I love fishing and I love competition. I also enjoy fishing a variety of lakes. I wouldn't be happy fishing in the same place all the time. I fish natural lakes like Clear Lake, tidal waters like the Delta, and many reservoirs that have fluctuating water levels during the year. I believe that to do well you have to spend enough time on the water to feel confident. Pre-fishing keeps you in tune to what is going on at the lake: there are no short cuts. Most important is to think about the fish, not the other anglers. I always feel like I'm trying to beat the fish, not the other guys, so that keeps me from worrying about what they are doing. I just concentrate on fishing and don't worry about winning. Just beating the fish that day.

basswave: You are also fishing in Western Bass and look in good shape as well. It's not just lucky, but you must be a talented angler, too. So, What's the first thing you look for when fishing on tournaments?
Dobyns: I like to fish aggressively, so the first thing I look for is a shallow bite. I try to find fish that have moved up and are feeding. I start with topwater baits, rip baits, or spinnerbaits, and cover lots of water looking for active fish. A lot depends on the time of year and the forage on the lake. For example, in winter on Oroville I know I'll have to fish deep. The main forage on Oroville is pond smelt, and those baitfish just naturally like to stay deeper than threadfin shad. It pays off to know as much as you can about all the fish in a lake, not just the bass. I like to take the first day of pre-fishing and just fish all over. I'll fish shallow and deep, fast and slow, all over the lake, then narrow down my strategy based on what seems to work the best. I prefer to pre-fish for two days whenever possible. I decide on a main strategy, but I like to have a back-up plan in case things change. I like to have a shallow pattern going if at all possible, but I'm comfortable fishing really deep if I have to.

basswave: How is your injury? I heard you broke your ribs or something...
Dobyns: Last September I rode an ATV (all terrain vehicle) up a mountain and it rode me down. The ATV ended up on top, and I broke four ribs and injured my spleen. It actually put me off the water until November, but I'm all healed up now and feeling just fine.

basswave: You did not fish in B.A.S.S. Western Opens through season. How come?
Dobyns: My little ATV incident made me miss the first B.A.S.S. tournament, so that made it impossible for me to qualify for the Classic or even to do well in the points, so I basically skipped that circuit and concentrated on other major circuits.

basswave: The year you won a tournament on Shasta of Western Invitational, you were qualified for Bassmasters Classic, which is every angler's dream. What is your memory of the event?
Dobyns: Making the Classic is every fisherman's dream. Weighing in at the Super Dome with thousands of people cheering is something I'll never forget. Being at the Classic makes you feel like a super star, lines of people waiting for your autograph, press people taking photos, the whole thing is unbelievable. I liked the kid's day the best, and I got to meet some really nice people. The Classic is exhausting, but it was a lot of fun.

basswave: Now, that good ole B.A.S.S. walked away from West Coast and holds tournaments in Central, Northern, and Southern divisions. What is your opinion of this decision of B.A.S.S.? and will you miss Western Opens?
Dobyns: I think their leaving was a bad decision on their part. They weren't getting the participation they expected, so right away they started cutting our field. The other regions each sent 5 guys to the Classic, and we only got 4. And they all got 25 people qualified for the Top 150's, but we were only allowed 20. Out West, we're used to fishing pro-ams, and we asked BASS numerous times to change to a pro-am format, but they ignored us. I really feel that we westerners were treated unfairly by BASS, and I think it will hurt them if they try to come out here again. A lot of anglers were left with bad feelings.

basswave: What are the memorable winnings of your life so far?
Dobyns: The most special tournaments to me are the ones where I really didn't expect to do well, but ended up winning. My first West Coast Classic on the Delta in 1990 was one. I wasn't really a Delta fisherman back then, and my win was totally unexpected. Another one was the WON Bass Classic on the Delta in '99. That one was special because it was all topwater. I won it by fishing Snag Proof Frogs the whole time. It was really fun fishing and very exciting. The BASS Shasta tournament sticks out in my mind because it was such an up-and-down tournament. The weather threw a monkey wrench into things, and on the third day the leaders all came in with around five pounds. It was a real nail-biter, we didn't know who had won until the very end.
On Clear Lake in February of 1998 I made a huge last-minute decision that gave me the win. I was in the lead on the first day with 28 pounds. I fished Carolina rigs and split-shots on a rock pile all day long. The fish would move up and down, so I'd catch a fish or two, then catch nothing for a couple of hours. On the second day the fish just never moved up, and at 1:30 I had just one little dink in the livewell. I made this huge decision to make a complete change and I went clear to the other end of the lake and started throwing a rip bait. I got into a school of fish and ended up with 29 pounds. In five throws I caught two 4-pounders, a five, and a six and lost a six at the boat. Having a decision like that pay off really made that win special.
But the absolute best tournament memory I have is one that my son and I fished together when he was 13 years old. We both called for the net at the same time, a double hook-up. My son's fish jumped and we saw that it was a five pound smallmouth. My fish was just ripping line, so I netted his fish first, then chased mine down with the trolling motor. It was a 12-pound largemouth. We won that tournament, and whenever anyone asks me my favorite fishing memory, that's the incident that pops into my mind.

basswave: Why do you stay fishing out West except traveling to the Central or East? Is it too risky?
Dobyns: First of all, I really don't like to travel and be away from home and my family that much. There's plenty of good fishing out West, and the western circuits are as good as or better than the ones back east. I have so many good circuits to fish here, and I do so many promotions during the year that I'd have to give up a lot to fish back east. I feel like my way of fishing would work just as well there as it does here, but I really don't see any reason to go east.

basswave: Tell us about your family. Do they sometimes fish with you?
Dobyns: My wife, Kathy, doesn't fish at all. My daughter Miranda fishes with me a little bit. She's 22 now, and we fished more when she was smaller. My son, Richard, is an accomplished tournament fisherman in his own right. We used to fish tournaments together a lot when he was younger, but right now I'm trying not to help him out with his fishing because I want him to go to college. In many ways Richard is a better fisherman than I am. His mechanics are flawless and he figures out baits and patterns quicker than I do. He and I started fishing tournaments together when he was six years old, and we've won Angler of the Year a number of times in various team circuits.

basswave: In the recent fishing scene, anglers tend to use soft plastic worms, especially in West. That's where, I believe, the word "Finesse fishing," originally came from. According to some books and magazines, jigs (flipping) and spinnerbaits are the ones that anglers mostly use to win.
However, you have won tournaments using long bill minnows such as Staysee. Do you have something to say about this?
Dobyns: Every fisherman has to develop his own style. You have to be well-rounded if you want to do well consistently, though, so you need to practice until you're good at everything. But most anglers have one thing that they like best, something they really feel confident in. For me, that's rip baits. I was one of the first fishermen to start throwing jerk baits when they first came out, and after all these years the Lucky Craft Staysee and Pointer baits are still my favorite baits. They've won me lots of money.

basswave: Could you introduce us your techniques of using for Staysee? Any special cadence?
Dobyns: The rip baits I throw most are the Staysee 90 and the Pointer 128. They're both made by Lucky Craft. My favorite colors are Chartreuse Shad and Ghost Minnow, and I also throw the Aurora Black and the American Shad colors in both baits. When the water is dark I throw the baits with more color, and I use the shad and minnow colors in clear water. I do weight the Staysee with SuspenDots on the bottom of the bill, and I change out the hooks to size 4 round bend Gamakatsu treble hooks. This doesnﾕt affect the action of the baits at all, but it lets me fish them deeper.
The rod is really important when you're fishing a jerk bait. I use a Loomis CBR 845. It is absolutely the perfect rod for the Staysee. The Loomis CBR 847 is good for the Pointer 128's, but it's a little too stiff for the smaller baits. I use 10-pound-test mono on the Staysees and 12-pound-test mono with the Pointers. Any bigger and the line takes away action, but any smaller and you get too much stretch. I fish the baits with a jerk-jerk-pause, jerk-pause, jerk-jerk-pause cadence, and I vary the speed until the fish start biting. The colder the water, the slower the jerks and the longer the pause. When the fish are aggressive I fish fast. I want them to have to decide in an instant whether to bite or let it get away. .

basswave: What are other favorite baits and rigs you prefer to use?
Dobyns: I love fishing dVPR Pro spinnerbaits. They are some of the most detailed baits I've ever used, and I think they work the best of any spinnerbaits I've tried. I also love fishing topwater baits. My favorites are Sammys, Zara Spooks, and Snag Proof Tournament Frogs. I like to flip, too. As far as I'm concerned, any bait you flip is a reaction bait. You're dropping it down into their house and they have to decide what to do about it quickly. I'm flipping 6-inch Senkos a lot of the time now. The Senko is an awesome bait and can be fished a ton of different ways. One thing all of these baits have in common is that I think they give me a really good chance to catch better than average fish.

basswave: Will you participate U.S.OPEN this year ?
Dobyns: I do plan to fish the Open this year, but I've just been too busy to sign up. I had a lot of fun at the Open last year and I'm looking forward to it.

basswave: Thanks for your time. We appreciated that. Give us some last words to finish this interview.
Dobyns: Fishing has been very good to me. I work hard at my fishing and I also try to do as many sport shows and seminars as I can. I really enjoy fishing tournaments with a pro-am format, because I like working with the amateurs. They're our new blood, and they need to be encouraged to fish. I also believe that every angler has a duty to kids; we should take them fishing and talk to them about fishing every chance we get. They're our future and they should be encouraged to get out there and enjoy the sport.

**PRO ANGLER'S INTERVIEW** Posted by DODGE at May 8, 2004 08:37 PM in OVERSEAS