Fall 2024
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He’s also pared down his tackle selection substantially. “In a way, it’s simpler fishing here because it’s more grass and more wood,” he said. “I used to go out with five or six rods on the deck. Now it’s more like two or three. The guys here go out and say, ‘They’re going to bite a black and blue jig today,’ and they make it work.
“That simplicity can occasionally bite them in the butt, but just as often it prevents them from overthinking a situation. In those clear waters of California guys would be switching from dropshotting a cinnamon blue stripe worm to a cinnamon green stripe worm. Anglers there are more finicky and picky. I didn’t really play that game.”
Still, due to conditions or culture, Dobyns finds himself not going back
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to old reliable tools that could and should have a place in his boat. The Lucky Craft Staysee jerkbait, for example, won him tens of thousands of dollars over the years. So too did a spinnerbait. In fact, between the two it was easily a six- figure tab. Today, he finds himself gravitating more to Yamamoto Senkos and jigs, and when a moving bait is required, it’s far more likely to be a crankbait.
“It’s much simpler here,” he said. “A lot of times it comes down to black and blue or green pumpkin.”
After seven years in his adopted and apparently permanent new home, he has no regrets (recognizing that he can head back to California to fish his various old stomping grounds on a whim) and on the contrary is glad that he’s experienced the best of all worlds through two heydays. He contributed to the west becoming a powerhouse influence, integrating both US and Japanese ingenuity, and now lives in a state that manages its bass like a precious resource. Furthermore, he timed it exactly right.
“I feel fortunate that I came up fishing in the good old days when you could make money doing it,” he said. “We fished for a lot of boats, a lot of money. It’s definitely tougher today than all through the 90s and the early 2000s. But when it comes to fishing, California is one style and Texas is a different style, but both are completely awesome.” •