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Spring 2024
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fishing, it is just a different kind of competition here. It’s so fun. I don’t know if I’m ever coming home.”
Another difference that Christian noted was the eastern competitors use of Forward-Facing Sonar.
“I can use it and I can compete with it, but you know at the Delta, in that shallow water, that’s just not how we fish it; but here like even at Okeechobee where it is shallow water fishing, like the Delta, the guys never pick their heads up; they never lift their heads from the screen,” he explained. “I can do it, but its something I have to work on, because I like to look at what’s around me. I like to fish the conditions that I see. I like to see shallow, muddy water and I want to go fish it, find the bite and catch fish in it. That’s not how it is done here. It doesn’t matter where guys are at, the only thing
they look at is their screen. Heads down; eyes on screen. That’s it. It’s just not how I like to do it, so I have to focus on that.”
Although he left with his favorite tackle of choice, he has found that some presentations require altering his go-to’s.
“They just don’t fish the LV here; they don’t like it,” he added. “You have to go to the good old Rat-L-Trap. I think I’ve spent $500 on Rat-L-Traps since I got here. It’s just what you need to throw.”
With his first event at Okeechobee in the rearview, Christian earned $3,989 for a 42nd place on the leaderboard. By the time of publication, he will have standings secured in the second 2024 Open, located at Lake Ouachita, in Hot Springs, Ark. His plans following the Division Two stop?
“If I cash a check there, and I should, I am going to go on to Rayburn,” he shared.
With the Sam Rayburn Reservoir, located north of Jasper Texas, kicking out five-fish bags like the 38-pounder seen in February of this year, it should be an awesome between-Opens trip for Christian and one more reason that he won’t make it back to California anytime soon. •