Syracuse.com - Bassmaster Ramada Championship winner says keys were the "Baby Pattern' and fishing one spot

[HuntingNY-News]

Bassmaster officials say whenever an angler's wife just has a baby, the father seems to do extremely well in the next tournament. Winner Boyd Duckett's wife just delivered a son two weeks ago, he said.

Dennis Nett/The Post-StandardDuckett holding up a couple lunkers. Alabama angler Boyd Duckett had two things going for him this week that enabled him to win the Bassmaster Ramada Championship on Oneida Lake today.

First, was the “Baby Pattern,” a frequent phenomenon on the Bassmaster Elite Series tour. For some reason, tournament officials said, whenever an angler’s wife has a baby, he often ends up doing extremely well in the next competition.

Second, was an opportune pause for some beer and chips after practice fishing last Monday evening at his rented cottage overlooking Maple Bay on the south shore of Oneida Lake. It was at that time, Duckett said, that he noticed “a huge school” of feeding fish, rising some 200 yards out.

He ended up fishing the spot Tuesday during practice and stayed camped there all four days of the tournament, turning four impressive bags of mostly smallmouth and some largemouth bass. His five-fish, bag Sunday weighed 17 pounds, the best weight of the day.

Duckett, 52, also caught the biggest fish Sunday — a 4 pound, 3-ounce largemouth bass. The rest of this fish were smallmouths.

He won $100,000 for his efforts. His final total was 62 pounds, 6 ounces.

“The key bait for today was a four-inch, Berkeley Hollow Belly, a paddletail swimbait. It was blue herring (colored),” he said. “I may have caught one fish on a top water lure, but all the meat came on (the Hollow Belly).”

Finishing second today was fellow Alabama angler Randy Howell, who led the field Saturday by more than two pounds. However, he only managed to catch four keeper bass in today’s final, turning in a bag weighing 14 pounds, 4 ounces. His failure to bag a fifth bass cost him the competition.

Howell, who tried to keep his composure on the stage, at one point became choked up with emotion. He lost the competition by a mere 6 ounces with his final total of 62 pounds.

Third place went to Scott Rook, of Arkansas, who turned in a five-fish bag totaling 15 pounds, 4 ounces. His four-day total was 60 pounds, 7 ounces.

Sometimes life just works out for you.”

Dennis Nett/The Post-StandardDuckett said he plans to give his $100,000 in prize money to his newborn son.

Duckett said his wife, Jennifer, delivered their son, Eli, just two weeks ago. As for what he’d going to do with the $100,000, the winning angler said the money will most likely go to his son.

“He earned it,” he said, smiling.

As for spotting the feeding fish Monday evening, Duckett said he and fellow angler, Kelly Jordon, of Texas, had rented the cottage. He said he had just cracked open a can of beer and was munching on some chips after a hard day of fishing.

Duckett said he noticed the fish rising in the bay and pointed them out to Jordon. Duckett thought they were perch. Jordon figured they were smallmouth bass.

“The next morning, Kelly goes out and checks them. They’re smallmouth,” Duckett said. “There’s a lot of smallmouth out there.”

Duckett said he, Jordon and Jeremy Starks, of West Virginia, proceeded to fish the stretch for the first three days of the tournament.

“I’d idle over them every morning on the way to the launch,” he said. “I’d then go to Oneida Shores, get my marshal, and go right back in front of my house and fish. I should have told him to just meet me at the house.”

During those three days, Duckett was the most successful of the three anglers. His secret?

“Light line. Even when flipping, I went to 10-pound test line. That made a big difference,” he said. “When using the Hollow Belly, I used 10-pound, 100 percent, fluorocarbon line.”

Duckett said after he boated that 4-pound largemouth today, he knew he had a good chance of winning. He said he just kept catching and culling smallmouth bass the rest of the day.

He said he was drinking a Michelob Ultra Monday evening in front of the cottage on the picnic table.

“And I’m going to have a few more tonight, I might add,” he said. “

Standings

Here’s the results of today's final in the Bassmaster Ramada Championship on Oneida Lake (pounds-ounces).

1- Boyd Duckett, 62-6

2- Randy Howell, 62-0

3- Scott Rook, 60-7

4- Takahiro Omori, 57-4

5- Ott DeFoe, 56-14

6- Brent Chapman, 56-10

7 – Nate Wellman, 56-7

8- Jason Quinn, 55-10

9- Terry Scroggins, 52-12

10- John Crews, 49-8

11- Fletcher Shyrock, 48-11

12- Bernie Schultz, 44-3

For complete results, see bassmaster.com.

&raquo: Previous bassmaster tournament coverage.

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