TackleTour Tournament Interview : Dean Rojas

The Premise: TackleTour is going to hold a bass fishing tournament, but in keeping with our tradition, the gear is going to play an active roll in how the tourney is structured. In the past, we've been known concentrate our review seasons around specific techniques or types of baits. We're going to run our tournament in the same manner. Four days, four different themes, and our interest is to see how the pros go about selecting the gear they'll need to fish this tournament.

We sat down with Dean Rojas to discuss his choices for the TackleTour Tournament while sharing time on the water at Lake Eufaula, Georgia.

Hot Seat: In our continuing series of interviews, we're sitting down with different pros and going through their tackle selections for each day of our tourney, one at a time. Today, we sit down with B.A.S.S. Pro Angler Dean Rojas. Dean Rojas's sponsors include Skeeter, Yamaha, Gander Mountain, Spro, Big Bite Baits, Duckett Fishing, Power Pole, Gamakatsu, Oakley Sunglasses, Lowrance, G2 Gemini, and Gill.

Rojas shows off his cranking arsenal.

Day One: We're going to give the pros a technique they can use to search out active fish. You know what that means? Yup, it's time to tie one on, toss it out, and crank it up! Cranking is the name of the game on Day One and we want to know what a pro looks for in a good cranking rod, cranking reel, and their preference in cranking line.

For deep diving, Rojas relies on the Spro Little John DD.

Dean Rojas : Facing a new lake in the spring, I'm going to have probably four different crankbaits tied on to cover all depth ranges. The Little John DD will be my deep diving crank, tied onto a seven foot eleven inch (7'-11") Duckett Cranking stick. This is a long, graphite rod for long casts. I like graphite instead of glass for the simple fact it's lighter and throughout the day it can be tiresome and cumbersome if you're fighting a heavier rod. I like the slower gear ratio reels for deep cranking so I can work it slow. I'm using Sunline Shooter for deep cranking anywhere from twelve to fifteen pound (12# - 15#) test. I use fluorocarbon because it's smoother and more sensitive.

For the middle range (8-12 feet), I bounce around between a flat like the Little John MD50 and round crankbait like the new Fat Papa 55 and have both tied on so I can switch back and forth because at times, it makes a difference. Rod wise, I like the Duckett 7' cranking stick because I'm not so worried about distance as I am hitting my targets. I use the Duckett cranking reel in 5.3:1 spooled with twelve pound Sunline Shooter.

The last setup would be for square bills like the Little John 50 to cover the zero to four (0-4) foot range. For square bills I usually go to fourteen or sixteen pound (14# - 16#) test because in that shallow water, there's a lot of structure that can abrade your line and also once you get them, you want to be able to move them when you're fishing close quarters like that. I still use the slower gear ratio reel here, but sometimes bump up to 6.3:1 if the fish are really active.

When it's time for a mid depth crank, Rojas relies on the Fat Papa for a round profile bait or the Little John MD50 for a flat side crank.