John Hutchins of Warrenton, Va., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 11 pounds, 3 ounces Saturday to lead wire-to-wire and win the EverStart Series Northern Division event on the Potomac River with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 46 pounds, 12 ounces. For his victory, Hutchins earned $31,695. Final day weigh-in was at Walmart in La Plata.
“I have seven years of tournament fishing experience,” said Hutchins. “This is definitely the biggest event that I have ever fished. I really had to stay focused out there. I came in with the mindset that I was not competing against any other anglers, but against the fish. I told my wife before the tournament that if I could boat the fish that would I knew would bite for me, I would have a real good shot at winning.”
The weather conditions were brutal Saturday – heavy winds, rain and severe thunderstorm watches and warnings. Hutchins decided that his best strategy was to return to the same areas that he had fished on day 1, and headed north into the wind-protected bays. Hutchins methodically fished hard cover, throwing a shaky-head trailered with a plum apple-colored Yamamoto Senko.
“I fished as shallow as 2 feet and the deepest I fished all day was 8 feet,” Hutchins went on to say. “I only lost three fish throughout the tournament, and two of them were right away this morning on my first two casts. And they were big. I knew I just had to stay calm, and fish. I just kept grinding and was able to get a fish about every two hours. I ended up with eight bites and a limit, so it still worked out.
Hutchins said his experience on the Potomac River has been a huge key to his tournament success. He now has two tournament wins on the Washington, D.C. fishery, as he tied for first place at a Walmart BFL Shenandoah division event earlier this year.
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