Ep. 136: Team RePOWER on SoCal Bass Tournaments, Spotty Cycles & Crankbait Rods

Guests: Reggie Nelson (@fishing_so_cal_714) and Dave Day (@d.day72) — Team RePOWER, Saltwater Bass Series

Hosts: Daniel Dahlin ([FISH]rx), El Charly, Luke Dean (Bait Slingers / Artemis Charters)

Team RePOWER brings three seasons of SoCal bass tournament experience to episode 136, and the conversation delivers one of the most practical looks at spotted bay bass tournament fishing the show has produced. Reggie and Dave Day fish the Saltwater Bass Series (SBS) together across five events each season, have two boats between them, and finished fifth in this year’s two-day championship out of 15 qualifying teams.

In This Episode

• How the SoCal bass tournament SBS format works: five events, top 15 boats advance to a two-day final, and why fishing every event matters more than winning any one of them
• The current spotted bay bass size cycle: Reggie’s read on why fish are running bigger than average right now and why he expects it to hold
• What a confidence bait actually is — and why all three answers in this episode landed on the same logic even when the baits were different
• Crankbait rod science: why glass and graphite composite behave differently on head shakes, what that means for your landing rate, and how Dave fishes a 7:1 gear ratio against the grain
• How to coordinate two anglers on one boat when one person is getting bit and the other isn’t, and why ego costs you fish in a tournament
• A-rig setup for deeper outside structure: matching head weight to depth, why an oddball stinger color may work in your favor, and what a Benny Florentino charter trip proved about matching (or not matching) your A-rig colors
• The 8″ RX Slug on a belly weight burned fast through the column: why it tracks like a nose-hooked baitfish and how Daniel fishes it on a lighter setup. Plus why bladed jigs have become a go-to for spotties in this season’s SBS competition

The SoCal Bass Tournament Format That Rewards Consistency

The Saltwater Bass Series runs five events across Southern California harbors — Newport, San Diego, Mission Bay, Huntington, and others — with teams accumulating points toward a two-day championship. The top 15 boats qualify. Day one opens all harbors. Day two is spotted bay bass only, inside, all harbors open. Teams can run wherever they need to go.

Reggie and Dave’s takeaway after multiple seasons: fish every event and bring five fish to the scales. You don’t have to win. You just have to avoid a zero. Dave described it the way OG Jack Soul used to put it: five fish at the scale at every event and your points will take care of qualifying, even if you’re not placing. Miss an event and that math falls apart fast.

The teams that dominate — Bobby Martinez and Garrett Ching took angler of the year two years running — are consistent across conditions and locations, not just good at one harbor. The dock talk after weigh-in is half the value. You can walk up to anyone and ask what they did, what worked, what didn’t. It’s an unusual community that way.

What Makes a Confidence Bait and Why It’s Not About the Bait

The question came up mid-episode: what actually makes a bait a confidence bait? Daniel, Dave, and Reggie each had a different answer that amounted to the same thing. For Reggie, it’s the crankbait because he can cover water. If a bait with that range isn’t producing after a full swing through good-looking structure, it’s probably not the presentation that’s wrong. For Dave, a confidence bait is one that has drawn bigger strikes in conditions where fish are genuinely active. For Daniel, it’s time on the water with it: he knows the bait well enough to trust that when it’s not working, the problem is conditions, not the retrieve.

None of that is bait-specific advice. It’s a framework for deciding when to stay on something and when to move. If you’re watching fish on forward-facing sonar and they’re tracking but not committing, one wrong twitch can end the whole thing. Reggie described watching fish book it straight back to structure after a bad rod tip move. At that point, staying on the same bait with a cleaner cadence is more useful than switching colors.

Dave’s version: a confidence bait is one that produces on the days fish are active. If it’s caught fish in good conditions before, you trust it in marginal ones too. The crankbait keeps coming up because you can verify contact. If you’ve covered that much water and nothing touched it, you can actually conclude something about the bite, not just your presentation.

Crankbait Rod Specs and Why the SoCal Bass Tournament Angler Goes Parabolic

Both Reggie and Dave run glass or graphite composite rods for cranking, and both explained why in specific terms. Graphite recoils faster. That faster recoil means the rod doesn’t absorb head shakes the same way, and on a treble-hook bait, a head shake the rod can’t dampen is a fish that comes off. Glass and composite rods absorb those shakes. Your landing percentage goes up, especially in the back bay where the fish are tight to structure and the fight is short and violent.

Reggie runs a Phoenix X14 he described as wildly parabolic: graphite composite, rated up to 3 oz, with a 10 lb leader when cranking. Dave fishes the Shimano Intensza glass in two lengths depending on bait size, plus he throws smaller crankbaits on a Waterman’s Collective Spotty Reaper rod that he described as almost too flexible, but it works. The consistent thread is backbone at the butt to drive the bait down on a sweep, with a forgiving tip to absorb what comes back.

One detail worth noting on gear ratio: both Dave and Reggie run their crankbait reels hot, around 7:1. That’s against conventional advice, which usually pushes slow gear ratios for cranking. Their reasoning is keeping the bait in the strike zone longer on a longer cast, and they’ve had sessions where fish wanted the bait moving faster than a 5:1 could turn it. It’s not universal, but it’s a real data point from anglers with tournament results behind it.

Why This Episode Matters

SoCal bass tournament fishing doesn’t get broken down from an inside perspective very often. Most of what circulates is results-based: fish photos, weight totals, final standings. What Reggie and Dave bring here is process. They talk about partner communication on the water, how to decide when one person’s bait is outperforming the other’s, and why ego matters at least as much as tackle. Two boats between them means they can pick the right platform for each event. That’s a strategic advantage most teams don’t think about until they’re already in the wrong boat for the conditions.

The spotty size cycle conversation is worth paying attention to. Reggie has been fishing the SBS for eight years. His read is that the fish are in a growth phase right now — the same average sizes he was catching years ago have gotten consistently bigger, and the final day bag records that fell this season confirm it. He also said to enjoy it while it lasts, which is the kind of thing only someone who has watched it cycle the other direction says. Two bags over 11 lbs, four teams over 10, out of 15 boats at the championship final — that’s not a fluke.

If you’re thinking about entering your first SoCal bass tournament, this episode is the starting point. The SBS format is approachable, the community is open, and the dock talk after weigh-in is as valuable as the event itself. The barrier to entry is lower than it looks from the outside. Reggie spent eight years building toward a solid season. Dave joined him and they finished fifth in the championship out of the best sticks in Southern California. Competition makes you better. It really does.

Watch the full episode on the Time On The Water YouTube channel. New episodes every Tuesday at 6 PM.