SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Kevin Chen and Koulton Westbrook of Chico State took the Day 2 lead on Folsom Reservoir in the 2015 Bassmaster College Series Western Regional tournament on the Folsom Reservoir. The competitors caught 13 pounds, 2 ounces on Friday and currently have 23 pounds, 14 ounces total. Their lead is only 9 ounces, so they have to work hard on the final day to ensure they can lift the Western Regional trophy on Day 3 on the Bassmaster Elite Series stage.
“We just had a great time today,” said Chen, 21, a mechanical engineering major. “We like to enjoy our time out there.”
That makes sense, considering he and Westbrook have been friends since third grade and learned how to fish together.
“Most of these guys learned to fish from their dads, but we think of ourselves as ‘self-made’ fishermen,” Chen said. “We got interested in it and learned it on our own, fishing out of an aluminum boat.”
The longtime friends would ask their parents to drop them off in the boat and would spend all day prying bass out of the Delta, Lake Berryessa and Clear Lake. Despite the fact that they grew up near here, the pair have almost no experience on Folsom Reservoir.
“We pre-fished it last Saturday,” Westbrook said, “and it rained!”
It almost never rains here, which is why Folsom is at half pool right now. So, based on how it changed the conditions, they considered their pre-fish virtually useless.
“We based our fishing here on how we fish Lake Oroville,” which is near their school in Chico, Calif. “We figured it would be similar because it’s a clear-water reservoir,” Chen added, “so we decided to throw spinnerbaits and some other things, and it turned out in our favor.”
“We knew it was a spread between prespawn, spawn and postspawn,” Westbrook said, “and we saw them busting on shad in the morning, so we took that as a clue.”
On Thursday, the teammates caught 10-12 and ended the day in seventh place.
“Today was a more spread out bite,” Chen said. “They were more aggressive yesterday. Today, they had moved into the walls of the coves. We caught one of our biggest early in the morning on a jerkbait.”
On Saturday, the pair intend to go after the same pattern, but they may head south, whereas they’ve been fishing in the northern part of Folsom. For taking the lead, Chen and Westbrook win the Livingston Lures Day 2 Leader award of $250 each for Livingston Lures products. In contention for the Big Bass prize are Jarid Gabbert and Taylor Throop of Eastern Washington University. The team caught a 6-15 bass — bigger than the Day 1 big bass by more than 2 pounds — early on Day 2. If their weight holds up, they’ll win $500 in Carhartt gear.
All the competitors are going all in tomorrow, the final day of the tournament. They’re vying for a spot in the 2015 Bassmaster College Series National Championship, July 9-11, on Lake DuBay in Wisconsin.
Nineteen teams from the following colleges are competing on Folsom: Cal Poly, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, Chico State, Eastern Washington University, Humboldt State University, Oregon State University, Sacramento State, San Jose State and University of Oregon.
Competition will resume Friday, May 2, from Granite Bay Activity Center in Granite Bay at 5:50 a.m. PT. Anglers will weigh in on the Bassmaster Elite Series stage in Sacramento at Discovery Park around 2 p.m. PT, where the winning team will be crowned.
Bassmaster College Series - Western
Regional
4/30/2015 - 5/2/2015
Folsom Reservoir - Granite Bay Activity Center - Sacramento, CA
STANDINGS BOATER DAY 2
Today's Activity
# Fish Lbs - Oz
Accumulative
Name # Live # Fish # Live Lbs - Oz
1 Kevin Chen - Koulton Westbrook Chico State 5 5 13- 2 10 9 23-14
2 Laj Tripp - Kyle Sittman Eastern Washington University 5 5 10- 5 10 10 23- 5
3 Adam McAndrews - Joey Fortina San Jose State University 4 3 11- 0 9 8 22- 6
4 Jarid Gabbert - Taylor Throop Eastern Washington University 5 5 13-15 10 10 21-10
5 Alex Klein - Jonathon Heath Chico State 5 5 10-10 10 10 21- 6
6 Tanner Austin - Ethan Clark Sacramento State 5 5 9-11 10 9 21- 0
7 Jacob Wall - Ryan Habenitch University of Oregon 5 5 11-13 10 10 20-11
8 John Zeolla - Clayton Lauchland Cal Poly 5 5 9-13 10 10 19-14
9 Cy Floyd - Travis Opel Eastern Washington University 5 5 8- 0 10 10 18-14
10 Travis Bounds - Andrew Loberg Chico State 5 4 8-11 10 9 18- 7
11 Zach MacDonald - Zachary Martinez Oregon State University 5 5 6-14 10 10 18- 5
12 Michael Woods - Chas Brannon Chico State 5 5 5-14 10 10 16- 7
13 Jeff Taluban - Matt Pagluica Sacramento State 4 4 6- 7 9 9 16- 3
14 Alex Robbins - Rudy Directo Humboldt State 5 5 8- 0 9 9 13- 2
15 Katie Tanner - Daniel Marshal University of Oregon 3 3 4-12 8 8 11-15
16 Jakob Conlan - Frank Tomasello Chico State 5 5 9-11 6 6 11- 6
17 Eric Lee - Dalton Taylor University of Oregon 5 5 8- 2 6 6 11- 0
18 Johan Eide - Colton Farquer Cal Poly 5 3 8- 6 6 4 10-10
19 Max Kitzmiller - Eric Landmark Oregon State University 1 1 2- 3 3 3 5- 6
20 Chase Cochran - Wyatt Whitten Oregon State University 0 0 0- 0 1 1 2- 2
Name City,State Lbs-Oz
BIG BASS
Day
1 Laj Tripp - Kyle Sittman Hayden, ID 4-14
2 Jarid Gabbert - Taylor ThroopSpokane Valley, WA 6-15
Day # Live Lbs-Oz # Limits
TOTALS
# Fish
1 80 78 160-10 14
2 87 83 167- 5 15
3 0 0 0- 0 0