REDDING, Calif. — Sixteen teams showed up today to test their bass fishing skills by competing in the Bassmaster College Series Western Regional tournament on Lake Shasta. Jacob Wall from the University of Oregon stormed to the lead with a five-bass limit of spotted bass that weighed 15 pounds, 1 ounce.
Wall is no stranger to leading tournaments. He won last year’s Bassmaster College Series Western Regional at Lake Mead, Nevada. What makes Wall’s catch even more impressive today is that he did not have a team member in the boat with him. And, an outboard motor problem prevented him from boating any faster than idle speed. He was limited to fishing near the Bridge Bay Marina where the tournament’s weigh-ins take place.
Wall relied one his digital sonar graph to help him find sizeable bass in deep water.
“I would idle around until I saw bigger bass on my graph,” Wall said. “Then I would fish very slowly and methodically for them.”
After catching his heavy limit by 9:30 a.m., Wall spent the rest of his day idling around and looking for big bass in other places. Because he gave his best spot a rest, he believes it may produce more quality limits over the remaining two days of the tournament.
The Chico State team of Nick Klein and Mike Klemm are in second place with 11-5, followed by another Chico State team of Travis Strain and Sean Huber with 10-5. All 16 teams brought five-bass limits to the scales, so the standings could change dramatically over the next two days. Although Lake Shasta supports largemouth and smallmouth bass, spotted bass are far more abundant. They comprised the bulk of the bass caught today, by far.
Chico State has the most entries with nine teams, Oregon State University fielded five teams, followed by the University of Idaho and Colorado Mesa University with one team each.
Bassmaster College Series Western Regional
4/19/2017 - 4/21/2017
Lake Shasta - Redding, CA
STANDINGS BOATER DAY 1
Name # Fish # Live Lbs - Oz # Fish # Live Lbs - Oz
1 Jacob Wall - University of Oregon 5 5 15-1 5 5 15-1
2 Nick Klein - Mike Klemm Chico State 5 5 11-5 5 5 11-5
3 Travis Strain - Sean Huber Chico State 5 5 10-5 5 5 10-5
4 Daniel Marshal - Ryan Habenitch University of Oregon 5 5 10-3 5 5 10-3
5 Austin Crane - Jonathan Lowder Chico State 5 5 10-0 5 5 10-0
6 Josh Worth - Calvin Corey Colorado Mesa University 5 5 9-9 5 5 9-9
7 Bradley Angel - Jase Northup Chico State 5 5 9-5 5 5 9-5
7 David Griswold - Nick Fortino Chico State 5 5 9-5 5 5 9-5
9 Joseph Billmaier - Evan Boyer Oregon State University 5 5 9-0 5 5 9-0
10 Frank Tomasello - Jakob Conlan Chico State 5 5 8-14 5 5 8-14
11 Michael Woods - Chas Brannon Chico State 5 5 8-12 5 5 8-12
12 Eric Kennedy - Biagio Capp Oregon State University 5 5 8-7 5 5 8-7
13 Brandon Hua - William Eschliman Oregon State University 5 5 8-1 5 5 8-1
14 Travis Bounds - Carson Leber Chico State 5 5 7-14 5 5 7-14
15 Laj Tripp - Clayton Marshall University of Idaho 5 5 7-13 5 5 7-13
16 Tyler Firebaugh - Chad Sweitzer Chico State 5 5 7-7 5 5 7-7
BIG BASS
Day Name City,State Lbs-Oz
1 Jacob Wall - University of Oregon Eugene, OR 5-1
TOTALS
Day # Fish # Live Lbs-Oz # Limits
1 80 80 151-5 16
2 0 0 0-0 0
3 0 0 0-0 0