REDDING, Calif. (Jan. 9, 2008) - Pro Chris Laskowski of Anderson, Calif., caught a five-bass limit weighing 18 pounds Wednesday to lead opening day of the Stren Series Western Division bass fishing tournament on Lake Shasta. Rounding out the top five pros are Mike Folkestad of Yorba Linda, Calif. (five bass, 12-06); Bill Townsend of Redding, Calif. (five bass, 12-06); Rob Dearmond of Redding, Calif. (five bass, 12-00); and Steve Klein of Oroville, Calif. (five bass, 11-12).
Rick Kendrick of Sacramento, Calif., earned $243 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 5-pound, 14-ounce bass.
Overall there were 678 bass weighing 677 pounds caught by 150 pros Wednesday. The catch included 122 five-bass limits.
Sean Kimble of San Leandro, Calif., leads the Co-angler Division in the chase for a top award of $35,000, including a 198VX Ranger if contingency guidelines are met. He caught five bass weighing 9-10 while fishing with pro Steve Obrien of Sparks, Nev., who is currently in 64th place.
"This is an awesome feeling. A great way to start off the year," said Kimble, who is fishing the Stren Series Western Division for the first time. "We started off fishing slow. We caught all of our fish on worms & jigs. I tried throwing some bigger baits, but that just wasn't working, so I switched backed to plastics and those seemed to be the ticket. I plan to use the same strategy tomorrow to get another limit. I'm going to start with swimbaits and see if I can trigger a bigger strike."
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Adam French of Oakdale, Calif. (five bass, 9-08); Aaron Agner of Anderson, Calif. (five bass, 9-04); Scott Burke of Oakdale, Calif. (five bass, 9-03); and Vince Reiser of Redding, Calif. (five bass, 9-02). Dan Tracy of Prunedale, Calif., earned $128 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 4-pound, 1-ounce bass.
Overall there were 609 bass weighing 606 pounds caught by 150 co-anglers Wednesday. The catch included 87 five-bass limits. The top 40 co-anglers from each Stren Series division will also advance to the championship, where they will fish for as much as $70,000. The highest-finishing co-angler from each division at the championship will then advance to the 2008 Forrest Wood Cup.
Anglers will take off at 7:30 each morning from Bridge Bay Resort located at 10300 Bridge Bay Road in Redding. Each day's weigh-in will be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public. Stren Series tournaments are four-day events consisting of two rounds. The entire field competes Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. At the conclusion of Friday's weigh-in, the field is cut to the top 10 pros and co-anglers based on the heaviest three-day accumulated weights. These anglers continue competition Saturday, with the winners determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all four days.