Feb. 11, 2003 -- REDDING -- A record field of 193 boats put 386 anglers on Shasta Lake for the opening tournament of the WON BASS Tour last weekend, Feb. 8-9, with Rock Douglass of Willows topping the huge field of bass anglers weighing in the tournament's heaviest limit on Sunday.
Douglass, fishing his first WON BASS Pro/AAA event, scored a whopping 17.17 pounds for 5 bass on Sunday to jump from 99th place (8.36 pounds) on the first day into his first championship, and went home with the top prize of a $36,000 Ranger 519VX boat and trailer with a Mercury outboard, Lowrance electronics, MotorGuide trolling motor and Trojan batteries.
The field of anglers posted record numbers of fish with 188 of the 193 boats having 5-fish limits on Saturday and 185 repeating on Sunday. A total of 1,898 bass were weighed in for 3,254 pounds during the two-day contest and all but a dozen were released alive. In total, the tournament awarded $121,575 in cash and prizes.
"I practiced and had excellent fishing early in the week," said Douglass, "but on the first day of the tournament I didn't do well with only 8 pounds. I told my wife, Tami, on Saturday night that if the conditions were flat calm on Sunday I would do real well as I knew my spots were ready to produce."
The weather was incredible, and so was Douglass' fishing, as his water not only produced but allowed Douglas, a 44-year-old general contractor by trade, to make the incredible jump from 99th place to edge out Greg Gutierrez of Red Bluff by 1/4 of a pound and earn the victory.
As did almost all anglers, Douglass was fishing jigs and plastics in waters 10 to 20 feet deep, though some anglers fished as deep as 50 feet or more. "I virtually eliminated most of the lake during practice, and settled on a few key spots in the Sacramento River Arm," said Douglass, "fishing a 3/4-ounce football head jig with a pumpkin seed colored plastic trailer. While most anglers were fishing light line, I had no trouble getting fish on 20-pound Berkley Big Game Line."
Second place and $8,500 went to Gutierrez, who finished with 25.26 pounds. "I fished a 3/4-ounce football head jig, too, with clear/blue flake plastic trailers, in the McCloud and Sacramento Arms and the main body of the lake. I moved around a lot, catching 25-30 fish a day from 5 to 50 feet deep," said the 41 year-old fireman.
Third place and $6,500 was taken by Tom Jolin, a 51-year-old native of Lakeport, (Clear Lake), who used his shallow water expertise. "I fish in waters less than 5 feet deep," he said, "using a salt-and-pepper plastic worm on a split shot rig with 8-pound Ande line."
The largest bass of the tournament was taken on Saturday by Wayne Breazeale of Kelseyville (Clear Lake also), weighing in at 6.75 pounds and also earning him $1,500 from Miller High Life.
The 386 anglers all caught fish, most saying they had from 20 to 40 fish per day, often struggling though to catch keepers over the 13-inch minimum length. Over 95 percent of the fish were spotted bass, with a few largemouth and small mouth bass mixed in.
The next tournament for the North Region of WON BASS will be at Lake Oroville on March 15-16, while the first tournament in the South Region will be at Lake Pleasant in Arizona on Feb. 22-23.
The top money winners at Shasta Lake included:
Place, Name Hometown Fish Big Total Money 1 Rock Douglass Willows 10 6.27 25.53 $37,500 2 Greg Gutierrez Red Bluff 10 3.45 25.26 8,500 3 Tom Jolin Lakeport 10 3.44 24.73 6,500 4 Jim Riley Shasta Lake City 10 24.05 7,000 5 Wayne Breazeale Kelseyville 10 6.75 23.09 7,000 6 Bill Townsend Redding 10 5.18 22.98 5,775 7 John Maes Roseville 10 3.36 21.95 2,000 8 Kevin Davis Elverta 10 5.46 21.62 2,500 9 Charles Keller Redding 10 2.89 21.53 2,000 10 Eric Parra Sacramento 10 21.41 2,000 11 Dave Rush Palermo 10 21.05 1,000 12 Walter Apple San Jose 10 4.35 21.04 1,500 13 Don Brown Gridley 10 4.03 20.92 1,000 14 Danny Row Klamath Falls OR 10 20.84 1,000 15 Jeff Lamy San Jose 10 20.56 1,000 16 Jim Davis Gilroy 10 3.26 20.41 700 17 Harry Chang Yuba City 10 4.96 20.36 700 18 George Galletti Sr. Martinez 10 20.32 700 19 Ron Cervenka Saugus 10 20.25 700 20 Pat Clement Anderson 10 3.80 20.15 700 21 Bernie Gaunt W. Sacramento 10 20.09 600 22 Stan Penrod Sonora 10 19.95 600 23 Dub LaShot Walterville OR 10 2.97 19.94 2,375 24 Scot Holzschuh Discovery Bay 10 19.90 600 25 David Gliebe Stockton 10 19.55 600 26 Cris VanClef Mountain View 10 19.44 500 27 Gary Boyd Reseda 10 19.42 500 28 Wayne Hinrichs Novato 10 19.41 500 28 Tony Klein Fresno 10 19.41 500 30 Steve Greene Le Grand 10 19.38 500 31 Randy Pierson Oakdale 10 19.32 500 32 John Albidrez Fresno 10 19.25 500 32 Bobby Trippe Citrus Heights 10 2.98 19.25 500 34 Dave Nollar Redlands 10 19.11 500 35 Marco Rodriguez Nyssa OR 10 19.10 500 36 Joe Uribe, Jr. Santa Ana 10 19.09 500 37 Roy Garcia Sonora 10 19.07 500 38 Buck Turner Redding 10 3.54 19.02 500
Top AAA money winners
Place, Name Hometown Fish Big Total Money 1 Jesse Brunk Anderson 10 4.08 26.21 $2,500 2 Roderick Lee San Ramon 10 26.19 1,500 3 Carl Crutchfield Stockton 10 23.36 1,000 4 Justin Goin Anderson 10 22.16 4,350 5 Cliffton Woods Fresno 10 21.77 600 6 Chris Laskowski Anderson 10 21.35 500 7 Mitch Thiele Santa Rosa 10 21.19 1,760 8 Robert Nickell Redding 10 20.99 1,340 9 Jim Scarlett Sacramento 10 20.82 400 10 Jim Vandevort Sebastopol 10 20.74 400 11 Butch Smith Modesto 10 3.71 20.60 350 12 Jon Bakken Roseville 10 4.74 20.45 350 13 Camryn Wiggins Dublin 10 20.33 350 14 John Goin Anderson 10 20.20 350 15 Rick Melead Yorba Linda 10 20.11 350 16 Victor Hershberger Sacramento 10 20.03 300 16 Mike Kinney Deerpark WA 10 20.03 300 18 Brett Shepherd Citrus Heights 10 19.71 300 19 Frank Coronado Citrus Heights 10 2.17 19.64 300 20 Mike White Anderson 10 19.63 300 21 Curtisldwell Clovis 10 4.47 19.62 250 22 Stephen Mellon Gustine 10 19.47 250 23 Tom Ehmen Livermore 10 19.43 250 24 Roy Lim San Bruno 10 19.32 250 25 Gary Pardini Pleasanton 10 19.31 250 26 Donald McBride Carson City NV 10 19.26 225 27 Robert Burke Oakdale 10 19.22 225 28 Cahoone Yuen Jr. Sacramento 10 19.20 225 29 Lee Banks Anderson 10 19.16 225 30 Tim Arterberry Anderson 10 18.86 225 31 Rick Bruton Rocklin 10 18.84 200 32 Don Spencer Orange 10 18.82 200 32 Mike mike Turner Chico 10 18.82 200 34 Fidelmpos Elk Grove 10 18.73 200 35 Mark Schroeder Red Bluff 10 18.72 200 36 Jason Borofka Salinas 10 18.69 200 37 Tim Lang Petaluma 10 18.68 200 38 James E. Everhart III Grass Valley 8 18.67 200 86 Bill Talley Suisun City 9 16.98 1,450