A FANSTIC DAY OF FISHING FOR FATHER AND SON TEAMS – AARON & RON BRITT PLUS JASON & JONAS ALGER WIN LAKE OROVILLE IN THE NORTHERN REGION
Windy weather was not a factor at Lake Oroville as the wind gusts we had had prior to that Saturday had subsided and the anglers were greeted with calm to barely breezy, sunny, warm fishing conditions.
The temperatures climbed into the mid 70’s to low 80’s in the afternoon on Friday as we checked in anglers at Oroville’s Best Value Inn & Suites inside the BBT trailer. Many anglers took advantage of this convenient check in who were up at the lake pre-fishing and had come back into town to get something to eat and some rest before their day of tournament fishing was to commence.
As we drove into the Spillway parking lot early Saturday morning, there were a few boats in the parking lot with anglers getting a little sleep in their vehicles before signing in, while we sat up the tables, coffee and placed the sign in sheets out before 4 AM. Teams arrived and were anxiously waiting to sign in and get their boats checked by our staff and then launched and waited for the blast off. The temperature was in the high 40’s, a nice change from the freezing temperatures we had experienced at Berryessa in March! Heaters were not removed from the shelves in the BBT trailer and have now been replaced with fans for the up and coming events!
As the early morning light replaced the darkness, most of the boats were in the water as the final teams were checking in. Mason Lewis drew Boat #5 to be the first boat out in the Big Boat Division. After the anglers were told that boat # 5 was drawn, anglers began staging their positions and were anxiously waiting for their number to be called so they could start their day of fishing after the Small Boat Division was to be released and on their way to their first destination.
Libby Hensley began preparing food while the teams were out fishing. Many anglers enjoyed the hot dogs with all the fixings and nachos after they went through the drive by weigh-in line and their bass were brought to the scales. Many anglers and kids alike enjoyed having food there to enjoy and were also treated to Emerald Nuts as they were tossed to the crowd during the weigh-in and Awards Ceremony.
As the father and son team of Aaron and Ron Britt from Yuba City approached the scales with their bags of bass, we knew their weight was going to be a good one for this tournament. Aaron caught the Big Fish of the event that tipped the scales at 8.91 pounds, giving them an overall weight of 22.13 pounds for their limit. Aaron told the crowd they fished the south fork using weightless worms, wacky style for their limit. They took home $2,745.00 in addition to two First Place Big Boat trophies and Aaron walked away with the First Place Big Fish trophy for all their efforts at Oroville. Congratulations guys for your win!
Second Place went to the team of Shawn Milligan of Wheatland and his partner Steve Lake from Roseville who came to the scales with five bass weighing 12.69 pounds. Their largest bass was caught at 11 AM and weighed in at 2.98 pounds, not enough weight to take a position in the Big Fish winnings however they did take home $1,015.00 for their efforts and two nice Second Place trophies to show everyone! They told the crowd they used swim baits and weightless worms, bed fishing in 25 feet of water in the north end of the lake for their bass. Nice team work guys!
Third Place was the team of Randy Chapman from Oroville and his partner Ray Sandoval from Yuba City took Third Place with a weight of 12.42 pounds anchored by their largest “Spotted Bass” weighing 3.88 pounds, giving them Second Place Big Fish in this tournament. They were not able to pre-fish as they were waiting for a Thrust Washer to arrive for his boat motor from Rich Reeser, one of our staff guys who took the time to stop by Gone Fishing Marine to pick this up on his way up to the lake on Friday. They told the crowd they “junk” fished the north fork using tubes for their win. They took home $590.00 for their day on the water. Congratulations guys!
Fourth Place went to the team of Dan Eckhart from Rocklin and his partner Lou Turold from Auburn who brought five bass to the scales weighing 11.89 pounds. Their largest bass weighed 3.02 pounds, which was tied with two other teams who had the same weight of 3.02 pounds for their big fish, until they were bumped by two other teams who weighed in 3.07 pounds for their largest bass! They took home $645.00 winnings for paying into all the options.
Fifth Place in the Big Boat Division was the team of Ron Howe and Bob Miller who had a limit weighing 11.82 pounds and they were one of the teams who tied with the 3.07 pound Big Fish. They took home winnings totaling $565.00 for their team efforts. Sweet!
FATHER AND SON TEAM -JASON AND JONAS ALGER WIN FIRST PLACE IN THE SMALL BOAT DIVISION WITH 13.93 POUNDS AND THEIR 3.07 POUND KICKER
Jason and Jonas Alger from Placerville came to the scales nearly two hours early to weigh in their fish as Jason had a Father – Daughter dance to attend at his daughter’s school that evening and needed the time to drive home and get ready for this special event. Jason and Jonas came to the scales with a limit weighing 13.93 pounds, giving them First Place in the Small Boat Division AND Second Place overall in this tournament!! They also had the 3.07 Big Fish that tied for Fourth & Fifth Big Fish with Ron Howe and Bob Miller! They had no idea they won until Randy talked to Jason on Sunday! Jason told Randy they fished 15 to 20 feet deep off the steeper banks and bluffs targeting spawning beds inside of the slimy beds as fish were cruising. Their large mouth “big fish” was caught on a jig by Jonas, who just turned 13 years old a couple weeks ago! They will receive their $740.00 cash winnings and First Place trophies at their next tournament. Congratulations to this father and son team for all their effort and success on Lake Oroville!
Saturday, April 13th proved to be fathers fishing with their son winners not only at Lake Oroville for our Big Boat and Small Boat Divisions, but also for the Mother Lode Region as Wade and Blake Chapman won at Don Pedro with 18.27 pounds and took home $2,265.00 in winnings AND the father/ son team of Tom and Mark Fishburn won First Place Big Fish with a 9.33 pound bass, caught by Tom. It was a tough day for this team as they only weighed in two bass but took home $470.00 so it was a good day for this team after all!
Honorable mention:
Third Place Big Fish weighed 3.31 pounds was caught by the team of Randy Walker and Erik Hornbaker both from Roseville. Nice!!
The 20/20 Eye Surrender Sunglass Award went to the team of Roger Stegall from Folsom and Lewis Milligan from Wheatland for placing in Twentieth Place in this event. They were both present to receive their sponsor sunglasses from Eye Surrender. Their weight was 9.90 pounds for five bass.
The Mystery Weight for the Irwin – Lenox Tools Award drawn was 7.62 and the team of Patrick Mateo and Zane Wiley who were closest without going over, with their weight of 7.60 pounds were present to win these nice tools!
The Wear It California Campaign donated life jackets to be given out at each BBT tournament and boat numbers 32 and 11, were drawn before we had a winner - Boat number 15 was present to receive the life jacket! This was a father and son team of Barry Johnson Sr. and Barry Johnson Jr. and Barry Johnson Jr. was very happy to show off their new life jacket to the crowd!
Boat number 13 was drawn for a Sponsor Gift Bag and Bob Miller received this nice prize.
Congratulations to all the winners of this tournament and thank you to all the anglers who stayed for the Awards Ceremony to support your fellow anglers.
If you are not present when your boat number is drawn or your name is called, you forfeit your prize and it is donated to the TOC as you MUST be there to win prizes. If you happen to win money and / or trophies during a tournament and you leave before receiving it, you will have to meet up with your tournament director as winnings and/ or trophies are not sent through the mail.
Sponsor Tackle Store Receipts Program – If you purchase tackle valued at $20 OR MORE from our Sponsor Tackle Stores or go online to make purchases through the Optimum Baits and ima websites, you will receive a discount for being a member of the BBT. Keep your receipt and write your name and phone number on the back of it then place it in the bucket, which is at every tournament check-in. You will have opportunities to win prizes during the Awards Ceremony after each weigh-in. Remember you MUST be present to win. At the close of the Awards Ceremony, all receipts drawn are placed back into the bucket for more chances to have them drawn at future events in addition at the TOC. If you are not present and your name is called, you forfeit your prize and it is donated to the TOC.
Remember to support the sponsors who are supporting you in bass fishing whenever you can. A list of our sponsors is below and is also located on the Sponsors page of the Best Bass Tournaments website www.bestbasstournaments.com
Thank you for coming out and supporting the Best Bass Tournaments. It was great to see familiar faces and meet new anglers who will be fishing the BBT this season! We appreciate each one of you. If every angler would ask one friend to join and fish the BBT, you will have additional anglers to compete against and have more opportunities to win larger paybacks. Let your friends know that they will also be eligible to win prizes in addition to saving money on fishing tackle when making purchases through our Sponsor Tackle Stores.
Best Bass Tournaments would like to personally thank the sponsors who are supporting us and the anglers alike: Emerald Premium Snacks, Berkley, Abu Garcia, Lowrance, The Fishing Instructor, Yakima Baits, Technology Integrators, Hildebrandt, Poe’s Plugs, Timber Tiger, Ima, Optimum Baits, KLGD Graphics, Hooked on Adventures, Continental Tires, Irwin – Lenox and Helly Hansen, Eye Surrender Sunglasses, Out of Bounds Speed & Marine, AGS Apparel, Port of Subs, Oroville’s Best Value Inn & Suites, Clearlake Cottages, Applebee’s – Oroville, Central Valley Sportsmen’s Boat & RV Show.
Best Bass Tournaments sponsor tackle stores:
Mel Cotton’s Sporting Goods/ San Jose, Walton Pond/ San Leandro, Guns, Fishing & Other Stuff/ Dixon, Coyote Bait & Tackle/ Coyote, CA, Clearlake Bait & Tackle/ Clearlake, Clearlake Outdoors/ Lakeport, Tracy Oasis Marina/ Tracy, CA, C & C Marine/ Modesto and Sacramento, Jim’s Pro Tackle/ Paso Robles, Bait Barn/ Waterford
If your company would like to be a sponsor of the Best Bass Tournaments, please contact Randy Pringle at www.bestbasstournaments.com or call 209-543-6260.
We would like to thank our Northern Region Staff - JD Mc Millian, Patrick Mateo, Zane Wiley, Kevin Ryan and Rich Reeser for a great job helping the anglers in the morning, during the weigh-in, at the Awards Ceremony and placing all the BBT merchandise back into the trailer once the Awards Ceremony was completed. You all are an asset to the BBT and our tournaments could not run efficiently without each and every one of you!
Our next tournament in the Northern Region will be on May 4th, launching out of Red Bud Park. You MUST get your Quagga Mussel inspection BEFORE launching your boat. Clearlake Bait & Tackle, Clearlake Outdoors, and other tackle store around the lake also inspect boats for the Quagga Mussels so have that done before arriving to have your boat compartments checked by our BBT Staff. If you boat over from another launch site, we will have BBT staff on the dock for you to get your boat compartments checked after you check in on Saturday morning. If you check in on Friday afternoon from 4PM to 6 PM at Clearlake Bait & Tackle, you will receive your boat number and you will not need to come back to check in on Saturday – just have your boat number present to show our BBT staff. All your boat compartments, not just your live wells must be opened.
If you wish to fish a fun event, the second BBT OPEN will be taking place Saturday, April 27th on Lake Don Pedro. You can sign up online prior to Saturday or cash will be taken at the lake on Saturday morning. This special tournament is open to everyone, so let your friends know this would be a great place to fish a tournament if they have never given one a try! No Membership is required for an “Open” event.
We look forward to seeing you at our next BBT event!
Randy and Sheri Pringle