AARON AND RON BRITT TAKE THE WIN
AT CLEARLAKE IN THE NORHTERN REGION
Wind, wind and more wind seems to be the seasonal pattern for the anglers who have been fishing in both the Northern and the Delta Wine Regions for 2013. Clearlake was no exception to this as windy conditions made it nearly impossible to keep many boats in position to land their bass for a lot of teams while others managed to bring in Lunkers and Toads added to their limits.
We began sign-ups at Clearlake Bait & Tackle promptly at 4 PM and had many teams check in early on Friday afternoon. Many anglers made tackle purchases and deposited their receipts into the BBT Sponsor Tackle Store bucket with hopes theirs would be a lucky one pulled at the Awards Ceremony to win nice sponsor gift bags and other sponsor prizes.
Saturday morning started out at 4 AM back in the tackle store as anglers began checking in. With only a slight breeze in the early morning hours, we are all optimistic that for once we would be able to have a calm day on the lake for our anglers fishing the event. We had a few teams at first then as it got closer to 5:25, several teams showed up all at once, anxious to get their boat number and launched. Boat number 3 was drawn for the first boat out. Everyone was checked in and had their boats inspected by our staff, then before we knew it, all the boats were released and were on their way to a fine day of fishing.
Then set up began, with the pop-ups in place, banners up, weigh station organized and water in the bump tanks, the wind made an appearance again and the gusts made it extremely hard for us to keep the pop-ups in place so they were taken down before the anglers came up to the scales. Not only did the wind make it difficult for us to keep things on the tables, anglers called to find out if they could weigh in early as they had given up and were tired of fighting the windy conditions and their boat being tossed on the banks. A few teams weighed in before 1 PM and then it was a steady stream of teams bringing their bass to the scales. Several teams had boat motor problems and a few had batteries give up from having to use their trolling motors all day long.
The wind gave many anglers an advantage to catching very large bass to anchor their limit as was the case for Aaron and Ron Britt from Yuba City. Aaron caught the Big Fish of the tournament on a crank bait in the latter part of the day, weighing 9.45 pounds. Their limit weighed 36.67 pounds. They fished Pirates Bay, Frazier Point and Jago Bay for their limit on crank baits and drop shot when they targeted bed fish. For their efforts they took home $3020.00 in winnings, two First Place trophies and Aaron took home his First Place Big Fish trophy as well. Congratulations to this father and son team.
Second Place was the team of Ron Howe from Elk Grove and Bob Miller. Ron fished this tournament on his own as Bob could not be there and he walked away with $1700.00 for his efforts without his "wingman". In addition to placing in Second, he also caught the Second Place Big Fish of the tournament, weighing 8.80 pounds. His total weight was 33.03 pounds. Ron told the crowd that he fished both the north and south end of the lake. The techniques which gave him success were frogs, dead sticking weightless worms while bed fishing. Nice work Ron!
Third Place in the Big Boat Division was the father and son team of Mike and Chris Park from Yuba City who weighed 29.01 pounds for their limit. Their largest bass was not enough to give them money however it did qualify them for the Lunker Club, which weighed 7.05 pounds. They told everyone they fished the Lakeport area in the deep weeds on green pumpkin worms for their win. They took home $605.00 and their Third Place trophies.
Fourth Place was the team of Rich Reeser from Dixon and his partner Kevin Ryan from Oakdale. They are BBT Staff and had to come in early to weigh in the anglers bass. They were excited when their limit was 27.99 pounds, anchored by their largest bass that was caught by Rich weighing 7.29 pounds, hoping their great weight would hold out in the top. They took home $410.00 for their team efforts!
Fifth Place was the father and son team of Jesse L and Jesse M Roach from San Pablo. Jesse L, father caught the Fifth Big Fish of the tournament weighing 8.38 pounds. Their total weight was 26.80 pounds and they took home $305.00 in cash. Sweet!
CHRISS CABODI AND RUSS OLSON WIN CLEARLAKE
IN THE SMALL BOAT DIVISION TAKING THIRD PLACE OVERALL
Chris Cabodi from Roseville and his partner Russ Olson were pleased to weigh in 29.92 pounds anchored by their largest bass weighing 7.92 pounds, which was bumped from any winnings in Big Fish as eight pounders were being weighed in later in the afternoon. They told the crowd they fished both the north end and south end of the lake for their bass flippin' and drop shotting weightless worms. When Russ caught his 7.50 pound bass, Chriss was in the back of the boat re-tying when Russ was working that one and yelled to Chriss, “I got her!” Chriss mentioned he “nearly broke three rods running to the front of the boat to net her!” They not only took First Place in the Small Boat Division, they came in Third Place overall, taking home $850.00. Congratulations guys for your win!
Third Place Big Fish was caught by John Penman from Citrus Heights weighing 8.52 pounds. Their total weigh was 25.77 pounds, which gave them $360.00 in cash to John and his partner Troy Shiffer who resides in Stockton.
Fourth Big Fish was caught by Weston Vlasche. Alex was all smiles and a proud father when the weight of 8.42 pounds was announced. Their limit weighed 23.91 pounds. In addition to winning $140.00 for their largest bass, they also came in Twentieth Place - and were awarded the 20/20 Eye Surrender Sunglasses. Congratulations to this father and son team!
The Irwin - Lenox Tools Mystery Weight drawn was 13.92 pounds however the team weighing the closest to that weight without going over had a weight of 13.48 pounds however they were not present to win their tools so that has been donated to the TOC.
The Wear It California campaign life jacket has been donated to the TOC as a receipt was drawn however Tony Prophet was not present to win it.
You must be present to win prizes during the Awards Ceremony or you forfeit your prize and it automatically goes to the TOC.
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. If you happen to win money at the tournament and are not present you will receive your winnings at the next tournament you fish or talk to your Director if you wish to meet up with him to receive your money as winnings will not be mailed to you.
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 June 1th, launching out of Spillway and checking in Saturday morning in the BBT trailer in the Spillway parking lot at 4 AM. 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 America’s Best Value Inn & Suites in Oroville, you will receive your boat number and you will not need to check in on Saturday – just have your boat number present to show our BBT staff. We will do sign-ups in our room at America’s Best Value Inn & Suites if the temperature is hot or in the BBT trailer if it in under 90 degrees so, if we are not in the BBT trailer, look for our tall orange cone marking what room we are in. A reminder, have all your boat compartments, not just your live wells opened to speed up the boat inspections process to get you launched more quickly and efficiently.
Also, this is our last 8 hour tournament in the Northern Region for the 2013 season until the TOC in October. As of June 15th all tournaments run 6 hours – The Department of Fish and Wildlife Regulations. Every year the dates are the same - begins on June 15th and ends on September 15th. All tournaments taking place during this time frame must follow these regulations. With this in mind, weigh in times for the first flight at every event will start at 12:00 PM, NOT 3 PM as we have had in these past few months. This will not affect the TOC as it takes place in October.
We look forward to seeing you at our next event!
Thank you,
Randy and Sheri Pringle