Perkins & Bray Take Nor-Cal Event At Don Pedro Under 
Tough Conditions 

by Tim Paes 

Saturday, May 8, 1999 - La Grange, CA .... Nor-Cal Bass held it's open team event at Don Pedro May 8, 1999. Sixty-four boats fished the event. The wind was ferocious at times and made the fishing conditions extremely tough. However the anglers in the event still brought 265 bass to the scales that weighed 519 lbs. Most teams reported that their fish came out of 15 feet of water, with many of the fish suspended.  

This event originally was going to award a Stratos Bass boat to its champions. Unfortunately we did not have the 125 boat minimum required to award the prize boat. This fact made the decision evident early that morning that we would have a cash pay back instead. To our delight 64 of the original 67 boats that showed up Saturday morning basically said "so what, lets go fishing!"  

The team of Dan Perkins of Arnold, CA and Butch Bray of Murphy’s, CA brought a 6 fish limit to the scales that weighed 21.88 lbs. Perkins and Bray had big fish honors for the event with a 9.42 lb. monster. Perkins and Bray used V&V Jigs in order to bring their limit in. The team took home $4,420.00 plus two championship plaques and a big fish plaque.  

Second place went to Troy Wells Sr. and Todd Wells, both of Ceres, CA. The team of Wells and Wells brought 6 fish to the scales that weighed 16.22 lbs. The team reported having their limit by 9:30 a.m. on rip baits and then having their bite basically end at that point. The Wells’ took home a check for $2,000.00 plus trophies.  

Bill Jeffers of Manteca, CA and Elmer Meier of Lodi, CA took 3rd place honors with a 6 fish limit that weighed 15.58 lbs. Jeffers and Meier used plastics in order to bring the solid limit to the scales. The team earned $1,500.00 plus trophies for their finish.  

Rounding out the money winners was: 4th Bret Staples & Skip Topie, 14.78 lbs - $800.00, 5th Ron Wilson & Everett Beckner, 13.70 lbs - $600.00, 6th Dale Carney & Dave Rush, 13.66 lbs. - $620.00. Carney and Rush also had 2nd big fish for the event. 7th Alvin Goates & Larry Goates, 13.66 lbs. - $300.00, 8th Lee Miller & Ricky Miller, 13.38 lbs. - $300.00, 9th Richard Wages & Troy Guenthart, 13.22 lbs. - $250.00, 10th Dan Byker & Robin Lowe, 13.16 lbs. - $250.00, 11th Don Mutchler & Darrell McDaniel, 12.96 lbs. - $250.00 and the last money spot went to Robie Topie & Charles Richardson, 12.42 lbs. - $250.00.  

Anglers that entered before April 17th were placed into an early entry drawing for $250.00 and that was won by Marvin Vaughn and Mike Graham. Congratulations to both anglers.  

This event was also a qualifier for the Stratos / Javelin World Championship Regional. This event as well as all our open team events will qualify 5 teams to the regional. The 5 qualified teams were: 
1. Dale Carney & Dave Morisoli
2. Don Mutchler & Darrell McDaniel
3. Andy Cuccia & Dana Hoffman
4. Jim Willis & John Leonard
5. Doug Woodard & Jim Miller. 

Congratulations to the anglers that have qualified. The qualified anglers will fish the regional, which is planned for November on the Delta. First place at the regional will win $15,000.00. The top 33 teams from the regional will qualify for the World Championships in the spring of 2000 at a location yet to be named. First place at the World Championships will be $100,000.00. All qualifiers to the Championships will receive a check.  

We would like to thank our event sponsors, Stratos Boats, Johnson Outboards, Boats Unlimited, Thermo-Oil Batteries and Central Valley Propeller as well as our trophy sponsor, Smooth as Glass. Also thank you to the many product sponsors that made our raffle a huge success. Those sponsors were: Boats Unlimited, Central Valley Propeller, Fishermen's Warehouse, Bob‚s Marine, Tracy Boat Sales, Auto Life Auto Parts & Sporting Goods, Boat Country, C&C Marine, Ex-Cel Lures, Lane's Campers, P&E Distributors, Super Pork, V&V Custom Baits, Predator Worms, Malibu Boats, Fishin Musician Worms, BANG, Thermo-Oil Batteries, Sipe's Marine, J&H R.V. Repair, and Pacific Tire & Wheel.  

The 5th stop on our Pro-Am tournament trail takes place May 15, 1999 at New Melones. Tournament headquarters will be Glory Hole Sports. Check-in will be from 3:30 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. Our next open team will take place June 5, 1999 at Don Pedro. This event is a night tournament and also a qualifier for the Stratos World Championship Regional.