13 LB. KICKER LEADS JONES & WARDEN TO NOR-CAL NIGHT TOURNEY VICTORY 

By Tim Paes   

Sunday, June 4, 2000 Don Pedro, CA…. With $7,500 in prize money on the line, you would have to feel pretty good about your chances when you put a 13  pounder in the boat at midnight. However, you would also feel nervous with 7 hours to go until the weigh-in. That's exactly what champions Wesley Jones and Ralph Warden must have felt when Jones hooked a bass of a lifetime. Jones’ monster bass, which weighed in at 13.18 lbs, was the largest of the 242 bass that were brought to the scales. The tournament saw several nice bass cross the stage as the 66 teams brought in a total of 532 lbs.   

Wes Jones, of Escalon, CA and partner Ralph Warden, of Modesto, CA brought in a 6 fish limit of 25.24 lbs. The team’s limit dominated the event and surpassed 2nd  place by nearly 7 lbs. Jones, who is sponsored by Boat Country, told the crowd that he had hooked the big fish at about midnight, and she immediately took off for deep water. At that point he couldn’t tell how big the fish was until she broke water. Jones went on to say, “when she broke water, Ralph went to pieces”. Jones also reported that they had keyed on flats, fishing black lizards. Their big fish came right off the bank while the rest of their limit came in 12 feet of water. For their great night on the water, Jones and Warden took home $2,850. 

Second place went to Jeff Berg, of Stockton, CA and Aaron Buckholz, of Escalon, CA. Berg and Buckholz brought in a 6 fish limit that tipped the scales at 18.08 lbs. The team also had 2nd Big Fish, a huge 8.62 lb. toad. The team reported that they had fished shallow all night and caught all their fish on black Power Worms and jigs. Berg and Buckholz took home $1,594. 

Russ Owens and John Ward, of Modesto, CA, finished 3rd with a 6 fish limit of 17.86 lbs. Owens and Ward keyed on rocky points in water no deeper than 15 feet. The team used Berkley Power Lizards and topwater to catch their limit. The pair took home $1,026 for their great finish. 

Rounding out the top ten was 4th place finishers Don Longton and Steve Mitchell with 17.72 lbs and earnings of $420. Fifth place went to Robin Lowe and Ron Schultz with 16.20 lbs, winning $310. Curtis and Lyle Voight took home $210 with their 15.76 lb. 6th place finish. Seventh place went to Robbie Topie and Charles Richardson with 15.54 lbs, earning $180. George Goodman and Ernie Tiwater finished 8th and took home $170 with their 15.52 lb. limit. Ninth place went to Jim Junette Sr. & Jr. with 15.24 lbs and earnings of $150. Jerry Wolsey and Ty Courtrel took 10th place with 13.92 lbs, taking home $140. 

Nor-Cal also proudly qualified 3 more boat owners to the Stratos/Javelin World Championship Regional, which will take place in the spring of 2001 at Clear Lake. The qualifiers were Bob Sims, of Ceres, CA, Chris Rains, of Ceres, CA and Paul Goodman, of Dos Palos, CA. Congratulations and good luck at the Regional. Only 1 Nor-Cal qualifier remains, our June 17th Mix Team event at Don Pedro. Don’t miss your opportunity to qualifier for this awesome event. 

The dangers of running a boat at night reared its ugly head with what could have been a tragedy. Tom Gaylor and partner Diane Carey hit an island near Moccasin, which caused Tom’s Javelin Bass boat to flip over on it’s top. Diane was thrown clear of the boat while Tom went over with the boat and was under it when he came up. Thank God both were wearing PFD’s and neither was injured. I would also like to give a huge thank you to anglers Bob Dickman and Martin Duncan, who came upon Tom and Diane after the accident. They stopped fishing the tournament and took Tom and Diane back to Flemming Meadows where they could call for assistance. Bob and Martin, you are true sportsmen and deserve all of our appreciation. Also thank you to Ed Gomes, Paul Goodman, Norval and Dee Pimentel, Bill and Karen Hartung, Diana Wilson and my partner Ken Shaw for getting Tom’s boat flipped over, pulled to Moccasin and put on the trailer along with retrieving as much equipment as possible from the accident site. 

Nor-Cal would like to thank our trophy sponsor for the Don  Pedro Night Open Team, Mickey Wall Painting, along with Don Pedro Recreation for hosting our event and allowing us to use their grounds for check-in and our awards ceremony. 

Nor-Cal could not afford to offer you the payback we offer without the help of our corporate sponsors. We would like to offer a very special thank you to Stratos Boats, Evinrude Outboards and Boats Unlimited along with General Motors and Courtesy Automotive. These fine businesses are supporting Nor-Cal and it’s anglers. When it’s time for your next boat, give Stratos a test drive and pull it with your new Chevy Truck!