AWESOME
34.60 LB. 6 FISH LIMIT TAKES CLEAR LAKE TITLE
Saturday, April 21, 2001
Lakeport, CA
By Tim Paes 
April 21st
marked the return for Nor-Cal Bass to Clear Lake. After a week of unstable
weather and a major front that had just moved through on Friday, many of the
anglers wondered what the fish would be doing. The conditions had been right for
the huge Clear Lake bass to make their move to the spawning areas. But what
effect would the weather play in this migration.
As the weigh-in
began, it became clear that there would be many awesome fish brought to the
scales and the weather did not do much to slow down the need for these bass to
move to the spawning areas of Clear Lake. Several bass over 5 lbs crossed the
scales as the 38 Pro-Am teams brought on a total of 169 fish that weighed 602
lbs. That’s a 3 ½ lb average per fish! The quality and quantity speaks highly
for this impressive fishery.
 No
limit was more impressive then the winning weight by Pro George Goodman, of
Waterford, CA and his partner Mike Newton, of Ripon, CA. Goodman and Newton
brought 6 fish to the scales that weighed an awesome 34.60 lbs. Newton also took
big fish for the tournament with his 10.56 lb. lunker. Goodman reported that the
team had started their day fishing the tulles around Corinthian and then
finished in Soda Bay fishing rocks. All of their fish came on Jigs, Brushogs and
Keeper Worms. The pair’s fish came out of water 1 ½ - 2 ½ feet deep to water
as deep as 15 feet. Goodman, who thanked his wife Paulette and his partner
Newton for putting 2 fish over 8 lbs in the boat, took home $1,590, while Newton
earned $1,285 for a team total of $2,875.
Finishing 2nd
was Pro Tom Tiwater, of Ceres, CA and his partner Scott Burke, of Oakdale, CA.
Tiwater and Burke brought a 25.80 lb. 6 fish limit to the scales. The team
fished the Trailer Park area of the lake and caught their fish in 2–3 feet of
water by cranking ¼ oz. Speed Traps, flipping Senko’s and 3/8 oz. Jig’s
tipped with Super Pork. Tiwater, who is sponsored by Autolife, Super Pork and
Fishin Musician Worms, reported that the key was finding wind blown tulle points
with wood. Tiwater, who also thanked his wife Shirley and Ben Galloway, took
home $924, while Burke earned $537 for a team total of $1,461.
Pro Bryan Cox, of
Salida, CA and his partner Don Rieger, of Modesto, CA took 3rd place
with their 6 fish limit, weighing 25.26 lbs. Cox reported that the team fished
the north area of the lake flipping Senko’s and cranking red Norman Deep
Runners in 3-6 feet of water on tulle points. Cox, who thanked his wife and Dad
for spending a week at Clear Lake during prefish and Rieger, his partner for the
day, took home $596 while Rieger took home $244 for a team total of $840.
Rounding out the
top five, in 4th was Pro Frank Lasiter, of Oakdale, CA and his
partner, Brad Mikkelson, of Hughson, CA with their 25.22 lb. limit that earned
the pair $533. Fifth place went to Pro Dale Carney, of Millbrae, CA and partner
Lester Yamaguichi, of Turlock, CA with their 23.92 lb 6 fish limit earning the
anglers $300. Big Fish in the Pro Division and $340 went to Jeff Frey, of
Riverbank, CA with his 7.26 lb. lunker.
Our official rod
sponsor, St Croix Rods, award the highest finishing pro and am out of the money
with an Avid and Premier Rod at each of our events in 2001. Pro angler George
Azevedo, of Turlock, CA, took home the Avid while Craig Handy, of Hilmar, CA,
took home the Premier. Thank you St Croix for contributing to our success.
In the Pro
Division Angler of the Year point’s race, Don Kennedy still holds the lead
with an 8-point advantage over Dale Carney as Steve Greene slipped to 3rd
followed by Frank Lasiter and Paul Cox to round out the top 5. Ron Billings took
over 1st place in the Amateur Division with a slim 4-point lead over
David Wickstrom. Lester Yamaguichi is holding 3rd place while Eladio
Garcia and Brad Mikkelson hold 4th & 5th respectfully.
Nor-Cal would
like to thank our trophy sponsor for Clear Lake,
Joe Coelho Trucking, along with our
entire group of tournament trail sponsors. Also thanks to The City of Lakeport
for allowing us to use their grounds for check-in in the morning and holding our
awards ceremony in the afternoon.
Nor-Cal could not
afford to offer you the payback we do without the help of our major sponsors. We
would like to offer a very special thank you to Stratos & Javelin Boats,
Evinrude Outboards and Boats Unlimited along with General Motors and Courtesy
Automotive. These fine businesses are supporting Nor-Cal and it’s anglers.
Please support them!
The 5th
stop on our Pro-Am Tournament trail will take place on the California Delta, May
19, 2001. Big Break Marina will be the headquarters and check in will take place
from 3:30 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. May 12 & 13, 2001 will be the Boats Unlimited
Open Team at Clear Lake. The event will be headquartered in Lakeport.
Nor-Cal’s annual Open Team Night Tournament will take place June 2 & 3,
2001 at Don Pedro and our Mix Team will take place on June 16, 2001 at Don
Pedro, Visit nor-calbass.com for information on all of these events.
Nor-Cal Bass
Tournament Trail sponsors are: Stratos & Javelin Boats, Evinrude Outboards,
Boats Unlimited, General Motors, Courtesy Automotive, Pradco, St Croix Rods, E.
Prouty & Sons Trucking, Joe Coelho & Sons, Central Valley Propeller,
Smooth as Glass, Bob’s Marine, Tracy Boat Sales, Auto Life Auto Parts &
Sporting Goods, Boat Country, C&C Marine, Ex-Cel Lures, Fishermen's
Warehouse, P&E Distributing, Super Pork, Keeper Custom Worms, Predator
Worms, Fishin Musician Worms, BANG, Thermo-Oil Batteries, Hildebrands Auto
Repair, McClure Painting & Plastering, Sipe’s Marine, J&H R.V. Repair,
Modesto Welding Products, Mickey Wall Painting, Winchester Farms
and Escalon Bait & Tackle.
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