Work of Art
Western points leader lands 12-pound monster, leads Clear Lake
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Art Berry is a San Diego bass fisherman, so he’s caught some big SoCal lunkers in his time. But nothing he’s ever caught before could compare with what he put in his boat in the heat of EverStart Series Western Division competition at Clear Lake Thursday.
The pro from Hemet, Calif., weighed in a five-bass catch totaling an astonishing 29 pounds, 4 ounces and took the opening-round lead with an enormous two-day weight total of 44-13. Anchoring his near-30-pound stringer Thursday were two monster Florida-strain largemouths weighing over 9 pounds apiece. The bigger of the two fish weighed 12 pounds exactly and came close to breaking the EverStart Series single-fish record.
“This is probably the greatest day that I’ve ever had fishing,” Berry said. “I’ve caught bigger sacks and bigger fish before, but to do it in a tournament of this magnitude while leading the Angler of the Year race, you couldn’t ask for anything more. To catch a 12-pounder in an EverStart tournament, that’s crazy.”
Indeed, it was a crazy scene at Redbud Park when Berry hauled his fish to the bump tub at weigh-in – he needed three sacks to carry them – with fellow anglers and fans clamoring to see what was in them. The grapevine works fast when tournament anglers come off the water, so, even though many pros who weighed in before Berry carried 7- to 8-pound Clear Lake lunkers to the scale, few of them even attempted to try for the day’s big-bass award because they knew that “Art’s got a big one.”
Berry’s 12-pounder, which earned him $500 for the big-bass award, fell short of the single-bass record by a mere 11 ounces. Co-angler Jeary Wheeler of Batesville, Ark., holds the mark for a 12-11 bass that he caught at Sam Rayburn Reservoir last year on the EverStart Series. Almost lost in the hubbub was Berry’s limit weight, 29-4, which topped Gabe Bolivar’s impressive leading weight from day one, 29-1, and also crept up on the EverStart single-day weight record of 30-5.
Records didn’t matter to Berry, though, especially since he complemented his 12-pounder with the second-biggest bass of the day, as well, weighing 9 pounds, 4 ounces. Already in first place in the Western points standings with top-10 finishes in the first two tournaments, he is of singular purpose on this year’s circuit.
“Last year, I led the points race for most of the year, and things kind of fell apart at the end,” Berry said. “It’s been my dream to win Angler of the Year, and to be able to come here and do this, it’s just unbelievable.”
How to catch a 12-pound largemouth in a big tournament: follow the bird droppings
The story of Berry’s catch is almost as remarkable as the fish itself, so here it is:
Thursday, he went to a fishing spot in Konocti Harbor that he has known for years. The weather on the lake was tricky, with wind blowing water around and mucking up the shallow bite, but Berry knew that his spot was sheltered.
“I don’t care if the wind’s blowing 40 mph, it’ll still be flat calm,” he said.
But shelter wasn’t the only key: Structure was the most important thing. And not underwater structure, either. Above the water in the cove there is a large awning. On the awning there are scores of nesting sparrows, which kept depositing their droppings directly into the water below. That, in turn, attracts large schools of baitfish to the surface, which come to feed on the bird droppings. Obviously, where there’s a concentration of baitfish, there’s generally a nice pile of bass feeding on them – especially in secluded, calm water.
“We were catching a lot of little (bass), but there are also a lot of big ones mixed in between,” Berry said.
Using a drop-shot with a Zoom finesse worm and working very slowly, Berry hooked into his moneymaking 12-pounder at about 10 a.m. He said it was a 15-minute fight to reel it in, mainly because he used 6-pound line, but every minute was worth it. All the while, the sparrows above kept depositing little gifts all over him, his co-angler partner, Ralph Warden, and the boat.
“We cleaned the boat for an hour after we got done catching those fish,” Berry said.
Later, he went to a more conventional swim-bait pattern off a point and caught his 9-pounder at about 1 p.m. But leave it to Berry – who finished ninth at Lake Havasu mainly by casting over a dock into nearly unreachable water – to find another unique pattern and gain the edge.
“That’s how you win,” he said. “You’ve got to do something just a hair differently.”
Unfortunately for Berry, he’s uncertain that he’ll return to his productive bird hole tomorrow. When he caught his monster fish he made a big commotion, and that attracted a slew of young fishing fans to a nearby dock, many carrying fishing rods. When he returned to the spot later in the day, he watched them catch fish after fish from the hole.
“Pretty soon, it seemed like the whole neighborhood was out there. I saw these kids catch 20 or 30 fish there today,” Berry said. “The problem I have now is that, as we speak, there are kids cleaning the spot out.”
Ehrler maintains second
One other angler topped the vaunted 40-pound mark in the opening round. Brent Ehrler of Redlands, Calif., held onto second place for the pros with a two-day total of 40-6.
Ehrler, who knocked down a limit weighing 24 pounds, 2 ounces on day one by fishing the upper end of Clear Lake, stayed on the Lower Lake on day two and caught another limit weighing 16-4. While he stuck to his pitching-and-flipping pattern, he caught the bulk of his fish from an entirely new location.
“I just pulled up on a brand new spot and started fishing,” he said, adding that he got a little lucky Thursday. “It was awesome. I just wish that I had caught less so I could save some for tomorrow.”
Bolivar third
Wednesday’s pro leader Bolivar, from Ramona, Calif., throttled back Thursday and caught a limit weighing 10 pounds, 14 ounces. Still, buoyed by his weight of 29-1 from day one, he grabbed third place in the opening round with a two-day total of 39-15. This is the EverStart rookie’s second cut in two tournaments.
“Today, I just went out and had fun. I went to areas that I’ve never fished in my life,” he said. “Tomorrow, I’m just going to pull out all the stops.”
Minderman fourth
Pro Sean Minderman of Post Falls, Idaho, placed fourth with an opening-round total of 39 pounds, 11 ounces. He caught a decent sack on day one, 17-0, but rocketed up the leaderboard with a 22-11 limit on day two.
“I had a tough morning with the drop-shot,” said Minderman, who won at Lake Mead in 2003. “Later in the afternoon, the wind came up. I switched over to reaction baits and came into an area with some shad.”
Breazeale fifth
Local pro Wayne Breazeale of Kelseyville, Calif., placed fifth with an opening-round total of 33 pounds, 14 ounces. Breazeale finished in second place last year at Clear Lake.
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 10 pros after day two at Clear Lake are Brian Nixon of Grand Junction, Colo., with an opening-round total of 32 pounds, 8 ounces (6th place); Shaun Bailey of Agoura, Calif., with 31-10 (7th); Ken Wick of Star, Idaho, with 31-7 (8th); Gary Boyd of Reseda, Calif., with 30-12 (9th); and William McAninch of Chatsworth, Calif., with 29-15 (10th).
All 10 of the top pros caught limits both days of the opening round.
A couple other notable pros made the top-20 cut at Clear Lake. Luke Clausen of Spokane, Wash., who won last year’s EverStart event here, qualified in 13th place. Gary Dobyns of Yuba City, Calif., a winner on the California Delta in 2003 and also the Clear Lake leader for the first two days last year, qualified in 16th place.
Wilson tops co-anglers
It was close in the Co-angler Division, but Pat Wilson of Petaluma, Calif., led the back-of-the-boat side with an opening-round weight total of 29 pounds, 2 ounces. Following close behind was James Rios of Brentwood, Calif., with 29-1.
Wilson, the 2001 BFL Western Division co-angler points champion and 2002 BFL Regional champ at Lake Havasu, targeted prespawning bass in tule pockets Thursday and caught the bulk of his limit using weightless worms. The key, he said, was his line.
“I think that using fluorocarbon line is a huge asset to doing well here,” he said. “The only thing that I ask for as a co-angler is to be around some fish. Then I’ll be probably be able to stick a few.”
In third place for the co-anglers is Charlie Crawford of Peoria, Calif., with a two-day total of 28 pounds 8 ounces. Crawford made his third cut of the year at Clear Lake and is a top points contender in the Western standings.
Fourth place went to day-one leader Brian Mlekush of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., for an opening-round weight of 28 pounds, 1 ounce.
Co-angler Dan Powers of Weaverville, Calif., placed fifth with 27 pounds, 4 ounces.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers after day two at Clear Lake are John Morla of Ione, Calif., with an opening-round total of 26 pounds, 12 ounces (6th place); Gabriel Naranjo of Parker, Ariz., with 26-9 (7th); Dallas Merrick of Oroville, Calif., with 25-10 (8th); Chad Hole of Pope Valley, Calif., with 24-13 (9th); and John Alimpic of Angwin, Calif., with 24-7 (10th).
Merrick earned the $200 Co-angler Division big-bass award thanks to a nice 8-pound, 6-ounce largemouth.
Day three of Western Division competition at Clear Lake begins as the semifinal-round field of 20 boats takes off from Redbud Park at 6:30 a.m. Pacific time. Anglers’ weights are reset to zero for Friday, and both fields will be cut to the top 10 anglers apiece for Saturday’s finals based on tomorrow’s weight.