Shasta Saturday
Stren anglers gunning for one big bite
REDDING, Calif. – It’s day four of the Stren Series Western Division opener at Shasta Lake, and 20 pros and co-anglers are carrying three days worth of limits into a tightly contested showdown for Saturday’s final round.
The limits of spotted bass will undoubtedly come again today; the only question is who will hook into a big kicker fish or two?
High winds yesterday knocked pro Jim Davis out of the lead into fourth place. But with calm winds this morning and bluebird skies emerging, he liked his chances on the worm bite.
“Yeah, I’m loving this,” Davis said, gesturing to the sky.
Leader Michael Tuck – with 35 pounds, 5 ounces – has a 13-ounce edge over second-place Cody Meyer. Tuck also said he was feeling good about another day of working his darthead and Roboworm combo around the Interstate-5 bridge.
“It’s just another day of fishing,” said a smiling but anxious Tuck, seemingly more to convince himself than anything else. “I’ve just got to go out and do what I’ve been doing all week. I’ll be fine.”
While Tuck’s 13-ounce lead seems slight, it’s actually a pretty hefty head start for him. Everyone’s getting limits, so every ounce counts.
Still, just less than 4 pounds is all that separates the leader from 10th place in the Pro Division. Last year at Shasta, Mark Meddock popped a 23-pound stringer on the final day to win. While the lake won’t cough up any weight like that this time of year, it must be a little disconcerting to Tuck to know that a mere 4 pounds is all that separates him from some serious heavy hitters like Phil Strader, Gary Dobyns, Gary Howell and Robert Lee, not to mention the locals, Mike Menne and Bill McLaughlin. Of course, there’s always Davis and Gene Gray to worry about, as well. They each led the first two days and have already shown that they’re on some big fish.
Both the pro and co-angler winners will be determined Saturday by four-day combined weight.
The pros are fishing for a top award of $25,000 plus a $40,000 519VX Ranger powered by an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard and equipped with a Minn Kota trolling motor, Lowrance electronics and EverStart batteries if contingency guidelines are met. Ranger will award another $3,000 to the winner if he or she is a participant in the Ranger Cup program. If the winner is not a Ranger Cup participant, Ranger will award $1,500 to the highest-finishing participant in the contingency program. Yamaha will match 50 percent of Ranger Cup earnings if “Powered by Yamaha” guidelines are met.
The co-anglers are competing for a top award of $5,000 plus a $30,000 Ranger boat and trailer if contingency guidelines are met.
Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 1515 Dana Drive in Redding, Calif., beginning at 4 p.m. Pacific time.
Saturday’s conditions
Sunrise: 7:32 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 35 degrees
Expected high temperature: 52 degrees
Water temperature: 46-52 degrees
Wind: N at 5-10 mph
Maximum humidity: 23 percent
Day’s outlook: sunny