It’s Knight time on the Cal Delta
Pro Leon Knight grabs top spot at FLW Series Western Division event, Bruno nets co-angler lead
STOCKTON, Calif. – With a weigh-in stage dominated by anecdotes about how difficult it was to catch quality fish on the California Delta during Wednesday’s opening round of tournament action, Leon Knight of Discovery Bay, Calif., had a completely different story to tell.
Despite the fickle bass bite – due in part to high winds, a recent cold front and the fact that most bass were maneuvering into a seasonal post-spawn phase – Knight definitively proved that there were still plenty of fish to catch. Bolstered by a total catch of 22 pounds, Knight easily out-distanced himself from the rest of the field en route to a first-place finish at the end of today’s competition.
“I feel really excited,” said Knight. “My pre-fishing was fairly slow so I’m definitely happy. Anytime you’re on the Delta and you catch 20 pounds, you’re in the hunt. It really gives me something to work with the next couple of days.”
Knight, who threw top-water baits primarily throughout today’s competition, said that both the tides and grass were important factors in determining the final outcome.
“When the tide was up, I caught them close to the bank,” he said. “But when the tide was out, I had to move out as well to catch them. At the Delta, you’re always fishing around grass. But the type of grass did matter a lot for me today.”
As for tomorrow’s second day of tournament action, Knight said that he doesn’t plan to make any wholesale changes.
“Hopefully I can do the same thing again tomorrow.”
Best of the rest
Second place belonged to Donald R. Davis, who coincidentally also hails from Discovery Bay, Calif. Davis grabbed the runner-up position after recording the only other pro sack to tip the scales at more than 20 pounds. He ultimately finished the day with a 20-pound, 1-ounce stringer.
Jon Strelic of El Cajon, Calif., took hold of third place overall after landing a total catch weighing 19 pounds, 10 ounces.
“We had a great day out there today,” he said. “It was a little rough, but the bass were biting, and that’s what counts.”
Meanwhile, FLW Series pro Cody Meyer of Grass Valley, Calif., nailed down fourth place overall with a total catch of 19 pounds, 6 ounces.
Rounding out the top five pros was Jonathan Koehler of Galt, Calif. Koehler finished the day with a total catch of 17 pounds, 4 ounces.
In total, California pros now hold the top 12 places on the leaderboard heading into tomorrow’s day of tournament action.
Bruno surges into lead in Co-angler Division
To say that Randy Bruno of Huntington Beach, Calif., crushed the co-angler field in today’s competition would probably be the understatement of the tournament to date. Using a total catch of 21 pounds, 5 ounces, Bruno outdistanced his next closest competitor by 5 pounds, 8 ounces – giving him a nice margin heading into the second day of competition. In fact, Bruno’s stringer was so solid that he also out-fished the entire pro field with the lone exception of Knight.
Not bad for a day’s work.
“I feel really fortunate. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then,” Bruno joked. “But it’s pretty cool. This is the biggest stringer I’ve ever caught on my own. I had a good practice and I’ve caught some fish this big before, but never all at once.”
Bruno said that although he’s fished the Delta for years with plenty of success, that success hasn’t exactly been duplicated during a pressure-packed tournament setting.
“I’m really surprised that I caught what I did,” he said. “I’ve fished the Delta a lot but (stringers) like this never happen for me during a tournament. Everything just came together today.”
Bruno said that he landed the majority of his catch fishing plastics while targeting bass in shallow water in less than 5 feet.
Best of the rest
Tom Elliott of Downey, Calif., finished the day in second place after recording a total catch of 15 pounds, 3 ounces.
Third place belonged to Sean Kimble of San Ramon, Calif., who turned in a catch of 12 pounds, 14 ounces.
Tai Au of Phoenix finished in fourth place with a total catch of 12 pounds, 9 ounces while Dewayne Jackson of Bloomfield, N.M., rounded out the top-five co-anglers with a catch of 12 pounds, 4 ounces.
FLW Series action continues at Thursday’s takeoff, scheduled to take place at 6:30 a.m. Pacific time at Weber Point Event Center, located at 221 N. Center St. in Stockton, Calif. Free coffee and donuts will be available to the public during takeoff.