They’re out there

EverStart field hoping for more Delta fireworks

STOCKTON, Calif. – Entering day two of the EverStart Series Western Division event on the California Delta, many anglers would love to have Charlie Weyer’s day-one discards – including Charlie Weyer.

Hailing from West Hills, Calif., Weyer topped the day one standings with a massive sack of largemouth bass weighing 32 pounds, 9 ounces. Crazy thing is that he knows of at least that much in the Delta waterways. Some, he left; some left him.

“I lost a couple of big fish, and I shook off 25 pounds,” Weyer said.

With the morning’s high tide lasting about an hour longer than that of day one, anglers will find their fish mostly hidden by depth until the water starts rolling out around mid-morning. As the tide drops, the shallow fish will become easier to spot.

Weyer said he’s not too concerned with water level, as he caught his fish yesterday by staying off the bedding zone and casting to the areas he had identified in practice. On day one, he got what he needed and saved plenty of potential bites for today.

“I have a couple of areas where I left them biting yesterday afternoon,” Weyer said. “I shook off probably 10 fish before I came in. I shook off three 5-pounders, probably six 4 1/2-pounders, and then I saw several other big ones.”

Thinking ahead, Weyer took day one measures that hopefully will yield more opportunity today. In his main area, he specifically left the bucks (male bass) on the beds yesterday because he noticed several big females staging in deeper water, clearly intent on moving shoreward. By leaving the males alone, he maintained the scenario that would entice some of those females to make their move.

“There are 6-, 7-, 8- and 10-pounders trying to move up. It was an unreal amount of fish that I could see on the outside edges, just hovering. I’m just going to camp out on four or five of the beds I saw. I’m just going to stay off of them and work it really slow. There’s a lot of big fish in that area.

“Yesterday, I had so many big fish to go to, I didn’t think that area was a key area, but when I got there, it was like, `Wow!’ I didn’t know they were bedding in there, so I didn’t go there until about 12:30, but I found them about 1 o’clock and just sat there and caught the heck out of them.”

Weyer’s day-two outlook: “I know for sure there’s a 25-pound bag (in my main area). If I get lucky and get one of those really big ones, there could be another 30-pound bag.”

Weyer’s not alone in his expectations. The day one weigh-ins saw 15 pros break the 20-pound mark and several fish of seven pounds or better. Ninth place pro Sean Minderman of Spokane, Wash., had a 9-3. He’s looking forward to more shots at big fish.

“There’s a lot of fish moving up,” Minderman said. “It’s going to be wild out there today.”

Second-place pro Benjamin Byrd saw a lot of day one fish that were nearly ripe for the picking, so he’s optimistic that today’s the day. “I saw a lot of bed fish rolling but couldn’t get them to hit. Hopefully, with today’s good weather, they’ll be settled down and I’ll catch them.”

Stephen “Bub” Tosh – an accomplished Delta puncher and founder of Paycheck Baits – reported dumping one that hurt. “I lost the biggest fish I’ve ever punched (on day one).”

Matt Newman of Agoura Hills, Calif., told of similar heartbreak. “I lost two of the biggest fish I’ve ever had here. They bit so fast, I just didn’t get a solid hook set. I spent the whole day trying to recatch them. There’s a ton of big fish out there. I’m in decent shape today (44th place, 15-5) so if I get one of those big fish today, It’ll be sweet.”

Today, Newman will fish Texas-rigged tubes and a bold dropshot presentation with a Wave Platypus. The slender creature bait with four legs and flapping tail offers a different look than fish typically see on the finesse rig, so Newman’s hoping to irritate something big today. Newman’s geared up with a sturdy stick from his new iRod line – this one’s a 7-5 frog rod with the right action and plenty of toad snatching power.

Byrd will repeat his day one strategy of taunting bed fish with a 1/2-ounce football-head jig and then drawing the easy bite with a drop-shot. Elsewhere, anglers are likely to probe tule pockets, grass mats and flotsam with hollow-body frogs, crank rock levees and tempt open-water strikes with wakebaits and topwaters.

Logistics

Anglers will take off from the Weber Point Event Center, located at 221 North Center Street, Stockton, Calif., at 6:30 each morning. Friday’s weigh-in will be held at the Weber Point Event Center beginning at 2:30 p.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in at the Weber Point Event Center begins at 3 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.

Pros will fish for a top award of $35,000 plus a 198VX Ranger boat with 200-horsepower outboard if Ranger Cup guidelines are met. Co-anglers will cast for a top award consisting of a Ranger 177TR with 90-horsepower outboard and $5,000 if Ranger Cup guidelines are met.

The EverStart Series consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western. Each division consists of four tournaments and competitors will be vying for valuable points in each division that could earn them the Angler of the Year title along with $5,000 for the pro and $2,000 for the co-angler. The top 40 pros and co-anglers from each respective division will qualify for the EverStart Series Championship that will be held on Kentucky Lake in Buchanan, Tenn., Oct. 27-30.

The EverStart Series tournament on the California Delta is being hosted by the Stockton Sports Commission.

Friday’s conditions

Sunrise: 6:06 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 60 degrees

Expected high temperature: 90 degrees

Wind: W at 5-10 mph

Humidity: 30 percent

Day’s outlook: sunny