Peterson pounds ‘em on Shasta
Leue grabs top spot in Co-angler Division during opening day of EverStart Series Western Division action on Lake Shasta
REDDING, Calif. – With a fickle bass bite handcuffing anglers throughout practice and steady rains dominating the majority of Thursday’s competition, it was pretty clear that EverStart anglers were going to have their work cut out for them today on Lake Shasta. But while the predictions of an overly difficult bass bite did come to pass – as only eight anglers recorded stringers weighing in excess of 11 pounds – one angler in particular seemed to possess the necessary tools to defy the conventional wisdom on one of the most scenic lakes in the country. And that angler was Tony Peterson of Livermore, Calif.
Boasting an incredible catch of 17 pounds, 7 ounces, Peterson pretty much stole the show during the first day of Shasta competition by netting the relatively gargantuan stringer while outpacing his nearest rival by 3 pounds, 5 ounces.
Amazingly enough, however, Peterson said that he came into today’s competition without a whole lot of momentum or confidence as he repeatedly struggled in practice to get on any pattern or any fish of any significance.
“You know since Sunday I’ve been out here just starving to catch fish. I really had a rough practice.” Peterson said. “But everything just went right for me today. Right off the bat this morning I caught my three big ones (including two fish weighing in 5-8 and 5-9) and that really helped. I only wound up getting six bites all day but they were the right ones.”
Peterson said he ran around quite a bit, concentrating on specific structure to land the majority of his catch.
“With the weather being how it was, I just concentrated on running point after point,” he said. “Today I caught fish anywhere from 20 to 40 feet. I don’t want to get into specifics, but I was basically finesse fishing out there. But I will say that what I did today, I didn’t even try in practice. In a lot of ways, today was like a pre-fishing day for me.”
So how did he feel after landing the biggest sack by far of the tournament?
“It’s awesome. It’s just awesome,” he said. “I was so excited that it was actually difficult to hold my composure onstage. This is the best day I’ve ever had on Shasta.”
As far as tomorrow is concerned, Peterson said that he doesn’t have any plans to change things up too much.
“I’m going to do the same thing tomorrow – I’m going for it,” he said. “It’s got to work. Otherwise, I’m going to have to break out the baits that I went practicing with. I’m a (California) Delta guy and love to fish largemouth bass. But today I caught all spotted bass. So my plan is to keep doing what I’ve been doing and hope everything works out.”
Thompson lurking in second place
Anytime there is a big-gun event out West, there are a variety of familiar names that more often than not appear atop the leaderboard. And Zack Thompson is one of those names. So it was rather unsurprising that the Alameda, Calif., resident was right there among the leaders when all was said and done – scoring a second-place finish with a total catch of 14 pounds, 2 ounces.
“I had a great day,” said Thompson. “The cloud cover really helped me and the conditions were just perfect. Everything really went according to plan.”
Thompson said that the key to his success was figuring out how the fish would be positioned given today’s inclement conditions.
“I was throwing a 6-inch Berkley Havoc Bottom Hopper worm. But the important thing for me was that I was able to figure out something, really how the fish were positioned, during a few days of practice. And that made the difference.”
However, Thompson said that he probably won’t be able to go back to that well tomorrow.
“The weather is probably going to change again and most likely I won’t be able to fish a lot of the spots I fished today,” he said. “I really think I’m going to have to rely on some other areas because the fish won’t be positioned the same way as today. But I have some good morning and afternoon areas to work with. So we’ll just have to see what happens.”
Fancelli nets top-three finish
Chris Fancelli of Redding, Calif., parlayed a 13-pound, 7-ounce catch into a third-place finish in today’s competition. But the big story for Fancelli was the 6-pound, 8-ounce bass he landed to take home the Snicker’s Big Bass award.
“It’s been a month since I caught a fish that size,” said Fancelli. “Overall, I’m pretty happy with the way things went today. It feels good. But I’ve been here before so I know that I have to go out there and do it again tomorrow. I’m trying not to get too excited right now.”
Fancelli said that he targeted Shasta with a combination of tubes and swimbaits.
“I caught my big fish in about 10 feet of water and all of the rest came in about 40 feet,” he said. `I was mostly running points. As for tomorrow, we’ll just see how it goes.”
Best of the rest
Fourth place belonged to Matt Newman of Redding, Calif. Newman, another top western stick, used a 13-pound, 3-ounce catch to remain well in the hunt for a tournament title.
Rounding out the top-five pros was K.C. Harris of Shasta Lake, Calif., who ultimately recorded a total catch of 13 pounds.
Co-angler Leue nets first-place finish
By the end of today’s competition, Daniel Leue of Colusa, Calif., found himself atop the leaderboard after recording the only 10-pound-plus catch in the entire Co-angler Division. And he couldn’t have been happier.
“It feels good,” said Leue, who produced a total catch of 10 pounds, 5 ounces. “That’s a lot better weight than I thought I’d catch, so I’m pretty happy.”
Leue, who holds a precarious 10-ounce lead over his next closest competitor, said that he fished jigs almost exclusively today. But as far as Leue is concerned, tomorrow is another day.
“I’m just going to go out there tomorrow, see how the day goes and hope for the best,” he said.
Leue also landed the Snicker’s Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division after netting a 3-pound, 1-ounce bass.
Britt nails down second place
Aaron Britt of Yuba City, Calif., parlayed a 9-pound, 11-ounce catch into a second-place finish. But perhaps more importantly, Britt discovered that he’s officially hooked on tournament fishing.
“It feel good,” said Britt about his second-place finish. “I’ve been dreaming about this for a long time. I’ve been waiting all year for this so I’m pretty happy right now. I fished my first EverStart tournament last year on Clear Lake and I finished in 16th place. And this year I signed up for all four (Western Division) events. Overall, I just had a fantastic day.”
Amazingly enough, today’s competition started out for Britt about as poorly as it could have gone.
“I missed my first three bites of the morning and I was pretty devastated,” he said. “But in the end, everything worked out.”
Britt said that tubes were his bait of choice and that he doesn’t see any reason to switch things up during tomorrow’s competition.
“I rolled with that tube bait all day,” he said. “I had a limit pretty early this morning and was able to cull all of my fish except my big one. We ran around all over the place, fishing chunk rock and rolling hills in about 30 to 50 feet of water. The key for me was dragging that bait around really slowly. And I’m going to be riding that tube the rest of the tournament. I figure, if it ain’t broke, don`t fix it.”
Christiansen snares third place
Blaine Christiansen of San Jose, Calif., took the third spot on the leaderboard with a total catch of 9 pounds, 6 ounces.
“It feels pretty good,” said Christiansen. “But this is only the first day of the tournament so I don’t want to get too excited. Anything can happen tomorrow.”
Christiansen said that he used a drop-shot, targeting bass from the shoreline to 30 feet of water.
“I was fishing it slowly and just waiting for them to take it,” said Christiansen. “It took me all day to catch my fish. I wound up getting a little lucky early and a little lucky late. And I’m pretty much going with the same game plan tomorrow.”
Best of the rest
Toby Farkas of Woodland, Calif., finished the day in fourth place with a total catch of 9 pounds, 4 ounces.
Meanwhile, Jerry Lee of Redding, Calif., rounded out the top-five co-angler finishers with a total catch of 9 pounds.
Bass-fishing fans take note
EverStart Series action continues during Friday’s takeoff, scheduled to take place at 7:30 a.m. at the Bridge Bay Resort, located at 10300 Bridge Bay Road in Redding, Calif.
Fans who can’t make tomorrow’s weigh-in in person can also tune into FLW Live on FLWOutdoors.com shortly before 2:30 p.m. Pacific Time to watch live streaming video and audio of Friday’s second-day weigh-in.