Dobyns Grabs Slim Lead at Shasta
Entire top 10 cracks the 12-pound mark
Day one of the Costa FLW Series presented by Minn Kota on Shasta Lake featured nasty weather and a ton of spotted bass. When it had all settled, Richard Dobyns of Marysville, Calif., wound up with the lead on the strength of a 16-2 limit. He leads Miles Howe of San Juan Capistrano, Calif., by 1 ounce.
“The day went really good, but it started off really slow,” says Dobyns. “I didn’t have a fish in the boat for the first three hours, which is exactly the opposite of what everyone else will tell you.
“I thought the weather would really help me, but it actually hurt a lot more than it helped, so I went scrambling and I just stumbled into the right stuff.”
Though the veteran California pro says he caught nearly 40 bass, he didn’t catch many big ones. Besides one bass of about 3 pounds that he lost boat-side, he was never close to another big upgrade.
While many in the top 10 used reaction baits in the blustery lowlight conditions, Dobyns says he fished about half the time with a spinning rod in his hand and half with varying reaction techniques. Likewise, his better fish were split fairly evenly employing the two approaches.
“Tomorrow will all depend on weather,” says Dobyns of Friday’s second round. “If the wind blows hard again I’ll probably have to go pre-fishing again. I’m trying to fish a lot of big open areas, but I had to tuck in out of the wind more today than I wanted to.
Top 10 pros
1. Richard Dobyns – Marysville, Calif. – 16-2 (5)
2. Miles Howe – San Juan Capistrano, Calif. – 16-1 (5)
3. Bryant Smith – Castro Valley, Calif. – 14-13 (5)
4. Sage Baker – Shasta Lake, Calif. – 13-15 (5)
5. Justin Kerr – Simi Valley, Calif. – 13-14 (5)
6. Roy Hawk – Lake Havasu City, Ariz. – 13-11 (5)
6. Hunter Schlander – Modesto, Calif. – 13-11 (5)
8. Ed Arledge – Valley Center, Calif. – 13-1 (5)
9. Darryl Burkhardt – Boring, Ore. – 12-1 (5)
9. Joe Uribe Jr. – Surprise, Ariz. – 12-1 (5)
Dunn takes commanding co-angler lead
Casey Dunn of North Highlands, Calif., boated an impressive 14 pounds, 1 ounce fishing behind reigning Western Division Angler of the Year Joe Uribe Jr. to stake himself to a sizable lead in the co-angler ranks.
Dunn fished slowly behind Uribe, and caught a number of good fish throughout the day. His best, and the day one co-angler big bass, weighed 5-13 and was the very first fish he caught in the morning.
Top 10 co-anglers
1. Casey Dunn – North Highlands, Calif. – 14-1 (5)
2. Jack Farage – Discovery Bay, Calif. – 11-7 (5)
3. Jake Stephens – Carmel, Calif. – 10-2 (5)
4. Roy O’Desmangles – Lincoln, Calif. – 9-15 (5)
5. Glenn Wolfgang – Gaviota, Calif. – 9-7 (5)
6. Greig Sniffen – Saratoga, Calif. – 9-2 (5)
7. Gary Haraguchi – Redding, Calif. – 9-1 (5)
8. Michael Tauscher – Blackfoot, Idaho – 9-0 (5)
9. Keith Adams – Redding, Calif. – 8-15 (5)
10. Bruce Saechao – North Highlands, Calif. – 8-14 (5)
Tournament Details
Format: All boaters and co-anglers will compete for two days. The top 10 boaters and co-anglers based on cumulative weight after two days of competition will advance to the third and final round, with the winner in each division determined by the heaviest cumulative three-day weight.
Takeoff Time: 7:00 a.m. PT
Takeoff Location: Bridge Bay Resort, 10300 Bridge Bay Road, Redding, Calif.
Weigh-In Time: Days 1 and 2 at 3 p.m.; Day 3 at 3:30 p.m.
Weigh-In Location: Bridge Bay Resort, 10300 Bridge Bay Road, Redding, Calif.
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