CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Pro Gary Dobyns of Yuba City hauled in a five-bass limit weighing a hefty 24 pounds, 14 ounces Wednesday on California’s Clear Lake to lead the first day of his first-ever EverStart Series event. Dobyns, a well-known and highly successful West Coast bass angler, anchored his catch with a wily 9-pound, 5-ounce bass that propelled him past second-place contender Bill Case of Orange by a mere 13 ounces. The four-day EverStart Series event is the third of four regular-season Western Division tournaments and features 272 Pro and Co-angler Division competitors vying for their share of $118,705 in cash and prizes.
Gray skies and temperatures in the 50s that were expected to put a damper on Wednesday’s competition did quite the opposite, as 43 anglers had catch weights of 15 pounds or more. Dobyns, for one, hopes the overcast skies prevail.
“As soon as the sun comes out, I’ll probably go down in smoke!” Dobyns said. “The foul weather’s helping me.”
Dobyns used a variety of techniques in different water conditions to catch his tournament-leading bass. “I caught fish from the top of the water down to 15 feet,” he said. “I caught a lot on reaction baits, but I’m worming some, too. As for [Thursday], I’m going to go out and pre-fish. Hopefully I don’t outsmart myself, but I think I can catch 10 pounds to qualify for the semifinal round. I’d like to find another pattern or two because I’m not really satisfied with what I’ve got. I’ve got a few people around [in my area].”
Dobyns’ methods Wednesday were so effective that he found himself doing something he rarely does – shaking off fish. “Shaking fish off in a tournament is crazy for me,” he said. “I was very satisfied with my weight, and I didn’t expect to do that, so I started shaking fish off. It blows my mind, but I did it. I didn’t want to keep swinging.”
Finishing second Wednesday was Case with five bass weighing 24 pounds, 1 ounce. Tied for third were Jiggs Benn of Myrtle Creek, Ore., and Dave Nollar of Redlands. Each caught five bass that weighed 23 pounds, 12 ounces. Rounding out the top five pros was Gary Howell of Stockton with five bass weighing 22 pounds, 10 ounces.
Bernie Gaunt of West Sacramento leads the Co-angler Division thanks to a five-bass catch weighing 23 pounds, 8 ounces. Rounding out the top five co-anglers were Reese Randall of Payson, Ariz. (five bass, 21 pounds, 7 ounces); Travis Walker of Davis (five bass, 18 pounds); Jim Wickham of Morristown, Ariz. (five bass, 17 pounds, 6 ounces); and Jeff Dean of Lake Havasu City, Ariz. (five bass, 15 pounds, 9 ounces).
Dobyns’ 9-pound, 5-ounce bass earned him big-bass honors and $500 in the Pro Division, while Wickham earned $200 as the Co-angler Division big-bass winner thanks to a 10-pound, 5-ounce bass.
A total of 868 bass were caught Wednesday, including 105 five-bass limits. One hundred percent were released alive.
Competition continues through Saturday, with daily takeoffs at safe light from Redbud Park in Clearlake. Daily weigh-ins are also held at Redbud Park beginning at 3 p.m. Thursday and 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The community is encouraged to attend daily takeoffs and weigh-ins.
Following Thursday’s conclusion of the opening round, the top 20 pros and 20 co-anglers based on their two-day accumulated weight advance to Friday’s semifinal round. Weights are cleared for Friday’s competition, and the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers advance to Saturday’s final round based on Friday’s total weight. Weights are again cleared for Saturday’s competition, and anglers compete for the heaviest one-day weight.
The winning pro will take home a guaranteed cash award of $7,500 plus a new Ranger 519VS Comanche equipped with Garmin electronics and powered by an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard. If the winner is the original owner of a Ranger boat, he will receive an additional $10,000 cash bonus from Ranger for a total of $59,400 in cash and prizes. Ranger will also award an additional $3,000 to the winner if he is a Ranger Cup participant, and Garmin will award $1,000 to the winner if his boat is equipped with a fixed-mount Garmin Fishfinder or combination GPS/Sounder.
The winning co-angler is guaranteed $3,900 cash. If the winning co-angler is a registered Ranger owner, he will also receive a new Ranger 519VS Comanche for a total of $26,700 in cash and prizes.
Four divisions – Eastern, Central, Northern and Western – comprise the 2003 EverStart Series. Each division stages four regular-season tournaments leading up to the no-entry-fee $335,975 EverStart Series Championship, which will be held on Old Hickory Lake near Gallatin, Tenn., Oct. 29-Nov. 1.
In EverStart Series competition, pros supply the boats, control boat movement and fish from the front of each boat against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back of each boat and compete against other co-anglers.
FLW Outdoors, the world’s leading marketer of competitive fishing, administers the EverStart Series. Other FLW Outdoors-sanctioned tournament trails include the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, the Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour and the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye League. FLW Outdoors will award as much as $20 million through 175 tournaments in 2003.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its six tournament trails. Wal-Mart has been the title sponsor of FLW Outdoors since 1997. For a complete list of FLW Outdoors sponsors and for more information about the premier products and services they offer, please explore FLWOutdoors.com.