CLEARLAKE, Calif. – It was another day of dreary drizzle on Clear Lake, but Gary Dobyns of Yuba City continued to dominate Thursday with a five-bass catch weighing 19 pounds, 13 ounces. Dobyns leads the 20 pros who advanced to the semifinal round of the four-day, $118,705 EverStart Series Western Division tournament on the famed California lake.
Dobyns’ two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 44 pounds, 11 ounces put him out in front by a margin of 2 pounds, 3 ounces over Dave Nollar of Redlands, who sits in the second spot. The original field of 136 pros and 136 co-anglers was trimmed to 20 in both divisions, and anglers will start at zero for Friday’s competition.
Unseasonably cool temperatures and chilly rain may have annoyed anglers Thursday, but it definitely didn’t annoy the fish. Heavy five-bass limits continued to cross the weigh-in stage at Redbud Park in Clearlake, with Dobyns catching his bass Thursday on Roboworms, Senkos and a Lucky Craft rip bait.
“I didn’t fish any water that I fished [Wednesday],” said Dobyns, who also led Wednesday’s competition. “We had really big wind [Thursday], so I had to fish slower. My reaction baits didn’t come through for me, but I’m not abandoning them.”
Dobyns, a premier West Coast bass angler who certainly knows his way around Clear Lake, says he can catch fish this week in rain or shine. “I’ve got fish all over the lake, so the weather’s not going to be a problem for me,” Dobyns said. “I’m going to catch a lot of fish – 20 to 25 fish minimum – unless I catch a lot of big fish and I quit fishing. I’ve got too much going on; I’m a little nervous. Having fish all over the lake is a good problem to have, but it works against you. I’ve got to make sure that I get settled down, but my biggest strength is that I make good decisions. But sometimes I `flame it’ – I go down in flames!”
Rounding out the top five pros are Nollar (10 bass, 42 pounds, 8 ounces); Wayne Breazeale of Kelseyville (10 bass, 40 pounds, 13 ounces); Dennis Kolender of San Diego (10 bass, 40 pounds, 5 ounces); and Jim Lyon of Reno, Nev. (10 bass, 40 pounds, 5 ounces).
Reese Randall of Payson, Ariz., caught 10 bass weighing 42 pounds, 7 ounces over two days to lead the Co-angler Division into the semifinal round. He caught five bass Thursday weighing 21 pounds using worms in stained water 3 to 8 feet deep.
Though his heavy catch weight Thursday indicates otherwise, Randall claims he had a “frustrating” day on the water. “I didn’t get bit until 10 a.m., and then I lost my first two fish,” said Randall, who finished 19th in his first-ever EverStart event on Lake Pleasant in January. “I caught two fish and thought about quitting but thought, `Gee, I need a limit,’ and then I ended up with a 7-pounder. I was really frustrated after losing my first two; I wasn’t fishing with a clear head. It was rough, and I would have gone home at 10:30 if I could because I knew my day-one weight would make the cut.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Bernie Gaunt of West Sacramento (10 bass, 39 pounds); Mark Meddock of Woodland (10 bass, 32 pounds, 10 ounces); Jim Wickham of Morristown, Ariz. (10 bass, 29 pounds, 7 ounces); and John Alimpic of Angwin (nine bass, 26 pounds, 11 ounces).
Lyon claimed $500 as the Pro Division big-bass winner Thursday with a 9-pound, 7-ounce bass, and Meddock earned co-angler big-bass honors and $200 thanks to an 8-pound, 5-ounce bass.
A total of 741 bass were caught Thursday, including 85 five-bass limits. More than 99 percent were released alive.
Redbud Park will host semifinal- and final-round takeoffs at safe light Friday and Saturday morning followed by the weigh-ins, which begin both days at 4 p.m. and are also held at Redbud Park. The community is encouraged to attend daily takeoffs and weigh-ins.
Following Friday’s competition, the top 10 anglers in both divisions will advance to Saturday’s final round based on their one-day weight. Weights are cleared for Saturday’s competition as well, and anglers compete for position and prize money.
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 peruse FLWOutdoors.com.