Soggy semifinals begin at Clear Lake
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – It’s not news anymore, but a plodding rain continues to fall over Clear Lake as the 40 pros and co-anglers took off from Redbud Park Friday morning for semifinal-round action of the third EverStart Series Western Division tournament of the year. Competitors restarted the day with zero weight and are fishing for one day to determine the top 10 anglers per division advancing to Saturday’s final round.
If the first two days are any indication, however, don’t expect the clouds and precipitation to affect the fishing too much. The pros weighed in over 2,600 pounds of Clear Lake bass in the opening round and the co-anglers more than 1,400. Anglers have weighed in countless largemouth bass weighing over 7 pounds the first two days.
It’s likely that individual stringers will increase in weight the next two days as anglers depart from the sandbagging strategy that seems to have dominated the opening-round leaderboard and really start to harness the potential of this amazing fishery. It’s not unusual to see 30-pound bags come across the scale here; in fact, observers were saying it was unusual that one hasn’t yet.
If someone does crack 30 pounds, that would set the EverStart Series weight record for a one-day stringer.
Pro cut weight estimates hovered around 18 pounds to make the finals while co-anglers are hoping to catch around 15 or 16 pounds.
Friday’s weigh-in begins at 4 p.m. at Redbud Park in Clearlake.
Friday’s conditions
Sunrise: 6:20 a.m.
Air temperature at takeoff: 46 degrees
Expected high temperature: 56 degrees
Water temperature at the ramp: 54 degrees
Wind: from the south-southeast at 12 mph
Relative humidity: 90 percent
Day’s outlook: light rain
Day-three link: