LAKEPORT, Calif. – Pro Jimmy Reese of Witter Springs, Calif., caught a final-round total of 10 bass weighing 40 pounds, 8 ounces to win the Stren Series Western Division event on Clear Lake Saturday. Reese won a 519VX Ranger powered by an Evinrude outboard and equipped with Minn Kota trolling motor, Lowrance electronics and EverStart batteries plus $10,000 cash. He also earned a $10,000 contingency bonus from Ranger plus $4,000 for the Ranger Cup award for a total of $64,000.
Though cold, rainy, and in Friday’s case, snowy weather have made for an uncharacteristically tough Clear Lake event, anglers have still enjoyed an interesting tournament. Many respected western pros have dominated the top-10, including Reese, who added this win to his resume of strong finishes on Clear Lake. Reese now has eight top-10 finishes, including two wins, to his credit on the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League and Stren Series levels on Clear Lake.
Other “big sticks” of the West who’ve shared the top slots in the leaderboard include Mike Folkestad of Yorba Linda, Calif., who led the first two days of the event with an impressive two-day weight of 45 pounds, 11 ounces, and Gary Dobyns of Yuba City, Calif. Some large bass have been weighed as well, including a 12-pound, 7-ounce lunker caught by co-angler Terry Stark of Sacramento, Calif., on day two, which ranks as the fourth-largest bass caught in the history of FLW Outdoors.
“We went to a spot that I hadn’t fished yet during the tournament and whacked ’em first thing,” Reese said. “I was throwing a shad-colored worm at first and Andy [Scholz] caught three behind me on a green-pumpkin worm. I realized that in the deeper areas I’d been fishing the bass were chasing shad, but the shad weren’t up in the shallow area we were in today. So I switched to an ox-blood-colored worm and that made the difference for me. I had my limit by about 9:45.”
Rounding out the top five pros are Michael Tuck of Antelope, Calif. (10 bass, 36 pounds, 7 ounces, $10,000); Todd Woods of Murrieta, Calif. (10 bass, 34 pounds, 13 ounces, $9,000); Robert Lee of Angels Camp, Calif. (10 bass, 34 pounds, 4 ounces, $8,000); and Jerry Fischer of Lincoln, Calif. (10 bass, 32 pounds, 1 ounce, $7,500).
Andy Scholz of Reno, Nev., won the Co-angler Division thanks to a final-round total of 10 bass weighing 37 pounds, 11 ounces and earned $5,000. Scholz fished with Reese on the final day.
“The fishing was great today,” Scholz said. “It was sunny this morning and we pulled up to Jimmy’s first area and caught both of our limits. I was catching them on a wacky-rigged green-pumpkin Zoom worm.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Jason Billmaier of Las Vegas (10 bass, 31 pounds, 14 ounces, $4,000); Charlie Crawford of Peoria, Ariz. (10 bass, 30 pounds $3,500); Jeff Grant of La Mirada, Calif. (10 bass, 26 pounds, 15 ounces, $2,500); and Gary Morris of Tracy, Calif. (10 bass, 26 pounds $2,000).
Anglers caught a total of 96 bass weighing 284 pounds, 12 ounces on the final day.
Stren Series tournaments are four-day events consisting of three rounds. The entire field competes Wednesday and Thursday, and the top 20 pros and co-anglers – based on two-day accumulated weights – advance to day three. Anglers start at zero Thursday and compete for 10 spots in each division in the final round. Winners are determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from days three and four.
The top 40 pros and top 40 co-anglers from each of the Stren Series’ five divisions – Central, Midwest, Northeast, Southeast and Western – following four tournaments in each division will advance to the $1 million Stren Series Championship on Wheeler Lake in Decatur, Ala., Nov. 1-4 where they will fish for top awards of $140,000 and $70,000, respectively. The highest-finishing pro from each division at the Stren Series Championship will also earn a spot in the new $2 million 2007 Forrest Wood Cup where they will compete against top pros from the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League and Ranger owners’ tournaments for bass fishing’s first $1 million top award.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $36.9 million through 241 events in 2006.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, call (270) 252-1000.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information about Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.