Finding the good fish

Limitfest expected to continue in tight Shasta competition

REDDING, Calif. – It’s not a question of whether or not they will catch them, but rather which ones they’ll catch. As day two of Stren Series Western Division action ensues at Lake Shasta, anglers vying to make the top-20 cut are looking for that ever-so-slight edge that will carry them into the next two days of competition.

And there are a lot of them.

The field of 386 pros and co-anglers broke the FLW Outdoors single-day limit record Wednesday by weighing in 349 sacks filled with five bass each. Notably, the fish they caught were mainly smaller spotted bass, and that has everyone’s weights bunched up tight.

In short, despite the late-winter fishing pattern and cooler, drizzly weather, there’s no shortage of fish to be caught in Lake Shasta. The key thing is finding the bunches of fish that are just a little bit bigger than the rest.

“I probably caught 30 fish (Wednesday). I caught a lot of smaller fish, but I did manage to stick five nice ones,” said pro John Neudorfer, who entered the day in sixth place. “The fish I found are just grouped up mostly in depressions right now. It’s easy to catch them. You just find a good depression in 20 to 40 feet of water, and there you have them.”

Depressions and mainlake points seem to be the key targets for most anglers, which are in abundance on the vast Shasta reservoir. Anglers have plenty of room to spread out and lots of fish to go after; it’s just a matter of who did their homework in practice and found the good schools.

Look for the pro cut weight to come in around 20 pounds and the co-anglers’ weight to hover around 16.

Both the Pro and Co-angler divisions will be cut to the top 20 apiece, based on two-day combined weight, following Thursday’s action.

Day-two weigh-in festivities begin at 2:30 p.m. Pacific time at Bridge Bay Marina located at 10300 Bridge Bay Rd. in Redding.

Thursday’s conditions:

Sunrise: 5:56 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 46 degrees

Expected high temperature: 52 degrees

Water temperature: 49-50 degrees

Wind: SSE at 8 mph

Maximum humidity: 74 percent

Day’s outlook: showers