Albidrez wins TBF Western Divisional Championship

NAMPA, Idaho – Although Fresno, Calif., angler John Albidrez slipped from the lead on day one to second place on day two, he came back strong with a five-bass limit of 13 pounds, 9 ounces to win The Bass Federation’s Western Divisional Championship. Albidrez, a member of Fresno Bass Club, topped 87 other anglers with a three-day weight of 39 pounds, 3 ounces.

He will represent California in the boater division in TBF’s national championship next April. Albidrez also took home the Castrol Maximum Performer Award, a $500 Wal Mart gift card, courtesy of Castrol.

“Words can’t explain how excited I am to be fishing in the Federation championship. It’s a great feeling,” he said.

Albidrez, an insurance estimator, spent the entire tournament pitching matted grass with a 6-inch green-pumpkin Zoom Brush Hog. He caught about 25 bass today and said almost every one was a keeper.

“I had a hard time culling fish today, I caught so many around the same size,” he said. “I caught a bunch of smaller fish during practice on a smaller Brush Hog, so I switched to the 6-inch version and started catching bigger bass. I think that’s what helped me win.”

At 1:30 p.m., the livewell in Albidrez’s boat quit working, so he headed back to the weigh-in site, where he used a bucket to transfer lake water to his bass. All of them survived, but he said if he continued fishing, he certainly would have lost a few of the fish.

Sam Russell, a member of Wyoming’s Green River Bassmasters, fell from first place on day two to second place with a total weight of 37 pounds, 6 ounces. He used a green-pumpkin Yum Craw Bug on a 3/8-ounce Spot Remover jighead to catch a five-bass limit of 10 pounds, 8 ounces. He used the same bait all three days.

“I saw every bass I caught the entire tournament. They were either on beds or cruising,” said Russell, who will represent Wyoming in the boater division at The Bass Federation Championship next spring. “The jighead is a stand-up jighead, which seemed to make a huge difference. My partners used the same lure on Texas rigs, but the bass wanted nothing to do with theirs. They’d come running 20 yards for mine, though. I think the fish saw those claws sticking straight up, and that got them fired up.”

Ruline “Bubba” O’Neil of Evanston, Wyo., took third place and will represent Wyoming in the nonboater division of the TBF Championship. His three-day total was 36 pounds, 8 ounces. O’Neil used a black-blue Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver all three days. He flipped deeper grass in New York Canal and caught an estimated 25 bass today, nearly all keepers. Oddly, O’Neil, a school teacher and basketball coach, doesn’t live anywhere near a bass lake.

“We don’t have any largemouth lakes that we can fish out of a bass boat. I have to drive 90 miles to fish for smallmouths and 120 miles to fish a largemouth lake,” he said.

The tournament was held on 9,600-acre Lake Lowell, a bass-rich reservoir that lies in part on the Deer Flats National Wildlife Refuge. Eighty-four out of 88 anglers caught limits on the first day; 82 caught limits on day two; and 74 limits were brought to the scales Friday.

“It’s an incredible fishery. When I first looked at it, I thought, `You got to be kidding,'” recalled O’Neil. “It didn’t look like it was going to be a very good lake, but man, was I wrong. This place is loaded with fish.”

California’s Randy Pierson placed fourth with a three-day total of 35 pounds, 13 ounces, and Ryan Krost, also from California, took fifth place with 35 pounds, 6 ounces.

The 12-man California team brought in 367 pounds, 15 ounces to earn the Western Divisional Cup, a traveling trophy that goes home with the winning state each year. Wyoming came back from fourth place on day two to take second place overall with 352 pounds, and Washington finished third with 351 pounds, 8 ounces.

The following anglers will represent their states in The Bass Federation Championship next spring: John Albidrez (boater) and Randy Pierson (nonboater), California; Sam Russell (boater) and Ruline “Bubba” O’Neil (nonboater), Wyoming; Charlie Crawford (boater) and Richard Vizcarra (nonboater), Arizona; Neil Russell (boater) and Mitch Geyer (nonboater), Idaho; Aaron Echternkamp (boater) and Gerald Wright (nonboater), Washington; Dan Jordan (boater) and Rocky Ward (nonboater), Oregon; Luke Christensen (boater) and Ted Gardiner (nonboater), Utah; and Justin Hoback (boater) and Larry Keller (nonboater), Montana. Hoback is the 18-year-old grandson of Keller.

The Bass Federation Western Divisional Championship was hosted by the Idaho Bass Federation and the Nampa Chamber of Commerce.