Quick Bites: FLW Series Western, Cal Delta, Day 3
Wal-Mart FLW Series National Guard Western Division
California Delta, Bethel Island, Calif.
Opening round cut day, Friday
Kaboom! … Anglers dropped the hammer on the big-bass race at the Delta on Friday, leaving all those impressive 9- and 10-pounders from the first two days in the dust. There seemed to be fewer 9s and 10s today, but the big ones got even bigger. First, it seemed like yet another co-angler would win bragging rights for biggest fish of the day when Gary Jones showed up with an 11-6 kicker. However, Mike O’Shea saved face for the pros when he came in later with a 12-3 Delta monster. O’Shea said he caught his fish on a 6-inch Christmas-tree Senko, and Jones caught his on a drop-shot with – ahem – 8-pound line. “I chased it around the tules for about five minutes before I was able to get it in,” Jones said.
More from the Oooh-and-Aaah Department … Here’s the unofficial list of the rest of the big fish (read: 9 pounds plus) from Friday: pro Larry Hopper (10-5), pro Daryl Dempsey (9-11), co-angler Duane Dunstone (9-3), pro Lewis Milligan (9-2) and pro Randy McAbee (9-0). Apologies to anyone I might have missed.
Everybody now: Only at the Delta … How do you catch a near-30-pound stringer on day three and still miss the cut? Pro Michael Tuck – who currently leads the Stren Series Western Division in points, incidentally – did just that Friday. His catch – a massive 29 pounds, 7 ounces – was the heaviest limit of the day. He had no 9-pounders, but his three biggest weighed in at 8-3, 7 1/2 and over 6. However, he still finished the week in 37th place thanks to some below-average weights the first two days. “It was a really great day. I had a lot of fun,” Tuck said. “I caught them on Senkos and lizards. If you found them, you could catch them really easily.”
Four-day total weight format takes no prisoners, especially at the Delta … In fact, the top four heaviest limits Friday didn’t make the pro cut. After Tuck, Gabe Bolivar weighed in with 26-0 (38th place), Mike O’Shea 25-11 (29th place) and John Perkins 24-14 (13th place). The heaviest limit within the cut was sixth-place Brian Carpenter’s 24-7, but he only made it because he caught nearly 20 pounds each of the first two days. At a fishery like this, there’s no room for error, as Bolivar knows. “I have a really hard time putting together a multiday tournament like this,” he said. “I had a hiccup yesterday, and that really hurt me.”
Quick number
13,616-15: Weight, in pounds and ounces, of all the fish pulled out of the California Delta and weighed in by the FLW Series anglers so far. In just three days here, this tournament has crushed the previous total-weight record – by over 3,600 pounds – for four-day FLW Outdoors tournaments. Before this week, the 2006 Stren Series at Lake Amistad held the title with 10,036-11. Tournament director Chris Jones mused, “I know what you’re thinking: That’s ridiculous. And it is.”
Sound bites
“I said, `Net!’ took a better look and said, `Big net!'”
– Co-angler Duane Dunstone, on his reaction after hooking into his 9-3 kicker.
“Wanna hear a funny story? There were five fish in the bag when I got out of the boat. One of them jumped out when I was coming up the dock.”
– Pro Phil Strader, who weighed in just four fish Friday, the first time he’s done so all week.
“Well, that’s going down after this week.”
– Pro Gary Dobyns, whose above-.500 FLW Outdoors top-10 finishing percentage dropped this week following his 27th-place result at the Delta. He now has finished in the top 10 exactly 50 percent of the time.