Hobbs has his way on Columbia River

Washington native crushes field en route to first place after opening day of National Guard Western Division competition

UMATILLA, Ore. – With less than 10 minutes to go in Wednesday’s weigh-in, it appeared that bass-fishing fans were going to witness one of the tighter Walmart FLW Series leaderboards in recent memory. However, all that changed when Ronald Hobbs Jr. stepped to the scales.

With only a handful of anglers remaining to be weighed in, Hobbs walked onstage, heaved his huge sack to the scales and ultimately stunned the crowd with a whopping 17-pound, 11-ounce stringer – nearly 4 full pounds greater than his closest competitor.

Although the majority of the field struggled to even record double-digit stringers all day long, Hobbs somehow made it look easy.

So, how did he do it?

“I kind of went all out today,” said Hobbs of Orting, Wash. “I found this spot way upriver on the final day of practice, and I was worried that if the wind blew tomorrow, I wouldn’t be able to get there. So I took a gamble and ran 75 miles (150 miles roundtrip) and tried to catch everything I could. I only had about two hours to fish, but I still managed to catch all of my fish in a little over an hour. I was doing a lot of running and gunning today. I was like a rooster with his head cut off.”

Hobbs said he ran all the way to the Hanford Reach area, which, according to Hobbs, represents “the last remaining stretch of the Columbia River that is still free-flowing.” Once there, he targeted bass by drop-shotting worms in clear water in depths ranging from 3 to 5 feet.

“The key for me was the current,” said Hobbs, whose primary bait of choice was a 4-inch Sniper Snub magnum worm. “I fished backwater sloughs and looked for current breaks. The area I’m fishing has a lot of 3-pounders in it. You can definitely catch a 20-pound stringer there. But if the wind blows, it’s not going to be easy making that run again.”

Obviously, with a 4-pound lead, Hobbs was pretty happy with his performance – right?

“I don’t know, I’m just really nervous,” he said. “I’m really not sure what to do now. If the wind blows tomorrow, do I make that run again? Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t think I’m going to know what I’m going to do until tomorrow.”

First time is a charm for Caporuscio

Although Joseph Caporuscio was making his first-ever visit to the Columbia River, you never would have known it by his performance in today’s competition. Boasting a quality 13-pound, 12-ounce stringer, Caporuscio vaulted all the way into second place overall.

“It’s pretty crazy when you think about it,” said Caporuscio of Coto De Caza, Calif., of his second-place finish. “It’s pretty intense. It was just a fun day.”

Amazingly enough, Caporuscio had barely any time to prefish, given the huge winds that ripped through the area during the four days leading up to the start of tournament action.

“This is my first time here, and I really didn’t have a lot of time to practice because of the wind,” he said. “But on the last day of practice, I found a spot about 50 miles from here that had some good fish in it. And that’s where I went today.”

Caporuscio said he did a little bit of sight-fishing, relying primarily on an arsenal of plastic worms.

“I only wound up catching seven keepers today in one small area,” said Caporuscio. “Hopefully I can do it again tomorrow. We’ll just have to see.”

Best of the rest

Marc Lippincott of Spokane, Wash., netted third place overall with a total catch of 13 pounds, 11 ounces. Meanwhile, Cody King of Island City, Ore., finished the day in fourth place with a total catch of 13 pounds, 8 ounces.

Ken Wick of Star, Idaho, and Cody Meyer of Redding, Calif., tied for fifth place with identical catches weighing in at 13 pounds, 6 ounces.

“It was a decent day. But for the most part, you’d just catch one fish here and another fish there,” said Wick. “There are a lot of great fish in this river, but right now they’re not really schooling up. Most of the fish have just finished spawning, so they’re lying low right now. You really have to run around to find them.”

Wade Headrick of Draper, Utah, won the day’s Folgers Big Bass award after landing a 5-pound bass.

Haraguchi nets co-angler lead

On the strength of an 11-pound, 15-ounce catch, Gary Haraguchi took hold of the top spot in the Co-angler Division heading into tomorrow’s competition.

“I was really fortunate,” said Haraguchi of Brentwood, Calif. “I had a great draw, and I had a lot of fun.”

Although Haraguchi had a banner day on the water, he said it wasn’t as easy as it looked.

“It’s tough out there right now. We really had to cover a lot of water,” said Haraguchi. “You can get bit on just about anything, but you really have to be in the right areas. I didn’t actually catch a lot of fish today, but I was fortunate to have caught some good ones when it counted.”

As far as tomorrow is concerned, Haraguchi said his plan is still a work in progress.

“You really don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow,” said Haraguchi. “I don’t think I’m going to know what I’m going to tie on my line until we pull up to that first spot tomorrow.”

Best of the rest

John H. Thompson of El Granada, Calif., finished the day in second place after posting a total catch of 10 pounds, 13 ounces. Additionally, Thompson walked away with the day’s Folgers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division after snagging a 3-pound, 11-ounce bass.

Scott Burke of Oakdale, Calif., recorded a third-place finish with a catch of 9 pounds, 11 ounces. Meanwhile, Chad Leblanc of Sutter, Calif., grabbed hold of fourth place with a total catch of 9 pounds, 3 ounces.

Robert Flowers of Roy, Wash., and Mike Hawkins of Logandale, Nev., finished the day tied for fifth place with identical catches weighing in at 8 pounds, 4 ounces.

Day two of FLW Series Columbia River competition begins at 6:30 a.m. Pacific time at Umatilla Marina, located at 1710 Quincy in Umatilla, Ore.