OAKLEY, Calif. – In what turned out to be a real shoot-out on the water pro Rusty Salewske of Alpine, Calif., caught a five-bass limit weighing 20 pounds, 5 ounces Saturday to win $106,749 in the Walmart FLW Series National Guard Division tournament on the California Delta with a four-day catch of 15 bass weighing 75-5.
The catch gave him the win by a very slim 9-ounce margin that went down to the very last fish weighed. Second place went to Charlie Weyer of West Hills, Calif., who caught a five-bass limit Saturday weighing 16-7 and earned $40,874.
“This is just unbelievable,” said an emotional Salewske, who seems to be on a bit of a hot streak with a recent fifth-place finish at the Forrest Wood Cup held in August. “This just goes to show that you never know what can happen, especially on the Delta. The hardest decision I had to make all week was to stay in the same spot I’d fished all week or go to an unpracticed area I have had past success in. My day started off really scary; by 9, I only had two little ones in the well and was about to leave and go to the spot I had not fished all week. Then about 9:30 I landed my big one (8-pound, 12-ounce bass) and was finally able to settle down and fish. I decided at that point I actually had a good chance of winning the tournament.”
Salewske opened the tournament in eighth place Wednesday with five bass weighing 17-13 that he caught on Reaction Innovation Sweet Beavers. On Thursday he added another five bass weighing 22-14 to jump into first place. He then caught five bass weighing 14-5 on Friday to make the crucial top-10 cut in second place. On Saturday he sealed his victory using the same Reaction Innovation Sweet Beavers he’d been using all week.
Rounding out the top 10 pros are Chris Zaldain of San Jose, Calif. (20 bass, 73-5, $32,699); Ken Mah of Elk Grove, Calif. (19 bass, 71, $24,525); Team Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee pro Brett Hite of Phoenix (15 bass, 70-8, $16,350); Team National Guard pro Brent Ehrler of Redlands, Calif. (20 bass, 68, $15,532); Zack Thompson of Orinda, Calif. (20 bass, 64-9, $14,715); Dee Thomas of Brentwood, Calif. (20 bass, 63-13, $13,897); Robert Lee of Angels Camp, Calif. (17 bass, 61-13, $13,080); and Ricky Shabazz of Rialto, Calif. (16 bass, 54-9, $12,262).
David Kromm of Kennewick, Wash., caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Pro Division Friday – an 11-pound, 8-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s Folgers Big Bass award of $293.
Overall there were 44 bass weighing 144 pounds, 12 ounces caught by 10 pros Saturday. The catch included 8 five-bass limits.
J.R. Wright of Truckee, Calif., won the Co-angler Division and $14,341 Friday with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 39 pounds, 10 ounces followed by Dean Ziemer of Tracy, Calif., in second place with 13 bass weighing 31-4 worth $7.170.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Tracy Patton of Oakdale, Calif. (11 bass, 29-5, $5,378); Hideki Maeda of Sakai-City, Osaka, Japan (12 bass, 27-6, $3,585); and Gary Haraguchi of Brentwood, Calif. (14 bass, 27-5, $2,868).
Coverage of the California Delta tournament, hosted by the City of Oakley, will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on VERSUS, the network which brings anglers the best fishing programming on television featuring the most-trusted authorities on the water. The Emmy-nominated “FLW Outdoors,” will air Oct. 25 from 12:30 to 1:30 ET. “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper, is broadcast to approximately 500 million households worldwide, including internationally through agreements with WFN (World Fishing Network) and Matchroom Sport to such countries as Canada, Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor-sports television show in the world
The next Walmart FLW Series National Guard Western Division tournament, hosted by Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa, will be held Oct. 21 – 24, 2009 on Clear Lake in Kelseyville, Calif. Boats will launch from Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa in Kelseyville, Calif. and the final weigh-in will be held at the Walmart located at 15960 Dam Road in Clear Lake.
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player’s Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.