Ehrler excels on Shasta

National Guard pro tops FLW Series Western Division opener

SHASTA LAKE, Calif. – In any form of competition, no one factor matters more over the long run than consistency. Need an example? Take Brent Ehrler’s FLW Series National Guard Western Division win on Shasta Lake.

In a tournament that saw a surprising number of huge spotted bass – including two over 5 pounds – Ehrler never lifted one of those highlight reel fish. And with several of his top five competitors making big leaps in the standings, Ehrler’s steady progression saw no remarkable movements.

That’s what he didn’t do. Here’s what the pro from Redlands, Calif., did. Ehrler caught three limits over 10 pounds and recorded the largest catch of the final round – a 10-pound, 4-ounce limit that was at least 2 pounds heavier than anyone else. Adding his 11-5 from day one (fifth place), 9-12 from day two (fourth) and 11-7 from day three (second), Ehrler’s consistent performance delivered the winning total of 42-12 worth $48,687.

Ehrler caught most of his fish on a point with a little swing that dropped into a flat in 50 feet of water next to depths of about 70 feet. Large numbers of fish grouping into pods roamed the flat, and despite Ehrler’s daily presence, the adjacent deep water kept the spot replenished.

The first two days of the event, Ehrler caught his limits there by mid-morning and spent the rest of his day unsuccessfully searching the perimeter for better fish. On day three, he expanded his search throughout the lake, but also found nothing to dissuade him from camping out on his primary location for all of day four.

“A lot of good fish came out of that area, so I figured if I wanted to give myself the opportunity (to win), that would be the place to do it,” he said. “I knew the fish were going to be there, it was just a matter of catching the right ones.”

Throughout most of the event, Ehrler fished Yamamoto plastics on Picasso shaky heads and Senkos wacky rigged on Tru-Tungsten Flea Flickers. Days three and four found him adjusting his presentation based on fish detection.

“The last couple of days, I’ve been seeing a lot of fish on my Lowrance electronics, so I started fishing a drop-shot with a Senko or a Roboworm,” Ehrler said. “I’d drop my bait right down to the fish, and I’d see them swim right over and bite it. I was fishing in 40 feet of water, and the electronics are that clear. I could watch a fish go right to my bait, I’d stop it and shake it, and he’d bite it.”

His last visit to Shasta was approximately 10 years ago, but Ehrler will undoubtedly leave with a new appreciation for the lake’s productivity.

“This is the middle of winter, and it’s supposed to be the worst time to fish for bass, and fishing is awesome out there,” he said. “The first day was probably the worst day I had (in numbers), and I bet I caught over 15 fish. Every day after that I was catching at least 20 to 30. To do that in the wintertime is pretty amazing.”

Ehrler noted that this was a good weekend for the National Guard fishing team, as fellow member Johnny Walker won the event’s Co-angler Division on Friday.

Zaldain slips to second

San Jose, Calif., pro Chris Zaldain entered the final round atop the Pro Division after moving up from second on day three. Catching limits each day, Zaldain weighed 9-11, 12-6 and 11-15 in the qualifying rounds. His final-round weight of 7-4 gave him a second-place total of 41-4 and a check for $19,475.

Zaldain looked for the big bite early, but his swimbait did not produce. He caught his fish on a 1/4-ounce darter head with a Prism Craw Roboworm. Slowly dragging the bait across hard bottom and deftly feeling the contact with each rock was what produced his final-round fish. Zaldain fished near the Shasta Dam, where conditions appeared most favorable.

“These spotted bass love the deep, clear water,” he noted. “It rained all last week, and all of the rivers in this system have muddied up, so what I’ve been doing is targeting that deep, clear water. On any manmade reservoir, your deepest, clearest water is going to be at the dam.

“Location was everything. I found this particular hump in 25 feet of water, surrounded by 50 to 80 feet of water. The whole thing about that spot was that the whole food chain was there. The shad were there, the trout were chasing the shad, and the bass were chasing the trout.”

Harris holds fast at third

Local pro K.C. Harris of Shasta Lake, Calif., began the event with a 27th-place effort on day one, but bolted up the standings a day later by sacking up his best weight of the event – 12-15 – and landing in third place. He remained in that position for the next two qualifying rounds and ultimately ended the same at the tournament’s conclusion. His final round limit of 8-3 gave Harris a total of 40 pounds and $14,606.

Harris admitted to some final-round jitters: “I came into today just hoping I could catch five fish. I was a nervous wreck this morning.”

As it turned out, Harris caught the second largest bag of the final round, second only to Ehrler. With the exception of one big day-two fish caught on a Huddleston swimbait, Harris caught all of his tournament fish on a 3 1/2-inch watermelon-candy tube with a 3/16-ounce head.

Fourth place McDermott made his mark

Cottonwood, Calif., pro Bryan McDermott may not have won the tournament, but he earned triple bragging rights for his accomplishments. For starters, he made the biggest comeback of the event by moving from 104th to second on day two. McDermott also turned in the event’s heaviest bag – 16-8 – and caught the biggest fish – a 7-pound, 3-ounce spot.

For all of his tournament catches, McDermott fished a wacky-rigged watermelon-red flake Senko with a 3/32-ounce nail weight.

“I experimented and tried some different baits, but like they say, `You dance with the girl that brought you to the dance.'”

Praising Shasta’s impressive productivity, McDermott said: “You know, I read the bass-fishing forums, and guys talk about going fishing and saying, `We had a great day – we caught six fish,’ or, `We caught seven fish.’ I say they need to come to Shasta, because if you have a bad day out here, you’ll catch 15 to 20 fish.”

McDermott’s day-four total of 7 pounds, 10 ounces, added to his previous three days’ weights, yielded a fourth-place finish of 38-12 worth $9,737.

Michels misses big bites, settles for fifth

Jeff Michels of Lakehead, Calif., knew he’d have to make up a lot of ground to advance from his fifth-place spot on the final day, so he broke out the 6-inch Osprey Talon swimbaits and slung the big plastic where he hoped the heavy fish would be residing.

“I caught a couple of good fish on (the swimbait) that got me to the final round,” Michels said. “Today I missed two good fish that would have bumped me up considerably, but that’s swimbait fishing for spotted bass – you’re going to miss a few. If you hook 40 to 50 percent, you’re doing an excellent job.”

Ultimately, Michels determined that the swimbait bite was not going to happen, so he fished Senkos and hand-poured Mother’s Finest worms on homemade ball-head jigs. Michels caught a day-four limit of 7 pounds, 10 ounces for a fifth-place tournament total of 37-11 worth $8,764. Michels made a big move from 23rd to sixth on day two and moved up a notch to fifth on day three.