Ken Wick of Star, Idaho, landed 5 bass weighing 12 pounds, 6 ounces Wednesday to lead day one of the FLW Series National Guard Western Division tournament on Lake Shasta. He holds a narrow 2-ounce lead in a tournament where anything can happen, featuring 140 pros and 140 co-anglers from 13 states and Japan.
“The wind was a huge factor for me today,” said Wick, who has an ever so slight advantage going in to day two. “The success of my fishing really evolved around the channel swings and when the wind came up it pushed the shad in to shallower water bringing the bigger bass with them.”
Unlike most of the more successful anglers today, Wick caught his fish in 8-9 feet of water. Many of today’s anglers were reporting greater success in water depths of 35 – 40 feet and some even deeper.
Right behind Wick is local angler Chris Fancelli of Redding, Calif., who trails in the No. 2 spot by just ounces with 5 bass weighing 12-4.
”That’s a good sack,” said Kazuki Kodama.
And indeed it was as he landed the number three spot with 5 bass weighing 12 pounds after all weights were tallied.
Rounding out the remainder of the top-10 pros after day one at Lake Shasta are:
4th: Bret Gouvea, Redding Calif., 5 bass, 11-11
5th: Team National Guard pro Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 5 bass, 11-5
6th: Garrett Charter, Arbuckle, Calif., 5 bass, 11-1
7th: Chad Hulbert, Gilroy, Calif., 5 bass, 10-15
8th: Ronald Hobbs, Jr., Orting, Wash., 5 bass, 10-8
9th: Craig Kraft, Redding, Calif., 5 bass, 10-7
10th: Kevin Johnson, Valencia, Calif., 5 bass, 10-6
Overall there were 680 bass weighing 1087 pounds, 13 ounces caught by 140 pros Wednesday. The catch included 131 five-bass limits.
Pros are competing this week for a top award of over $48,500 plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for a shot at the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup.
Team National Guard pro Johnathan Walker of Tacoma, Wash., leads the Co-angler Division with 5 bass weighing 11-13 followed by Max Bauer of San Diego, Calif., and JR Wright tied for second place with 5 bass each weighing 10-1.
“I had a great pre-fish,” said Walker, who has close to a 2 pound advantage in the co-angler division. “I knew the big ones were out there it was just a matter of finding them today. I was going for the big bite using large senkos, I started with 5 inches but kept increasing my size as the day went on. We were in about 40 feet of water and I was using 12 pound test line, there was no finesse today.”
Rounding out the top-10 co-anglers are:
4th: Billy Dehart, Burlingame, Calif., 5 bass, 9-9
5th: Mark Smith, Dana Point, Calif., 5 bass, 9-5
6th: Michael Rychard, Anderson, Calif., 5 bass, 9-1
7th: Tom Salo, Marysville, Calif., 5 bass, 9
8th: James Leachman, Kennewick, Wash., 5 bass, 8-14
8th: Tony Zanotelli, Redding, Calif., 5 bass, 8-14
10th: Larry Wilson, Poway, Calif., 5 bass, 8-13
Overall there were 602 bass weighing 878 pounds caught by 140 co-anglers Wednesday. The catch included 103 five-bass limits.
Co-anglers are competing this week for a Ranger 177TR with a 90 horsepower engine as well as valuable points that could help them qualify for a shot at the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup.
Anglers will take off at 7:30 each morning from Bridge Bay Resort located at 10300 Bridge Bay Road in Redding, Calif. Thursday and Friday’s weigh-in will be held at the marina beginning at 2:30 p.m. Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at the Mt. Shasta Mall located at 900 Dana Drive in Redding, Calif., beginning at 3 p.m.
Fans will also be treated to a Family Fun Zone at the mall prior to Saturday’s weigh-in from noon to 4 p.m. There will be a drawing for a $500 mall gift card and drawings for rod and reel combos will be take place every 30 minutes during the event. Activities in the Family Fun Zone include a Ranger boat simulator and assorted fishing-themed games. All activities are free and open to the public.
Coverage of the Lake Shasta tournament will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on VERSUS. “FLW Outdoors” will air April 11 from 12:30 to 1:30 ET. “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper, is broadcast to approximately 500 million households worldwide.
ABOUT FLW OUTDOORS
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world offering anglers worldwide the opportunity to compete for millions over the course of 189 tournaments in 2010. FLW Outdoors has also taken fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing awarding the largest prizes in the history of fantasy sports. FLW Outdoors memberships are available featuring numerous benefits including Player’s Advantage. For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FantasyFishing.com.
FLWOutdoors.com
Visit the FLW Outdoors Media Center at FLWOutdoors.com/mc for additional information or contact:
Jeff McCoy, Director of Public Relations & Communications, (612) 337-1945 (w), (612) 360-1375 (m) or jeff.mccoy@jacobs-mgmt.com
Chad Gay, Public Relations Manager, (270) 703-3346 or cgay@flwoudoors.com
Julie Huber, Communications Specialist, (612) 337-1810 (w); (612) 812-9512 (m) or julie.huber@jacobs-mgmt.com
