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FLW Series: Clear Lake, CA

FLW Series Event # 6 of 6

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

Day 1: McAbee Leads FLW Series on Clear Lake

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KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Pro Randy McAbee Jr. of Bakersfield, Calif., landed five bass weighing 27 pounds, 11 ounces Wednesday to lead day one of the Wal-Mart FLW Series National Guard Western Division tournament on Clear Lake. He now holds a 1-pound lead in the $1 million tournament featuring 196 pros and 196 co-anglers representing 19 states and Japan.

Sieg Taylor of Clearlake, Calif., trails McAbee in the No. 2 spot with five bass weighing 26-11.

“Even with all of the boat pressure, I went to my first spot and nobody was there,” said Taylor, who notched a 2005 Stren Series win at Clear Lake. “The same thing happened at my second spot. I had it pretty much to myself.”

Taylor said his confidence was shaken during the first day of competition after he lost a good fish.

“I panicked and she came off,” Taylor said. “She would have gone 10 pounds, maybe even 12 easy. My heart just sank to my stomach. I had that image in my head for an hour. But it dissipated with every fish that I caught.”

Taylor said he caught 12 good fish throughout the course of the day and hopes to repeat his performance on Thursday.

“I’m just going to go out and have fun,” Taylor said. “I didn’t prefish here. I think prefishing is overrated, at least for me, anyway.

“I know where these fish are this time of year, and I just try to go out and drop the bait on their heads,” Taylor added.

Rounding out the top five pros are Mike Folkestad of Yorba Linda, Calif. (five bass, 24-13); Jeff Billings of Clearlake, Calif. (five bass, 23-6) and Brian Carpenter of Livermore, Calif. (five bass, 23-4).

John Alimpic of Angwin, Calif., earned the day’s $488 Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a bass that weighed 9 pounds, 5 ounces.

Overall there were 953 bass weighing 2,754 pounds even caught by 195 pros Wednesday. The catch included 184 five-bass limits.

Pros are competing this week for a top award of $125,000 plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the BP East-National Guard West Fishoff and a shot at advancing to the $2 million, 2008 Forrest Wood Cup, where the winning pro will earn as much as $1 million – the sport’s biggest award. The top 30 pros from both FLW Series divisions after four qualifying events are complete will advance to the East-West Fishoff, which will be held Jan. 17-19, 2008. The location for the fishoff has not yet been announced. Thirty winners from the fishoff will advance to the 2008 Forrest Wood Cup.

National Guard team angler Justin Lucas of Folsom, Calif., leads the Co-angler Division with five bass weighing 20-8 followed by Paul Fontaine of Brentwood, Calif., in second place with five bass weighing 20-5.

“We ran over to some deeper rock piles, and first thing off the bat I caught a 2 ½-pounder and then the 7 ½-pounder,” said Lucas, who is coming off of an FLW Series win last month at the Columbia River. “I threw a worm all day and caught fish all day and culled my last fish about five minutes before I came in. It was just slow and steady fishing all day long and I didn’t waste time fishing inefficient areas.”

Lucas caught his bass while fishing with pro Del Orton of Boise, Idaho, who is currently in 141st place with five bass weighing 12-6.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Hideki Maeda of Japan (five bass, 18-1); Kenny Williamson of Peoria, Ariz. (five bass, 17-14) and Shawn Carnahan of Chandler, Ariz. (five bass, 17-11).

Christopher Dixon of Northridge, Calif., earned $295 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 10-pound, 7-ounce bass he caught while fishing with pro Chris Neau of Castro Valley, Calif.

Overall there were 838 bass weighing 2,021 pounds, 11 ounces caught by 192 co-anglers Wednesday. The catch included 135 five-bass limits.

Co-anglers are competing this week for a top award of $25,000. Like the pros, the top 30 co-anglers from both FLW Series divisions after four qualifying events are complete will advance to the East-West Fishoff for a shot at the $2 million, 2008 Forrest Wood Cup.

Anglers will take off at 7:30 each morning from Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa located at 8727 Soda Bay Rd. in Kelseyville. Thursday and Friday’s weigh-in will be held at Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 15960 Dam Rd. in Clearlake, Calif., beginning at 4 p.m. Children will also be treated to a Family Fun Zone prior to Saturday’s weigh-in from noon to 4 p.m. at Wal-Mart. Activities in the Family Fun Zone include the Fujifilm trout pond, a Ranger boat simulator and assorted fishing-themed games. All activities are free and open to the public.

In FLW Series competition, pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day, with pros supplying the boat, controlling boat movement and competing against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back deck against other co-anglers. The entire field competes for the first three days, and co-angler competition concludes on day three with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated three-day weight. The top 10 professionals continue competition on day four, and the winner is determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all four days.

 

Day 2: Zaldain Leads on Clear Lake

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KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Pro Chris Zaldain of San Jose, Calif., caught a five-bass limit weighing 25 pounds, 11 ounces Thursday to capture the lead in the $1 million Wal-Mart FLW Series National Guard Western Division tournament on Clear Lake with a two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 47-11.

“I started off on a point where I saw a huge school of four- to six-pound bass and I caught a five-pounder and a three-pounder first thing this morning,” said Zaldain, who notched a top-10 finish in the FLW Series’ Lake Havasu event earlier this year. “I’ve got a really good big-fish bite going right now. I just know what the big fish are doing.”

Zaldain said his big-fish bite died around noon, but he stuck to his plan and fished his areas with the method that earned him more than 22 pounds of fish on the opening day of the tournament and more than 25 pounds Thursday.

“There’s guys on my spots, but they’re not doing what I’m doing,” said Zaldain.

Zaldain said a big swimbait fished shallow has been the key to his catch, and he’s confident the pattern will hold up during the last two days of competition. He said he’s not worried about other anglers stumbling onto his pattern and copying his success.

“If you didn’t figure it out in practice, you’re not going to figure it out during the tournament,” Zaldain said. “I feel pretty confident. I believe I can get another 22 or 23 pounds tomorrow.

Zaldain now holds a 4-pound, 3-ounce lead over the second-place Team Immodium pro Brett Hite of Phoenix, Ariz., who managed to haul in a total of 10 bass weighing 43-8 during the first two days of competition. Although Zaldain’s lead seems solid, the large fish that crossed the weigh-in stage, including a 13-pound, 2-ounce brute — the fourth largest fish caught in an FLW Outdoors event — proved that the standings can change dramatically on any given day.

Rounding out the top five pros are Randy McAbee Jr. of Bakersfield, Calif. (10 bass, 42-8); Mike Folkestad of Yorba Linda, Calif. (10 bass, 42-0) and Randy McAbee Sr. of Bakersfield (10 bass, 40-7).

Kelly Kellogg of Kelso, Wash., earned the day’s $488 Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to an 11-pound, 8-ounce bass he caught.

Overall there were 944 bass weighing 2,632 pounds, 12 ounces caught by 192 pros Thursday. The catch included 183 five-bass limits.

Pros are competing this week for a top award of $125,000 plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the BP East-National Guard West Fishoff and a shot at advancing to the $2 million, 2008 Forrest Wood Cup, where the winning pro will earn as much as $1 million – the sport’s biggest award. The top 30 pros from both FLW Series divisions after four qualifying events are complete will advance to the East-West Fishoff, which will be held Jan. 17-19, 2008. The location for the fishoff has not yet been announced. Thirty winners from the fishoff will advance to the 2008 Forrest Wood Cup.

Team National Guard’s Justin Lucas of Folsom, Calif., leads the Co-angler Division with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 36-10 followed by Paul Fontaine of Brentwood, Calif., in second place with 10 bass weighing 35-0.

“I had a great partner today and he put us on some great fish first thing this morning,” said Lucas, who is coming off of an FLW Series win last month at the Columbia River. “Every day is different, you know. Every day you get a different pro who is fishing different water and you just have to adapt to stay near the top.”

Lucas said he threw a Lucky Craft LV500 lipless crankbait as well as other small crankbaits and switched to a worm when the crankbait bite slowed.

Lucas caught five bass weighing 20-8 while fishing with pro Del Orton of Boise, Idaho, on Wednesday and five bass weighing 16-2 while fishing with pro Wayne Breazeale of Kelseyville on Thursday.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Hideki Maeda of Japan (10 bass, 34-1); Rodney Brinser of Brentwood, Calif. (10 bass, 33-8) and Anthony Klonowski of Eagle, Idaho (10 bass, 33-4).

Andrew Sanchez of Antioch, Calif., earned $295 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to the 13-pound, 2-ounce bass he caught while fishing with pro Shaun Bailey of Lake Havasu City, Ariz. The giant bass, which eclipsed the 13-pound, 1-ounce bass caught in a Stren Series event earlier this year, is the largest bass taken from Clear Lake in an FLW Outdoors event. The bass fell for a Norman crankbait.

Overall there were 762 bass weighing 1,789 pounds even caught by 191 co-anglers Thursday. The catch included 106 five-bass limits.

Co-anglers are competing this week for a top award of $25,000. Like the pros, the top 30 co-anglers from both FLW Series divisions after four qualifying events are complete will advance to the East-West Fishoff for a shot at the $2 million, 2008 Forrest Wood Cup
 

Day 3: Zaldain Holds Lead on Clear Lake

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KELSEYVILLE, Calif. (Oct. 26, 2007) – Pro Chris Zaldain of San Jose, Calif., caught a five-bass limit weighing 21 pounds, 5 ounces Friday to widen his lead in the $1 million Wal-Mart FLW Series National Guard Western Division tournament on Clear Lake. With a three-day catch of 15 bass weighing 69-0, he holds a 7-pound, 10-ounce lead over his closest competitor, Andre Moore of Alabaster, Ala., heading into the final day of competition.

“I thought I had only 19 pounds today,” said Zaldain, who notched a top-10 finish in the FLW Series’ Lake Havasu event earlier this year.

Zaldain has relied on fishing a swimbait in shallow water over points to catch the majority of his bigger fish and said Friday’s windy conditions didn’t affect his pattern as much as he thought it would.

“The wind really gathers boats up in certain areas, and those certain areas happen to be my key spots,” Zaldain said. “Tomorrow I’m going to go out and come out swinging. I expect to get another 22 to 25 pounds. I’ve got about 190 less boats to compete with tomorrow, so I’m feeling really confident.

“I don’t know what the wind’s supposed to do tomorrow, but it doesn’t seem to be hurting my bite,” Zaldain added.

Zaldain said he caught 14 fish throughout the day fishing the wide range of spots he has targeted and managed to put together another nice limit.

“I’ve been putting in $80 worth of gas every day, and I’m burning it all,” Zaldain said. “I’m running north to south and hitting my six or seven key spots. I’m fishing them five or 10 minutes and then getting the heck out of there.”

Rounding out the top five pros are Jason Newby of Bakersfield, Calif. (15 bass, 60-9); Jeff Billings of Clearlake, Calif. (15 bass, 59-4) and Team Immodium pro Brett Hite of Phoenix (15 bass, 57-15).

Also clearing the top 10 cut weight of 56 pounds, 1 ounce in the Pro Division are Team National Guard pro Tim Klinger of Boulder City, Nev.; Randy McAbee Jr. of Bakersfield; Joe Uribe Jr. of Lake Forest, Calif.; Jay Yelas of Corvallis, Ore.; and Randy McAbee Sr. of Bakersfield.

Fred Contaoi of Lakeport, Calif., earned the day’s $488 Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to an 11-pound, 1-ounce bass he caught on a Zoom Swamp Crawler. Contaoi’s monster bass had to be finessed to the boat, as he was using 5-pound-test fluorocarbon line and spinning gear, making the catch even more impressive.

Overall there were 859 bass weighing 2,385 pounds, 12 ounces caught by 186 pros Friday. The catch included 151 five-bass limits.

Pros are competing this week for a top award of $125,000 plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the BP East-National Guard West Fishoff and a shot at advancing to the $2 million, 2008 Forrest Wood Cup, where the winning pro will earn as much as $1 million – the sport’s biggest award. The top 30 pros from both FLW Series divisions after four qualifying events are complete will advance to the East-West Fishoff, which will be held Feb. 14-16, 2008. The location for the fishoff has not yet been announced. Thirty winners from the fishoff will advance to the 2008 Forrest Wood Cup.

Team National Guard co-angler Justin Lucas of Folsom, Calif., claimed his second consecutive FLW Series victory when he won the Co-angler Division and $25,000 Friday with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 54 pounds, 1 ounce followed by Kenny Williamson of Peoria, Ariz., in second place with 15 bass weighing 50-11 worth $9,835.

Lucas, who won the FLW Series event at the Columbia River in September and became the first co-angler to post the first back-to-back wins in FLW Series competition, opened the tournament in first place Wednesday with five bass weighing 20-8 while fishing with pro Del Orton of Boise, Idaho. On Thursday he maintained his lead on the strength of a five-bass catch weighing 16-2 while fishing with pro Wayne Breazeale of Kelseyville on Thursday. He wrapped up the win Friday with a five-bass catch weighing 17-7 while fishing with pro Lewis Milligan of Roseville, Calif.

“I’ve been so lucky to get such great pros for the six days of these last two events,” Lucas said. “To come out and fish with the best pros in the west and win money while doing it … how can you beat that?

Lucas credits his win to 8-pound Berkley fluorocarbon line and the six-inch Berkley Power Finesse Worm Hand Pour in Triple Margarita color.

“That’s what I caught 80 percent of my fish on,” Lucas said. “It’s been my go-to bait.”

Lucas said he caught about 20 fish Friday and targeted rocks in an area he had fished prior to the start of the tournament.

“I caught two five-pounders and a two-pounder there,” Lucas said. “Then we ran all over the lake and didn’t catch anything, so we went back to that spot and that’s when I caught more fish. A lot more.”

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Ken Schmitt of Livermore, Calif. (15 bass, 50-10, $8,851); Hideki Maeda of Japan (15 bass, 49-11, $7,868) and Paul Fontaine of Brentwood, Calif. (14 bass, 48-3, $6,884).

Troy Crawford of Phoenix earned $295 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 7-pound, 11-ounce bass he caught while fishing with pro Richard Smith of Kelseyville.

The 10 remaining pros will take off at 7:30 Saturday morning from Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa located at 8727 Soda Bay Rd. in Kelseyville. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 15960 Dam Rd. in Clearlake, Calif., beginning at 4 p.m. Children will also be treated to a Family Fun Zone prior to Saturday’s weigh-in from noon to 4 p.m. at Wal-Mart. Activities in the Family Fun Zone include the Fujifilm trout pond, a Ranger boat simulator and assorted fishing-themed games. All activities are free and open to the public.

 

Day 4: Klinger Wins FLW Series Event on Clear Lake

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KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – National Guard Team Pro Tim Klinger of Boulder City, Nev., caught a five-bass limit weighing an astounding 32 pounds, 8 ounces Saturday to come from behind and win $125,000 in the $1 million Wal-Mart FLW Series National Guard Western Division tournament on Clear Lake with a four-day catch of 19 bass weighing 89-12.

The catch gave him the win by a 2-pound, 15-ounce margin over Andre Moore of Alabaster, Ala., who caught a total of 20 bass weighing 86-13 and earned $48,841.

“It happened on a swimbait,” said Klinger, who increased his career earnings to more than $451,000 with the win. “I’d see a few fish shallow in practice, and every day I’d start seeing more and more. They were shallow either on points and rockpiles or on seawalls.”

Klinger said he saw the fish in about four feet of water and began throwing a bait designed to catch big fish — a swimbait. Klinger said he caught six fish throughout the final day of competition and lost a 5-pounder that would have boosted his final day’s weight.

“Every time I’d come back to a certain spot on the wall I was fishing, I’d mark it — a bush, or by a rock — whatever was on top,” Klinger said. “There would be a 5- to 9-pounder sitting on it.”

Klinger said the dramatic win at Clear Lake also was an emotional one.

“A sponsor couldn’t ask for anything more than to have both their sponsored pro and co-angler win their event,” Klinger said, referring to FLW Series Western Division title sponsor National Guard. “To do it for them here — this one means so much to me.”

Rounding out the top five pros are Chris Zaldain of San Jose, Calif. (20 bass, 85-4, $39,073); Jason Newby of Bakersfield, Calif. (20 bass, 79-10, $29,305) and Randy McAbee Jr. of Bakersfield (20 bass, 75-15, $19,536).

Kelly Kellogg of Kelso, Wash., caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Pro Division Thursday – an 11-pound, 8-ounce smallmouth – that earned him the day’s Snickers Big Bass award of $488.

Overall there were 50 bass weighing 191 pounds, 9 ounces caught by 10 pros Saturday. The catch included 10 five-bass limits.

Team National Guard co-angler Justin Lucas of Folsom, Calif., claimed his second consecutive FLW Series victory when he won the Co-angler Division and $25,000 Friday with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 54 pounds, 1 ounce followed by Kenny Williamson of Peoria, Ariz., in second place with 15 bass weighing 50-11 worth $9,835.

Lucas, who won the FLW Series event at the Columbia River in September and became the first co-angler to post the first back-to-back wins in FLW Series competition, opened the tournament in first place Wednesday with five bass weighing 20-8 while fishing with pro Del Orton of Boise, Idaho. On Thursday he maintained his lead on the strength of a five-bass catch weighing 16-2 while fishing with pro Wayne Breazeale of Kelseyville on Thursday. He wrapped up the win Friday with a five-bass catch weighing 17-7 while fishing with pro Lewis Milligan of Roseville, Calif.

“I’ve been so lucky to get such great pros for the six days of these last two events,” Lucas said. “To come out and fish with the best pros in the west and win money while doing it … how can you beat that?

Lucas credits his win to 8-pound Berkley fluorocarbon line and the six-inch Berkley Power Finesse Worm Hand Pour in Triple Margarita color.

“That’s what I caught 80 percent of my fish on,” Lucas said. “It’s been my go-to bait.”

Lucas said he caught about 20 fish Friday and targeted rocks in an area he had fished prior to the start of the tournament.

“I caught two five-pounders and a two-pounder there,” Lucas said. “Then we ran all over the lake and didn’t catch anything, so we went back to that spot and that’s when I caught more fish. A lot more.”

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Ken Schmitt of Livermore, Calif. (15 bass, 50-10, $8,851); Hideki Maeda of Japan (15 bass, 49-11, $7,868) and Paul Fontaine of Brentwood, Calif. (14 bass, 48-3, $6,884).

Andrew Sanchez of Antioch, Calif., earned $295 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to the 13-pound, 2-ounce bass he caught while fishing with pro Shaun Bailey of Lake Havasu City, Ariz. The giant bass, which eclipsed the 13-pound, 1-ounce bass caught in a Stren Series event earlier this year, is the largest bass taken from Clear Lake in an FLW Outdoors event. The bass fell for a Norman crankbait.
 

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Compiled by Brandon Shook