Lake Oroville Western Bass
Well
here it is my first Professional tournament of the 2002-fishing season. I would
like to share some of my pre tournament preparations as well as tournament
decisions and executions for the Western Bass
(westernbass.com) Pro/Am tournament.
I believe all of the preparation prior to the
tournament helped me to make the right decisions to make a come back from 64th
place to a top 10 finish in the tournament.
The
lake is Lake Oroville and is located in Oroville California, which is located
about 1 and ½ hours’ north of Sacramento. Oroville also happens to be the
hometown of bass professional Gary Klein.
January is normally a cold month in any state including California. Weather and lake conditions leading into the tournament were stable although the water was rising, and had came up about 35 feet in the last month. There was a high-pressure ridge of weather that had stalled in Northern California and it had been in place for 3 weeks, the weather conditions were clear with blue bird skies and a cold north wind.
Lake
Oroville is a man made resivoure and is said to be the largest earthen dam in
the world! Steep rocky and brushy hills
were flooded leaving rock piles, timber, rock walls, railroad tracks and
tunnels as structure.
Various
bass species included in stocking the lake were Florida strain bass, Spotted
bass, Small-mouth and Red-Eyes too.
Forage
in the lake consists of pond smelt, blue gills, trout, land locked salmon as
well as crawdads.
I had two practice days prior to the week of
the tournament. Both times I found the fish to be as shallow as 6 inches and
hitting jigs, tube baits and dart headed plastic worms. My average limit size
was from 10 to 12 pounds for a 5 fish limit and I knew that these were better
quality fish for the conditions. There had been a lot of team tournaments on
the lake in the last month and 10-pound limits were winning most of the events.
Also when I was talking to some
of the other pros the general consensus was 21 to 23 pounds would win the boat.
Tournament
week started on Thursday January 24th, and the weather was predicted
to change. Lake levels were still rising and had come up 4 foot in the past 5
days.
I
knew the weather change meant that the reaction bite could turn on. I really had to be on my game to win this
event.
As I practiced on Thursday and Friday I found 2 prime areas that were holding quality fish in the 2 to 2 ½ pound range. These 2 areas I found were very different and separated by about 20 miles by water so I would be very spread out if I had to run.
First
day I was awaken around 2 am to the noise of a very hard rain. (Darn it I left
the plug in the boat). With winds blowing up to 15 MPH I was a little concerned
that I wouldn’t be able to work my primary area. This area was at the end of
the river where the cold water met the lake water and was subject to a wind
tunnel effect if the wind was from the south. Wouldn’t you know it was a stiff
south wind.
With
a boat number of 114 I had a lot of time to make up so I told my AAA partner to
hold on I was going to run hard.
Blast
off went quickly and I was off and running, the winds had the water to about a
2-foot chop and I knew that was good news for me.
If
you haven’t ridden in any of the 9 series boats you should! They love to run in
the chop, the 901 is a drivers boat. It’s a little looser than the 911 or 929
but will run as fast as you can stand even in bigger waves.
After
about 2 miles I had my first boat reeled in another 3 miles and I had a my
second by the end of my run I had caught and passed 4 boats. Unfortunately that was the highlight of my
day.
As
I start fishing I had high expectations but after almost 3 hours of fishing I
didn’t have a fish in the boat. I was starting to think of my back up areas and
was wondering if the wind would have a negative impact on those spots as well.
After trying several different methods to catch fish I decided it was time to
move.
I
told my Am I was going to be taking off just about the time he set the hook,
after a short fight a small keeper bass was in the live well. We pull up the TM and took off, just about 4
miles back I stopped in a little cove and my Am caught another keeper bass with
a 1 ton Jig.
Just
a few minutes more and I was cranked up and running again, this time I ran
about 20 miles and stopped near a couple of humps that I had found fish on the
week before.
I
began working the area with a dart headed plastic worm and had 3 more bass in
the live well with in 15 minutes.
I fished the area for a little while longer then
moved to a stretch of bank that had some larger bass on it. My thought now is,
it’s time to start swinging for the fence. I knew my limit was small and I knew
I would have to get a kicker to help my bag.
We
caught about 25-30 fish that day but could only muster up a 7.20# limit.
My
buddy that was fishing the same area as me told me he was in 3rd
place and that I had left too soon that the fish turned on and that I should go
back up on Sunday too.
That
night my roommate told me he had blanked and that the wind had messed him up
also. I decided to commit to try and get a check. I had to use the “Hero or
Zero” attitude to finish high enough to get a check.
Part
of my plan was to stay in the area and to wait out the fish, to do this I had
to do something I normally don’t do. I gave all my back up spots to my
roommate. I even gave him the baits and showed him how to get them to bite. I
knew I wouldn’t get happy feet with nowhere to run to!
Day
2 the skies are clear the north wind is blowing again. It’s cold and there’s
ice on my boat and truck. I’m sure this
will change the fishing again, but it should be better for me.
Blast
off starts and I’m off and running, my first victim a SkeeterZX with HPDI
second was a 520VX with a 225 Opti, next was a 882 with a 150EFI, and before
you know it I’m shutting down on my honey hole with hardly any one around,
COOL.
Within
5 minutes I have a 15-inch Spotted Bass in the well, as I worked down the bank
I slowed my presentation. This is an adjustment I couldn’t make the day before
with the large bow in my line.
Fishing
is a lot better and after about 100 yards I had a 5 fish limit of about 9 and ½
pounds. I knew that I was close to getting a check. I thought that 10 pounds
will be enough put me well into the money line.
My
friend that was in second place on Saturday (his name is Greg too) asked how I
was doing, I told him I had between 9 and 10 pounds. He said he only had about
7 pounds and was starting to worry.
Wow
he’s worrying and knows that these fish will turn on late, so I did the only
thing I could do. I told him to jump in ahead of me and try catch some of the
bigger fish I was on. He thanked me and
moved on over. As we worked that 100-yard stretch it seemed that the fish had
shut off in that area. After a couple of hours Greg gave up and headed out for
different water.
There
I was with no place to run to and I was wondering if I made the right decision.
So I jumped across the river arm about 50
yards and started to work the area. As
I fished the new area the fish turned on again. I started catching fish one
after another and culling to gain one or two ounces at a time.
I
had about 1 hour left before check in and I could hear that Duh…Team jig
calling my name so I idled back over and started to toss my jig on the bank.
I
made a cast and in two pulls I was setting the hook on another 2 pound bass. I
moved 10 yards and missed a strike, I quickly followed it up with a XPS Tube
bait…wham… another 2 pound plus fish.
I
culled 2 more times in the next half-hour and headed back to weigh in. I
arrived at the check in boat with only 1 minute left before I was disqualified.
That
day’s weight was 10.91 pounds and was the second big bag for the day! I knew 10
pounds would help but that little extra weight helped to move me from 64th
place on day one to a tie for 7th place finish and a check for
$2,250 dollars.
My
next stop will be back on Lake Oroville, two weeks after this one. I hope to
share more good news with you then. Thanks for listening to my rambling and
I’ll talk to at the next one.
Rip
Lips,
Greg
Gutierrez