The ever-changing conditions of the California Delta didn’t give the 127 boats fishing the FLW EverStart circuit a break today. With rollercoastering air temps and varying wind gusts through practice time and the two days of the tournament, many fishermen have found the best pattern is to have a backup pattern.
Case in point hit home today when tournament leader from West Hills, Triton pro Charlie Weyer walked to the scales with nearly half of what he held yesterday. At a post weigh-in interview he explained he was challenged by the visual disappearance of the big bed fish he had been on Weyer said, “It was a higher tide and much windier so I had to blind cast into my areas; I just couldn’t get the big ones to go.”
Although he weighed nearly half on day two as he did on the previous day, today’s stringer struggles weren’t enough to knock Weyer out of top spot. He added 16-12 to his 32-9 from Thursday and still leads the field by about 2-lbs.
“I was on big fish, like the one (10-10) I had yesterday but she wouldn’t bite,” he continued crediting U.S. Open champs Mike Folkestad and Chris Ricci for getting him to get off the reaction bite and pick up the drop shot during pre practice. “I wouldn’t have gotten yesterday’s big bag without that advice.”
Weyer isn’t worried about tomorrow; he’s already staked out some big bass and feels they will be there for him when he fishes the final day tomorrow. He stated, “I saw a bunch of them coming up late this afternoon; I wish I would have had another couple of hours today but I will get them tomorrow.”
There is less than a 3-lb gap between the top-5 anglers of the ten made the final field cut.
Next in line is Sean Minderman from Spokane. With back-to-back twenty plus days he climbed from 9th to 2nd. Touting a Texas-rigged Senko late in the day was his best bet; Minderman added 22-14 to the 24-8 he had banked yesterday. Vaulting today’s limit by 10-15 was the kicker shown in the slideshow to the left.
New to this tournament’s top-10 is Fairfield angler Mark Casey. Casey came to the stage with a surprise claiming the day’s biggest bag with just under 30-lbs. Casey climbed from 27th with his 17-12 on day one to 3rd with the 29-06 he reeled in today. Now with a two day total of 47-2, Casey credited today’s catches to getting lucky enough to get the right bites and hadn’t really changed anything from his first day on the water. Wacky, 7-inch, watermelon red Senkos were his bait of choice.
Clifford Pirch popped into 4th when he also repeated his twenty plus performance and added 20-04 to the 26-08 he weighed on day one. Punished by the wind, Pirch explained bed fishing was less productive than it had been in the predominant calmness the anglers saw on day one. The Arizona angler shared the ones he could pick off the beds came later in the day.
Two baits brought Bub Tosh to the scales with 19-3. Bub punched his Psycho Dad most of the day picking up three in his bag, including his biggest and then tempted the last two with a drop shot. His 5-lb’r was the last of his limit. Bub’s confident he will find them tomorrow and excitedly exclaimed, “I am just happy to have this feelin’ one more time.”
A 14-degree temperature drop is forecasted for the field of top-10 anglers. They can also expect a cloud cover, a slight chance of rain and winds from the west at 15-mph. They blast off at 6:30 AM to battle for a possible payday of $35,000 and a new Ranger Bass Boat.
The final field fishing tomorrow has been cut to:
- 49-05 Charlie Weyer
- 47-06 Sean Minderman
- 47-02 Mark Casey
- 46-12 Clifford Pirch
- 46-07 Bub Tosh
- 43-13 Robert Lee
- 41-09 Ken Mah
- 40-13 Joe Uribe Jr.
- 40-07 Micheal tuck
- 39-15 Benjamin Byrd
Click here for day one info and pic.
For an entire list of pro and co standings, visit the FLW website.
Share your own fish tale below or drop a line.
Comments