4/17/04 – Spence / Raza Concure Tuff Field under Tuff Delta Conditions

Spring time fishing is always a crap shoot. One day your on 7 pound lunkers, the next day the wind blows, the temperature drops and you can’t even find a small male in the shallows. Well that was this week in a nut shell according to most of the top anglers at check in on Saturday morning. 38 teams arrived at Brannon Island State Park for the 3rd stop on the Delta Team Trail this year, and while most were optimistic, there was a sence in the air that fishing would be interesting. As the afternoon weigh in arrived, we started to completely understand everyone’s concerns. At a time of the year when a 7 fish limit is a for gone conclusion, today showed how mother nature can still dictate policy. Only 25 teams mananged a limit and even most of those were sub par for the season. The good news though is that we are only a couple of warms days away from everything breaking wide open and those monster bags coming to the scales.

Back to today. While many did struggle, one pair seamed to have figured everything out. Bill Spence Jr of Livermore and Chris Raza of Roseville came in with a great bag of fish, tipping the scales at 28.73 pounds and included the big fish of the day, a Beautiful 10.36 pound Largemouth. Raza told everyone at the awards how they spent most of the day in the North Delta Flippin’ Black Jigs or Senkos on Isolated structure. The cool part of the story is the 10 pounder was a dream fish as it came on the last cast of the day, with less than 10 minutes to go and teaches everyone why a good tournament team fishes hard until the last second and then runs those $40,000 boats as hard as they can back to check in. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen this happen over the past 10 seasons. For their efforts and persistance the guys received a pair of nice plaques from Outdoor Sportsman in Stockton and a check in the amount of $2620. Congratulations to Bill and Chris for another great day on the water and congratulations for remembering your sponsors C&C Marine. I know they appreciate what you do for them.

Second place went to one of the truly nice teams on the circuit, Lodi’s Russ and Scott Adkins. Wether on top or on the bottom these guys always have a smile on their face and a liquid refreshment for anyone who wonders by at a tournament. Today was a good day and Russ and Scott who managed 7 fish that came in at 26.02 pounds and include their kicker fish, a real nice 5.01 lb. Bass. The Adkins boys said they fished all day in the central delta throwing White/Chartruese Spinnerbaits and Flippin’ Jigs. The real key Scott said was to present the bait as slow as possible and just wait for them to eat. Scott also took the time to thank Repell Lures and AAA computer services. They also received a pair of those nice plaques from Outdoor Sportsman and a check in the amount of $1400.

Finishing in third was Steve Flanders of Roseville and Mike Saso of Elk Grove. These guys are continually near the top and today showed us again what consistency is all about. Their 25.95 pounds was a solid bad of nearly 4 pound bass as they had no kicker fish in the limit. “Flippin burms” was the method of fishing today said Steve Flanders and we spent all day in the middle to west delta. Flanders said in an interview after the tournament that Watermelon Brushhogs was the key bait and SparceTullies the key structure. As they receive their check for $910, they took the time to thank their wives for understanding the dedication they have to fishing.

Forth place went to Dean Grzelak of Clarksburg and Larry Noss of Sacramento with 7 fish that came in at 24.44 pounds. They received $710 and a pair of trophies while the fifth place award went to Mike Reynolds and Bill Donaleski of Modesto. They took home $440. We would like to thank Bill for taking the time away from his Business, Bob’s Marine of Modesto (sponsor of 100% BASS) and bringing Mike down to fish with us. Its always a pleasure to hang out with a 3 time BassMaster Classic participant and just talk fun and fishing.

100% BASS would like to thank the fine sponsors that make the difference between fishing and the quality events we are able to provide as a result of their support. Stratos Boats, Evinrude Outboards, Bob’s Marine in Modesto, MinnKota Trolling Motors, Berkley Trilene and Berkley Frenzy Hard Baits, Mister Twister, Persuader Bass Baits, Solar Bat Eye Protection, Thermo Batteries, DelTaco of Oakdale/Manteca, Walton’s Pond in San Leandro, Hook, Line&Sinker in Oakley, Outdoor Sportsman in Stockton, FishingWorld.Com, MF Finesse Worms, Vessel Assist Inc, Kistler Rods, TackleWarehouse.com, ComforTtrol, Comfort Suites of Oakley and Day’s Inn of Sonora.

For complete tournament results, please visit our web site at –www.100percentbass.com.

Bob Kornhauser – Owner 100% BASS 530-274-1397