Mike Hart and John "Zank" Viazanko made it back-to-back wins at Castaic Lake this past weekend by topping a field of 54 teams at Sunday's WON BASS Southern California Region 2006-2007 season opener.
The pair brought in an outstanding 5-fish limit weighing 20.24 pounds, a weight almost identical to their winning weight at Saturday's National Bass West contest at Castaic Lake. Their win on Sunday gave them a total of $4,890 in winnings, thus bringing their two day total winnings to over $9,000. Included in their Sunday winnings was $1,000 in Anglers Marine Winners Circle contingency award money. Anglers Marine offers this award to any angler winning a WON BASS tournament while fishing out of a Ranger Bass Boat rigged with a Mercury outboard that they purchased from Anglers Marine in Anaheim.
Finishing second at the Castaic Lake season opener was the team of Jack Kwiatek and Crys Gwizdak with a limit weighing a very respectable 18.95 pounds. Included in their bag was a healthy 6.44 pounder, the largest bass of the tournament. That big bass helped the pair to a total of $1,700 in winnings. Kwiatek also received a brand new Huddleston Deluxe ROF-12 swimbait for catching the largest bass of the contest.
Third place went to one of Southern California's premiere veteran teams, that of Jay Poore and John Ed Wilder, whose 5-fish limit tipped the scales at 15.81 to earn the pair a total of $1,175 in winnings. Poore and Wilder are the only team in the 18 year history of WON BASS to have qualified for every Tri-States Team Championship. Their impressive third place finish has them well on their way to continuing their incredible and unbreakable record.
Rounding out the top five were Eric Carter and Rob MacLean, whose 15.25 pound limit earned them fourth place and $540. Finishing in fifth place were Dennis Rodriguez and Derrick Yoshinaga, who received $420 for their 14.96 limit of bass.
Once again, the Southern California Region's very popular "Ten Pound Option" provided some incredible excitement with a total of $940 going to the father/son team of Mike and Tom Hamilton with the five-fish limit that was the closest to 10.00 pounds without going over. The pair's 9.85 pound limit just edged out brothers Stan and Ken Vanderburg's limit that weighed 9.69 pounds.
Of the 54 teams entered in Sunday's Castaic tournament, all but three teams brought fish to the scales. There were a total of 188 fish weighed in for a total weight of 431.23 pounds, which is an impressive per fish average weight of 2.29 pounds. All of the 188 fish weighed in were released alive, a 100% survival rate. There were 26 five-fish limits posted in the contest. The total cash payout at the November 12th Castaic Lake season opener was an incredible $11,480.
The next WON BASS Southern California Region tournament will be on Saturday, December 9th again at Castaic Lake. This event will also go out of the Main Launch Ramp and anglers are reminded that they must check in prior to the 5 a.m. deadline or they will go out last and will be due in with the first flight. Anglers are also reminded that all WON BASS Southern California Region events have a Monday through Friday off-limits period.
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