SHASTA LAKE, Calif. – Bryan McDermott found the right spot – literally and figuratively – en route to topping day two of the FLW Series National Guard Western Division tournament in Shasta Lake, Calif.
In a day of big moves, McDermott’s was the biggest by far, as the Cottonwood, Calif. pro blasted his way from a day one finish of 104th to his day two lead. McDermott bolstered his first weight of 6-13 with 16-8 – the largest of day two – for a total of 23-5. Anchoring his huge catch was a plump spotted bass that went – drum roll, please – 7 pounds, 3 ounces.
McDermott found this pig and another quality spot of four-plus pounds after following his gut. “We were running down the lake and I looked at a spot and said ‘I’ve caught fish there before.’ We pulled up and on the second cast, I stuck the big fish and my partner stuck one that was almost two pounds. We went down theSacking up the day's heaviest catch, Bryan McDermott holds a lead of 1 pound, 4 ounces in the pro division. bank and then I said ‘Let’s go back up there,’ and I made three more casts and got that other big fish.”
The spot that yielded two quality fish within 25 yards of one another was a classic prespawn area in 30 feet near a nice gravel bottom surrounded by big rocks that will probably hold lots of bass eggs during the spring spawn. McDermott said the fish he caught were moving up to prepare for the big event.
“It was a nice sunny spot,” he noted. “This time of year, the fish are going to start to pull up, warm up and start to get ready to start spawning in another month or two.”
McDermott fished a green wacky rigged worm. Inserting a nail weight into the tail end served the dual purpose of action and access. “You have to use a weight to make them sink in this wind. Otherwise, if you throw it out there weightless, you’d never get it two feet deep.”
Identifying a pattern toward the end of day one helped McDermott figure out what he needed to do on day two. “Yesterday in the afternoon, I got onto that gravel-by-the-big-rock thing but it was too late to do anything. Today, I worked it a little harder.”
Swimbaits serve up second for Zaldain
Fishing swimbaits over ledges produced a big bag for second place pro Chris Zaldain.Gaining a dozen places in the standings was Chris Zaldain of San Jose, Calif., who caught a limit of 12 pounds, 6 ounces to finish second with 22-1. Focusing on a ledge that drops from 20 feet to 30, Zaldain sat over the structure and cast into the deeper water. Conditions, he said, lined up in his favor.
“Today, the wind was just perfect – it was blowing perpendicular to that ledge,” he explained. “That drives the shad up in there. Actually, the trout are chasing the shad and the bass are chasing the trout. That’s what we’re trying to emulate with the Baitsmith swimbait.”
Zaldain used a 6-inch Baitsmith swimbait in blue ghost and that offering struck pay dirt early when a 4 ½-pound spot nailed the bait at 8:30. “We were hooting and hollering. The thing is you get that kicker and you can fish comfortably the rest of the day.”
Harris improves to third
Local pro K.C. Harris of Shasta Lake, Calif. made a big move from 27th to third on the strength of his 12-Although he got fewer bites than he did on day one, third place pro KC Harris caught quality fish, including this 4-pound spot.pound, 15-ounce day two limit. Paired that with his first day’s effort gave Harris 21-15. Anchoring his second round bag was a plump spotted bass of 4-plus pounds that he caught in the lake’s McCloud Arm.
Harris said that the balance of quantity and quality inverted on day two. “I had a pretty good day yesterday – I only had 9 pounds, but I caught probably 25 fish. Today was tougher. I only caught 10 fish, but I had that one big bite.”
Tubes, swimbaits and worms on Darter heads accounted for Harris’s catches. He focused on rocky points in about 30 feet of water.
Ehrler finesses his way into fourth
Although he had trouble finding "fresh" spots, National Guard pro Brent Ehrler moved up one spot to fourth.Fishing Picasso shaky heads and worms on Tru-Tungsten Flea Flicker jigs, National Guard pro Brent Ehrler of Redlands, Calif. caught a limit that weighed 9-12 and moved up one notch to fourth with 21-1.
Ehrler said that one of the biggest challenges he faced was finding “fresh” spots. “With the number of boats out there, this lake is fishing small. It seems that everywhere I went, another boat was there, so I just had no confidence that I could find a spot that had not been fished.
“It’s tough fishing behind someone – there are some areas of the lake where you can go and get away from the crowds, but it doesn’t seem like the quality of fish are there. Sometimes, if I’m fishing behind someone, I’ll try fishing a little deeper. But I think it’s just a timing thing. If you’re the right person there, you’ll get the right bite. If not, you just keep rotating.”
Ramona, Calif. pro Gabe Bolivar placed 49th on day one with 8-5, but his day two effort of 12-9 moved himFishing slow and deep on main lake points gave Gabe Bolivar what he needed to move up 44 spots to fifth place. up 44 spots to fifth with 20-14. Bolivar focused on main lake points and, slow and deep with wacky rigged Senkos.
Best of the rest
Rounding out the top-10 pro leaders at the FLW Series Shasta Lake event: 6th: Jeff Michels of Lakehead, Calif., 20-12 7th: Brett Gouvea of Redding, Calif., 20-9 8th: Jim Riley of Shasta Lake, Calif., 20-8 9th: Chris Fancelli of Redding, Calif., 20-2 10th: Kazuki Kodama of Torrance, Calif., 19-13
Walker goes wacky to top co-angler field
Holding on to his co-angler lead, National Guard team member Johnny Walker stuck with wacky rigging again on day two.Team National Guard member Johnny Walker of Tacoma, Wash. stuck with his day one tactic of wacky rigged Senkos with nail weights at the head end and retained the co-angler division lead that he captured on day one. Bolstering his opening score of 11-13 with 8-8 gave Walker a total of 20-5.
Day one found Max Bauer of San Diego, Calif. and J.R. Wright of Truckee, Calif. tied for second with 10-1, but Bauer pulled ahead on day two by catching a limit weighing 9-8 and holding the second place spot with 19-9. Wright caught 8-8 on day two and slipped to third with 18-9
Billy Dehart of Burlingame, Calif. stayed in fourth with 17-13 and Guy Williams of Menifee, Calif. took fifth with 17-12.
Best of the rest
Rounding out the top-10 co-angler leaders at the FLW Series Shasta Lake event: 6th: Lori Wallace of Boise, Idaho, 17-0 7th: Mark Smith of Dana Point, Calif., 16-15 8th: Willie Church of Cottonwood, Calif., 16-12 9th: Joe Crawford of Laguna Niguel, Calif., 16-11 10th: Jimmy Zanotelli of Redding, Calif., 16-10
Day three of FLW Series action on Shasta Lake continues at Friday’s takeoff, scheduled to take place at 7:30 a.m. (PT) at Bridge Bay Resort located at 10300 Bridge Bay Road in Redding, Calif.
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