GRANITE BAY, Ca. – If, as the saying goes, “patience is a virtue” then FPT anglers Vince Bernal and Scott Stevens are truly the masters of that attribute. For throughout the brief window of time they had to prepare for last Saturday’s event on Folsom Lake – dubbed the “Thunder Valley Casino High Rollers Open,” both Vince and Scott lamented the fact that a tough bite, made even tougher by fish that would move in an out of an area – at will, tested the resolve of their patience to the very edge.
“We struggled in practice because the fish we found kept moving in and out randomly causing us to have to guess when and if they would be in the area come game day”, they both noted. You could go into an area and see them everywhere…and then come back an hour later and the fish would be gone. You just had to have a lot of patience and a whole lot of faith!”
And their patience and faith in the fish they hoped would come up – and stay up - paid off in a big way as come game day, they found areas where fish had finally settled in and crushed a strong field of 145 teams with an impressive five-fish limited weighing 20.12 pounds, earning their second FPT title of the season and taking home $2,650 dollars in winnings.
Other anglers, fishing in the competition such as veteran FPT angler Skip Maggiora, founder and president of the Skip’s Music store chain, had to exercise another type of patience, as he, experiencing a dead battery around midday, was forced to sit through the agony of watching this dynamic duo demonstrate their angling prowess.
“This team is incredible, and earned every bit of this victory”, Skip noted. I sat only a short distance away from them in a boat with dead battery, eating my lunch, and watched these guys put on an absolute “clinic” using various techniques. As a matter of fact, they stopped their fishing to offer me assistance, but with the quality of fish I saw they had going, I didn’t want them to risk not making it back to the weigh-in on time!”
Anglers Justin Nelson and Rich Mendoza, new members of the 2010 Cocoons Eyewear promotional staff, also got a bird’s eye view of these two anglers who have definitely taken their angling skills to another level. “It was amazing. They pulled into a cove we had just got to and asked us if they could fish the opposite bank. We had no problem with it and we both started going down the bank throwing baits. As we were talking, they nailed a three pounder, and just continued down the bank catching fish.” Our hats go off to these guys as they are really great competitors.”
And we at the FPT also offer our hearty congratulations to this extremely talented team as through hard work and extreme dedication they have moved themselves well beyond their peers. And like many FPT graduates before them, such as 4-time FLW co-angler champion Justin Lucas, 2008 B.A.S.S Women’s Bass Tour Angler of the Year (runner-up) Terri Bittner, and 2-time FLW co-angler champion Roy Desmangles - to name a few, will be more prepared than ever to “move on” to the next level of angling competition come 2011.
And we all wish them well.
Piranha Propellers Small Boat Division
In the Piranha Propellers – Small boat division, Kevin and Kirby Wallace aced a strong field of fellow small boat anglers with a five-fish limit that weigh 14.69 pounds. Kevin and Kirby are the defending Piranha Propellers Anglers of the Year champions in this division and if they keep going the way they are, dominating this division, they will be moved up to division II (big boat division) come next year.
Next up?........ The California delta…and BIG BASS time!
We were forced to cancel the Lake Shasta venue due to circumstances beyond our control, and have moved that event to the California delta going out of Brannon Island. Call and get signed up early as this is going to be a big one!
Flippin jigs on 65 pound braided line…Texas rigged Berkley Chigger Craws on a Gamakatsu 5.0 hooks… and gnarly swimbaits….you know the deal…and you KNOW this is gonna be an absolute slugfest!
See you all there!
FPT
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