Newman and Evans claim Casitas Region’s Eric Elshere Memorial Cup, Anglers of the Year honors

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Rich Tauber
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Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:43 am

Newman and Evans claim Casitas Region’s Eric Elshere Memorial Cup, Anglers of the Year honors

Post by Rich Tauber »

Newman and Evans claim Casitas Region’s Eric Elshere Memorial Cup, Anglers of the Year honors

BY BLAKE WARREN
WON BASS Editor

OAK VIEW – Expect the unexpected. A good credo to follow for any bass angler, as it keeps one’s mindset in a willing and able place to be able to quickly adapt, or not. The unexpected arrived at Lake Casitas on the morning of June 4, the day of the final Casitas Region event of the season with the Eric Elshere Memorial Cup up for grabs.
“We had a pretty major change in conditions for the final event,” said tournament director Rich Tauber. “We’d had some perfect overcast weather nearly every morning into the early afternoon for three weeks, then on the day of the championship we were greeted with a high-pressure system, clear, bluebird skies and temps into the 90s, so it forced guys to make some decisions about how they’d approach the sudden changes in conditions.”
The tourney anglers launched bright and early, headed out to employ whatever intuition-driven tactics they’d decided to roll with on the fly. As the teams starting trickling in to the scales in the early afternoon, the tension began to build and it was clear that the numbers of quality bass that had been showing up event after event were a little harder to come by on this day. Whereas nearly every Casitas Region tournament in previous months was a virtual lock that it would take at least 20 pounds to win on the circuit, that notion was coming into doubt as the weigh-ins progressed. Just three teams failed to put together a full limit but almost every team’s five-fish bag left them hanging in the teens through much of the weigh-in.
Jason Hemminger’s 6.28-pound big fish caught on an underspin was just enough to put the first team of the day into the 20-plus range, sending he and teammate Martin Brian to the top of the leaderboard with just a few teams left to weigh in their bags. The Hemminger/Brian team held onto the top spot as the last team set their limit on the scales. No strangers to the winner’s circle, Matt Newman and Brian Evans knew they had a good bag on their hands, and watched as the scale fluttered back and forth in front of the large crowd, ultimately settling at 20.75 pounds and barely besting Hemminger and Brian by less than a quarter pound with their 20.59.
“Even with the clear conditions, Evans and Newman stuck with topwater baits all day,” Tauber said. “They pushed that topwater and focused on bigger bites from start to finish even with absolutely no cloud cover, but it sure paid off. They were pretty stoked. Brian told me after the event that this was their absolute focus and something they were completely dedicated to in the 2016 season. So congratulations to those guys.”
Evans and Newman cashed in on a $3,825.22 payday for their big win while also getting their names engraved on the Eric Elshere Memorial Cup, named in honor of longtime Casitas angler Larry Elshere’s son, who tragically passed away last year after a brave battle with cancer. The duo also claimed Anglers of the Year honors for a second straight season.
Jason Hemminger and Martin Brian captured 2nd place and $1,980.00 in cash for there days work.
The Casitas season now shifts gears to the “Casitas Nights” circuit, which kicked off June 18. The next event is July 9, with another coming later in the month on July 23. Night events run from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. and entry fees are $200 per team with $40 Big Fish options and $100 Super Options available. Contact tournament director Rich Tauber at (818) 439-1154 for more information.

TAKING FIRST PLACE in the championship event of the WON BASS Casitas Region circuit were Brian Evans and Matt Newman with 20.75 pounds of fish. The dynamic duo’s names will go on the Eric Elshere Memorial Cup and they also earned a $3,825.22 payday for their efforts, along with taking Anglers of the Year honors for a second consecutive season.
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mark poulson
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Joined: Sun May 08, 2005 4:16 am
Location: Antioch, CA

Re: Newman and Evans claim Casitas Region’s Eric Elshere Memorial Cup, Anglers of the Year honors

Post by mark poulson »

Congrats Matt and Brian!
Attitude plus effort equal success
CLEAN AND DRY
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