Pro Leon Knight of Discovery Bay, Calif., landed five bass weighing 22 pounds Wednesday to lead day one of the FLW Series National Guard Western Division tournament on the California Delta. He holds a one pound, 15-ounce lead in the tournament featuring 117 pros and 117 co-anglers representing 12 states and Japan.
“The tide is always in play at the Delta,” said Knight, who is looking for his first FLW Series victory and finished in 18th place last year. “When the tide moves up the fish move up; when the tide moves out the fish move out. You really have to know the water movement to be successful here.”
“The cold front that moved in last night really made fishing tough, but today should be the worst day and fishing should improve tomorrow. I had a really good practice and think my pattern can hold up for the rest of the tournament, so it should be an exciting week.”
Knight was pretty tight lipped about where and how he was fishing, but did indicate that he was using topwater baits and that he would continue doing whatever it was he was doing until the fish tell him otherwise!
Many of the seasoned Delta pros came across stage scratching their heads and indicating that the Delta was not performing to normal Delta standards. Low tides, windy conditions, post spawn fish, and a cold front that crept in overnight really played havoc with today’s anglers. The Delta is a fishery where almost every angler will tell you that each cast can net a 10-pound hawg so nobody is counting themselves out of the tournament yet; 30 pound sacks are not unheard of here.
Another Discovery Cove angler, Donald Davis, holds the No. 2 spot with five bass weighing 20-1 going into tomorrow’s competition.
Rounding out the remainder of the top-10 pros after day one at the California Delta are:
3rd: Jon Strelic, El Cajon, Calif., five bass, 19-10
4th: Cody Meyer, Grass Valley, Calif., five bass, 19-6
5th: Jonathan Koehler, Galt, Calif., five bass, 17-4
6th: Phillip Dutra, Antioch, Calif., five bass, 17-2
7th: Mark Daniels, Jr., Fairfield, Calif., five bass, 16-15
8th: National Guard pro Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., five bass, 16-8
9th: Stephen Tosh, Jr., Modesto, Calif., five bass, 15-15
10th: Mike Cato, Lockford, Calif., five bass, 15-14
Overall there were 514 bass weighing 1211 pounds, 12 ounces caught by 117 pros Wednesday. The catch included 85 five-bass limits.
In FLW Series competition, pros are competing for a top award of over $52,000 plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for a shot at the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup, the world championship of bass fishing.
Randy Bruno of Huntington Beach, Calif., holds a commanding lead in the Co-angler Division with five bass weighing 21-5 followed by Tom Elliot of Downey, Calif., in second place with five bass weighing 15-13.
“I had one of those rare days where everything I did was right” said Bruno, who bagged a personal best with his heaviest sack in FLW tournament fishing history. “I had a good practice and feel pretty fortunate to be in this position.
Bruno was also very tight lipped about his style of fishing saying he didn’t want to give anything away to the other pros, but did indicate that he was using plastics in shallow water.
Bruno caught his bass while fishing with pro Donald Davis who is currently in 2nd place.
The remainder of the top-10 co-anglers are:
3rd: Sean Kimble, San Ramon, Calif., five bass, 12-14
4th: Tai Au, Phoenix, Ariz., five bass, 12-9
5th: Dewayne Jackson, Bloomfield, N.M., five bass, 12-4
6th: Ryan Mabery, Agoura Hills, Calif., five bass, 12-1
7th: National Guard co-angler Johnathan Walker, Tacoma, Wash., five bass, 11-6
8th: Robert Jones, Clayton, Calif., five bass, 11-5
9th: Jack Kemper, Benicia, Calif., five bass, 10-15
10th: Jason Chang, Riverside, Calif., five bass, 10-14
10th: Greig Sniffen, Saratoga, Calif., five bass, 10-14
