Steady Milligan wins Shasta co-angler crown
REDDING, Calif. – Jason Milligan of Anderson, Calif., won the Co-angler Division of Stren Series Western competition at Shasta Lake Saturday with a four-day total weight of 39 pounds, 2 ounces. He collected $5,000 for the victory.
It wasn’t easy. Not only was this the young Milligan’s first-ever Stren tournament, he only beat second-place Scott Burke by 4 ounces.
“I prefished here for two weeks, and I developed patterns for fishing with different pros and under different conditions,” Milligan said. “It’s about being able to adapt.”
Adapt he did. Despite increasingly colder weather and the bass subsequently diving for deeper waters, Milligan managed to capture the lead on Friday by consistently catching 10-pound limits. Saturday, fishing with pro Michael Tuck, he mustered his lowest weight of the week, five bass worth 8-8, but it was enough to hang on for the win.
“As the week wore on, it got colder and colder, and the fish went deeper and deeper and became more lethargic,” said Milligan, who said he caught his fish Saturday on a 4 1/2-inch warmouth-colored Roboworm, a green-pumpkin Senko and an orange-pumpkin Yamamoto tube. “I’m ecstatic to win, that’s for sure. It’s been an awesome week. I was just grinding it out, fishing really slow, and I got the right bites.”
Burke runner-up
Burke, who hails from Oakdale, Calif., caught the biggest co-angler limit Saturday – 10 pounds, 2 ounces – but ultimately finished second with 38-14 total. He earned $3,461.
“Every day the fishing got better for me, so I had a lot of confidence going into today,” Burke said.
Rest of the best
Roy Desmangles Jr. of Lincoln, Calif., caught 9 pounds, 12 ounces Saturday and finished third for the co-anglers with a four-day total of 38-3. He earned $2,813.
Co-angler Stacy Gee of Sacramento, Calif., caught 9 pounds, 9 ounces and finished fourth with a total of 38-0. He collected $2,164.
Charles Keller of Redding, who led the first two days, rounded out the top five co-anglers with a four-day total of 37 pounds, 5 ounces. He caught 7-7 Saturday and collected $1,731 for fifth place.
Rounding out the top 10 Co-angler Division finishers at Lake Shasta:
6th: Gary Haraguchi of Brentwood, Calif., 37-3, $1,644
7th: Charles Bean of Brentwood, Calif., 36-13, $1,557
8th: Michael Peterson of Redding, Calif., 36-6, $1,472
9th: Willie Cummings of Tucson, Ariz., 31-11, $1,383
10th: Vaughn Hansen of Saint George, Utah, 31-6, $1,299
Coming up
The next Stren Series event is a Southeast Division contest at Lake Seminole near Bainbridge, Ga., Jan. 31-Feb. 3.
The next Western Division tournament is the second event of the season. It will be held at Lake Mead near Las Vegas, Feb. 21-24.