Gee whiz

California rookie wins Co-angler Division at Lake Mead

HENDERSON, Nev. – It didn’t take much, but Stacy Gee still had just barely enough to win the Co-angler Division of Stren Series Western Division competition at Lake Mead.

The co-angler from Sacramento, Calif., took top prize – $5,000 plus a Ranger boat – with a four-day weight of 16 pounds, 13 ounces. He edged out runner-up Young Yang of Los Angeles by a single ounce.

Gee and Yang were the only two co-anglers to catch fish in Saturday’s finals. Fortunately for Gee, his fish outstretched Yang’s by just enough.

“When you can only catch two, that’s what you do,” Gee said. “I got lucky. I had really good pros all week who put me on some fish.”

Gee said he caught his fish on a 4-inch watermelon-red Zoom lizard with extremely light line .

“I was throwing a really light Carolina rig, just fishing to targets: depth changes and dark spots that looked like beds,” he said.

Gee, who is fishing his first year on the Stren Series, also took a top-10 finish at Lake Shasta in the first Western Division event of the year.

“It’s only my second tournament, and I got a win,” he said. “So I’m pretty happy.”

Yang caught three bass weighing 6 pounds, 11 ounces Saturday. He finished with a four-day weight of 16-12 and earned $3,021 for second place.

Rest of the best

Seventeen-year-old Scott Christenson of Hollister, Calif. – who led the second and third day – finished third for the co-anglers with a four-day total of 13 pounds, 7 ounces. He earned $2,454.

Co-angler Gayle Janes of Bermuda Dunes, Calif., finished fourth with a total of 11 pounds, 12 ounces. He collected $1,888.

Ron Frye of Dixon, Calif., rounded out the top five co-anglers with a four-day total of 11 pounds, 4 ounces. He collected $1,510 for fifth place.

Rounding out the top 10 Co-angler Division finishers at Lake Mead:

6th: Ronald Schneider of Sandy, Ore., 11-2, $1,434

7th: Russell Schmidt of Martinez, Calif., 10-11, $1,358

8th: Justin Lucas of Folsom, Calif., 9-14, $1,285

9th: Tom Pryor of Kingman, Ariz., 9-12, $1,207

10th: Richard Garlock of Alexandria Bay, N.Y., 9-11, $1,133

Coming up

The next Stren Series event is a Central Division contest at Bull Shoals near Bull Shoals, Ark., Feb. 28-March 3.

The next Western Division tournament is the third event of the season. It will be held at Clear Lake near Kelseyville, Calif., April 25-28.