Opalecky grabs FLW Series lead during wild day on Delta
Local pro sacks over 32 pounds to lead parade of mammoth weights during National Guard Western Division event
BETHEL ISLAND, Calif. – If anyone still believes that the California Delta isn’t one of the greatest bass fisheries in the United States, they clearly weren’t paying attention to today’s Wal-Mart FLW Series weigh-in. By the time the last angler had walked across the stage, officially closing the books on the opening day of competition – nearly four hours after the weigh-in’s 3 p.m. start time – even the most seasoned bass-fishing fans had to do a double-take as the final numbers were tallied.
For starters, pros and co-anglers combined to catch 4,693 pounds and 11 ounces of fish. More than 295 limits were recorded, and at least 48 pros caught stringers weighing 17 pounds, 4 ounces or greater. Want more? If you landed a 20-pound stringer in today’s competition, that wasn’t even good enough to qualify for the top 20. In fact, 23 pounds wasn’t enough to qualify for the top 10.
At one point, even veteran FLW Series tournament host Chris Jones was overwhelmed by the bounty that the California Delta coughed up in Wednesday’s competition.
“Mike (Folkestad), you have over 26 pounds and that’s good enough for seventh place,” Jones said. “Man, welcome to the California Delta.”
Welcome indeed.
However, when all was said and done, the greatest beneficiary of the Delta’s benevolence had to be Elk Grove, Calif., native Jim Opalecky, who ultimately recorded a whopping day-one catch of 32 pounds, 12 ounces.
“It was just one of those days,” said Opalecky. “This is my personal one-day best. I’d never broken 32 pounds in this type of circuit before. To get five bites like the ones I got today and not lose a fish was just incredible. I’ll never forget this day.”
Opalecky, who was so visibly exhausted after weigh-in that he had to temporarily postpone interviews in order to rehydrate himself, said he left every ounce of energy out on the water today.
“I fished really hard today; I really grinded it out,” he said. “I made a lot of casts, a lot of casts. I had a good limit early on, but then I went about four hours without getting one bite. But I kept working hard, and it paid off.”
Opalecky said that he threw a variety of crankbaits all day, landing a 5-pounder on his very first cast, landing a 21-pound limit by 9:30 a.m. and then spending the rest of the afternoon trying to upgrade his total catch.
“I wound up switching to a bigger bait in the afternoon, and that made a difference,” said Opalecky, who targeted weeds and grass lines in 4 to 6 feet of water. “In the end I had a great day. I had one of those days that you dream about.”
As an encore, Opalecky said he is going to try to do the exact same thing tomorrow.
“But if I start off slowly, I have some backup spots where I can go, where I know I can catch 18 to 20 pounds,” he said. “The worst thing I can try to do tomorrow is swing for the fences and strike out.”
Opalecky also won the Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division after netting a monstrous 9-pound, 5-ounce largemouth. The award was worth $500.
Barrack averts `local curse’
Oakley, Calif., pro Bobby Barrack thought he was in deep trouble heading into the opening day of California Delta competition. After figuring out a solid pattern two weeks ago, just before the official prefishing cutoff, the weather changed dramatically. As a result, Barrack was forced to go back to the drawing board on a moment’s notice.
“Because of the weather, the fishing has changed so much in the past two weeks that I basically had to go prefishing today,” said Barrack. “I really didn’t want to fall victim to the `local curse.’ But as it turned out, I got some lucky bites, and that’s what saved me.”
Lucky bites or not, Barrack turned in a monster catch weighing 31 pounds, 3 ounces to grab second place overall in the Pro Division. However, Barrack said that he is taking nothing for granted, especially on the fickle waters of the California Delta.
“My philosophy is to never get too high or too low when I’m fishing. This is March, and anything can happen out there on the Delta tomorrow,” said Barrack. “The water levels are moving up and down, and the fish really aren’t locked on to anything right now. Tomorrow, I could catch 12 pounds or I could catch 30 – who knows?”
Adding to the intrigue is Barrack’s use of two prototype baits – known as Dandy baits – designed by FLW Series co-angler Andy Scholtz of Reno, Nev.
“I had four (Dandy) jigs when I started, and now I have two; so hopefully Andy can get his wife to Fed Ex some more of them to us,” said Barrack, who is targeting bass in 2 to 12 feet of water with a combination of Dandy jigs and Dandy spinnerbaits.
“I probably should run down there right now and see if he’s called her yet,” said Barrack with a laugh.
Hobbs parlays nearly perfect day into top-10 finish
Perhaps nobody in the entire field had as much fun as Ronald Hobbs Jr. of Graham, Wash. And after landing a 27-pound, 12-ounce stringer on a gorgeous 77-degree day in California, who could blame him?
“It was a blast out there today,” said Hobbs. “My partner and I had fun all day. It was just one of those days – great weather, great company, great fishing.”
Hobbs said he targeted bass with a Castaic swimbait and a brown-and-blue jig.
“I’m really looking forward to tomorrow,” he said. “I had a good prefish, and I’ve been targeting a lot of the bigger cruisers. I’m fishing a lot of docks, and there are a bunch of prespawn females that are suspending on the (outer) edges during the morning and moving in shallow as the water gets warmer throughout the day.
“I’ve also left a lot of my big fish alone, so I’m feeling pretty good about the rest of the tournament.”
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Michael Rooke of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., finished the day in fourth place with a total catch of 27 pounds, 2 ounces.
Meanwhile, Chris Raza of Roseville, Calif., rounded out the top five pro finishes with a catch of 27 pounds.
“I wanted to have a big first day of the tournament, and I did,” said Raza. “I had a limit by 9 a.m. and pretty much stayed in one area all day. I caught an 8-pound, 15-ounce fish at about 8:15 a.m. and lost another 12-pounder right after that. I culled about four more fish after that. Overall, it was a great day.”
Raza said he targeted bass in 2 to 3 feet of water flipping a Reaction Innovations Double-Wide Beaver into heavy cover. And he plans to do more of the same Thursday.
“Tomorrow, I’m going to go out there and try to do the same thing,” he said. “I’m not saving any fish for nothing.”
Ilosky dominates co-angler field to net overall lead
Mike Iloski said that he’d never fished the California Delta before now. However, you’d never know it from the results. Using a five-fish catch weighing 23 pounds, 7 ounces, Ilosky dwarfed the rest of his co-angler competitors to take a comfortable lead heading into the second day of competition on the Delta.
“It feels unbelievable,” he said. “I’m still kind of shocked. At 10 a.m. this morning, I only had one fish in the boat and was already thinking about the ride home.”
Fortunately for Ilosky, he won’t be riding home anytime soon if today’s catch is any indication.
“I’m going to eat good tonight and sleep good tonight,” said Ilosky, who targeted bass with a variety of plastic baits. “Coming here, I had no idea what to expect. But it has just been awesome. The fishing here is great.”
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top five co-angler leaders at the FLW Series California Delta event:
2nd: Tim Demecs of Peoria, Ariz., 19-5
3rd: Michael Spencer of Alpine, Calif., 18-9
4th: Andy Scholz of Reno, Nev., 18-5
5th: Jerreth Bain of Kennesaw, Ga., 18-4
Kirk Beardsley of Huntington Beach, Calif., grabbed the day’s Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division after netting a whopping 9-pound, 15-ounce largemouth. Beardsley’s catch was good enough to earn him a check for $300.
Day two of FLW Series Western Division action at the California Delta continues at Thursday’s takeoff, scheduled to take place at 7:30 a.m. Pacific time at Russo’s Marina, located at 3995 Willow Road in Bethel Island, Calif.