KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Pro Chris Zaldain of San Jose, Calif., caught a five-bass limit weighing 21 pounds, 5 ounces Friday to widen his lead in the $1 million Wal-Mart FLW Series National Guard Western Division tournament on Clear Lake. With a three-day catch of 15 bass weighing 69-0, he holds a 7-pound, 10-ounce lead over his closest competitor, Andre Moore of Alabaster, Ala., heading into the final day of competition.
“I thought I had only 19 pounds today,” said Zaldain, who notched a top-10 finish in the FLW Series’ Lake Havasu event earlier this year.
Zaldain has relied on fishing a swimbait in shallow water over points to catch the majority of his bigger fish and said Friday’s windy conditions didn’t affect his pattern as much as he thought it would.
“The wind really gathers boats up in certain areas, and those certain areas happen to be my key spots,” Zaldain said. “Tomorrow I’m going to go out and come out swinging. I expect to get another 22 to 25 pounds. I’ve got about 190 less boats to compete with tomorrow, so I’m feeling really confident.
“I don’t know what the wind’s supposed to do tomorrow, but it doesn’t seem to be hurting my bite,” Zaldain added.
Zaldain said he caught 14 fish throughout the day fishing the wide range of spots he has targeted and managed to put together another nice limit.
“I’ve been putting in $80 worth of gas every day, and I’m burning it all,” Zaldain said. “I’m running north to south and hitting my six or seven key spots. I’m fishing them five or 10 minutes and then getting the heck out of there.”
Rounding out the top five pros are Jason Newby of Bakersfield, Calif. (15 bass, 60-9); Jeff Billings of Clearlake, Calif. (15 bass, 59-4) and Team Immodium pro Brett Hite of Phoenix (15 bass, 57-15).
Also clearing the top 10 cut weight of 56 pounds, 1 ounce in the Pro Division are Team National Guard pro Tim Klinger of Boulder City, Nev.; Randy McAbee Jr. of Bakersfield; Joe Uribe Jr. of Lake Forest, Calif.; Jay Yelas of Corvallis, Ore.; and Randy McAbee Sr. of Bakersfield.
Fred Contaoi of Lakeport, Calif., earned the day’s $488 Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to an 11-pound, 1-ounce bass he caught on a Zoom Swamp Crawler. Contaoi’s monster bass had to be finessed to the boat, as he was using 5-pound-test fluorocarbon line and spinning gear, making the catch even more impressive.
Overall there were 859 bass weighing 2,385 pounds, 12 ounces caught by 186 pros Friday. The catch included 151 five-bass limits.
Pros are competing this week for a top award of $125,000 plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the BP East-National Guard West Fishoff and a shot at advancing to the $2 million, 2008 Forrest Wood Cup, where the winning pro will earn as much as $1 million – the sport’s biggest award. The top 30 pros from both FLW Series divisions after four qualifying events are complete will advance to the East-West Fishoff, which will be held Feb. 14-16, 2008. The location for the fishoff has not yet been announced. Thirty winners from the fishoff will advance to the 2008 Forrest Wood Cup.
Team National Guard co-angler Justin Lucas of Folsom, Calif., claimed his second consecutive FLW Series victory when he won the Co-angler Division and $25,000 Friday with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 54 pounds, 1 ounce followed by Kenny Williamson of Peoria, Ariz., in second place with 15 bass weighing 50-11 worth $9,835.
Lucas, who won the FLW Series event at the Columbia River in September and became the first co-angler to post the first back-to-back wins in FLW Series competition, opened the tournament in first place Wednesday with five bass weighing 20-8 while fishing with pro Del Orton of Boise, Idaho. On Thursday he maintained his lead on the strength of a five-bass catch weighing 16-2 while fishing with pro Wayne Breazeale of Kelseyville on Thursday. He wrapped up the win Friday with a five-bass catch weighing 17-7 while fishing with pro Lewis Milligan of Roseville, Calif.
“I’ve been so lucky to get such great pros for the six days of these last two events,” Lucas said. “To come out and fish with the best pros in the west and win money while doing it … how can you beat that?
Lucas credits his win to 8-pound Berkley fluorocarbon line and the six-inch Berkley Power Finesse Worm Hand Pour in Triple Margarita color.
“That’s what I caught 80 percent of my fish on,” Lucas said. “It’s been my go-to bait.”
Lucas said he caught about 20 fish Friday and targeted rocks in an area he had fished prior to the start of the tournament.
“I caught two five-pounders and a two-pounder there,” Lucas said. “Then we ran all over the lake and didn’t catch anything, so we went back to that spot and that’s when I caught more fish. A lot more.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Ken Schmitt of Livermore, Calif. (15 bass, 50-10, $8,851); Hideki Maeda of Japan (15 bass, 49-11, $7,868) and Paul Fontaine of Brentwood, Calif. (14 bass, 48-3, $6,884).
Troy Crawford of Phoenix earned $295 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 7-pound, 11-ounce bass he caught while fishing with pro Richard Smith of Kelseyville.
The 10 remaining pros will take off at 7:30 Saturday morning from Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa located at 8727 Soda Bay Rd. in Kelseyville. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 15960 Dam Rd. in Clearlake, Calif., beginning at 4 p.m. Children will also be treated to a Family Fun Zone prior to Saturday’s weigh-in from noon to 4 p.m. at Wal-Mart. Activities in the Family Fun Zone include the Fujifilm trout pond, a Ranger boat simulator and assorted fishing-themed games. All activities are free and open to the public.
FLW Outdoors historically maintains a 98 percent live release rate in all of its bass tournaments.
Coverage of the Clear Lake FLW Series tournament will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program airing Dec. 30. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to approximately 350 million households in Europe, Africa and Asia, making it the most widely distributed weekly fishing program in the world. Additionally, FLW Outdoors is proud to provide tournament coverage to more than 800,000 servicemembers stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail presented by Abu Garcia, Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined purses of nearly $43 million through 241 events in 2007.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most-respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information about Wal-Mart, visit Walmart.com.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.