BETHEL ISLAND, Calif. – After leading all but one day of the tournament, Roy Desmangles Jr. of Lincoln, Calif., took home the Co-angler Division trophy, $5,000 and a new Ranger boat after posting a winning weight of 31 pounds, 4 ounces in the final round of Stren Series Western Division competition at the California Delta.
“First, I’m ecstatic, and I feel incredibly fortunate,” he said. “For 13 years I’ve been fishing tournaments, and I’m humbled because I’ve never won a tournament. Finally, it’s a dream come true.”
Desmangles, who fished with pro Matt Lowery Saturday and caught a five-bass limit weighing 16 pounds, 11 ounces, said he used a pattern of “extreme finesse fishing” and power fishing with big baits to stay on top three out of four days of the week.
“I threw 8-inch swimbaits, Zara Super Spooks and homemade swimbaits,” he said. “Today, I just went for it and tied on the bigger baits. I wanted to go from extremely small to extremely big.”
Desmangles said he keyed on the presence of baitfish to decide what to throw.
“When I saw Delta smelt, I knew there were fish around, so I’d throw finesse baits,” he said. “Where there were no smelt, I threw swimbaits. Just paying attention to the environment was huge.”
High five
Second place for the co-anglers went to Gary Haraguchi of Brentwood, Calif., who caught the second-heaviest limit of the day – 15 pounds, 15 ounces. He finished with 28-3 and earned $4,000.
Third place went to day-three leader Hideki Maeda of Osaka, Japan, for a final weight of 27 pounds, 12 ounces. He earned $3,480.
Jack Kemper of Benecia, Calif., finished fourth for the co-anglers and earned $2,480. He caught 27 pounds, 3 ounces in the finals.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers was John Madden of Brentwood, Calif., with a weight of 26 pounds, 13 ounces. He collected $1,980.
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 10 co-angler finishers at the California Delta:
6th: Edwin Shaver of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 22-10, $1,880
7th: Marvin Dixon of Willitz, Calif., 20-11, $1,780
8th: Kirk Beardsley of Huntington Beach, Calif., 20-7, $1,680
9th: Billy Dehart of Pleasanton, Calif., 19-6, $1,580
10th: Jim Tatum of Bishop, Calif., 18-9, $1,480
Coming up
This concludes the 2006 season for the Western Division.
The next Stren Series event is a Central Division contest at Sam Rayburn Reservoir near Jasper, Texas, May 17-20.