Anglers Choice WRL held its fourth event of the season at Lake McClure on Sunday, and local teams reeled in the big fish - and bucks.
There were a total of 50 teams participating in the event. There was a light rain during check-in, but by blast-off at sunrise the front moved on and partly cloudy to sunny skies prevailed the rest of the day.
The fish were trying to move shallow for spawning and some of the teams reported catching bed fish. There were 46 five fish limits and a total of 242 bass caught weighing 467 pounds with all but three fish released alive back to the lake. The middle to south end of the lake seemed to be the better places for good size fish.
Ryan Accardo (Clovis) and father Larry (Fresno) caught their two biggest fish using Dobyns Rods while sight fishing on the main lake and the rest of their fish came on senkos. Their big fish weighed 4.54 pounds anchoring the 15.26 five fish limit to give them 1st place and landing them two nice plaques and $1, 890. This team is leading in the Anglers of the Year race for the Motherlode trail.
Seth Rowe (Chowchilla) and Mike Alvarez (Clovis) had a little different story using jigs and CRL swimbaits in the river, with the stained water color to catch 14.66 pounds along with the 4.24 kicker giving them 2nd place. For their efforts, the two received plaques and $1, 090. The finish kept Rowe and Alvarez in the Anglers of the Year race in both the Central and the Choice trails.
Turlock fishing family Mark Gomez and Ruben Gomez found the secret of dragging Berserk worms in the main lake and in coves like Temperance to bag their limit. Their big fish was 2.88 pounds and the other four fish were about the same for a 13.35 pound limit hooking them two nice plaques and a $700 payday. Last tournament at Don Pedro, Victor and Mike Gomez took 7th place and had big fish of that tournament. The Gomez family will have plenty to talk about at Easter dinner.
Modesto team of Albert Oliver and Russell Herring had a 3.14 spotted bass to bump up their weight to 13.22 good for 4th place and netting them $510.
Ceres brothers Chua and Zay Yang took 5th place, bringing 12.91 pounds to the scales - good for a $355 pay check.
Big Fish of the tournament t- a 5.64 large mouth - was caught by Bill Bond on a jig in shallow water first thing in the morning. Jaime Caratachea, Bond's partner, helped finish out the limit to bring the total to 12.52 pounds good for 6th place, a beautiful big fish plaque, and $535.
Husband and wife team of Wesley and Diane Rentfrow of Dos Palos caught a 3.92 kicker to bump up their weight to 12.05 pounds good for 7th place and $180.
There were seven fish caught over four pounds and the team of Jim King (Atwater) and Greg Martinez (Turlock) had a 4.46 to anchor their 11.98 pound limit giving them 8th place and $170.
Father and son team Steve and Ben Zerr (Escalon) said they have some special baits from Escalon Bait & Tackle that helped them take 9th place with 11.68 pounds.
Second big fish of the day, a 5.46 large mouth, was caught by Ryan Kamplain (Denair) from the back of the boat on a spinner bait up the river channel near the bridge. Kamplain's team partner and boater Kevin Bloom (Gustine) said they caught a lot of fish but not the quality they had in practice. Total weight for their day's work was 11.52 pounds and hooked them up with a $315 pay check.