LAKEPORT — While rain and high winds battered the 298 fishermen (149 teams) participating in the 22nd annual Holder Ford-Mercury Team Bass Tournament held Saturday and Sunday at Clear Lake, the poor conditions didn”t bother the winning team of Wayne Breazeale and Jerry Tilton of Kelseyville.
Breazeale and Tilton, who also won the tournament in 2006, claimed this year”s title with an incredible two-day weight of 50.91 pounds and collected $6,875 in prize money. The pair anchored their winning weight with a 10.03-pound bass. Following Saturday”s first round, Breazeale and Tilton were in second place with 30.28 pounds. They brought another 20.63 pounds to the scales on Sunday to move atop the leader board.
Tilton said all their fish were caught on swimbaits, jigs and jerkbaits. According to Tilton, both he and Breazeale caught and culled more than 20 bass each day.
Breazeale is a well-known figure among the tournament bass fishing crowd and has won a number of pro/am tournaments. He and Tilton have been fishing as a team for more than 15 years.
Second place went to the team of Cameron Cole of Kelseyville and Lyle Gossett of Lodi. They were in 11th place on Saturday with 20.9 pounds, but they made a big move up the standings by weighing in 24.78 pounds on Sunday for a total of 45.68 Rounding out the top five places were Don Edmonds and Curtis Patterson, third with 45.62 pounds ($4,050); Mike Park and Ron Sangston, fourth with 44.12 pounds ($1,300); and Jesse James and Ken McDaris, fifth with 43.65 pounds ($500).
The tournament paid down to 29 places and it took at least 35.86 pounds to get a check.
The big fish of the tourney was caught by the team of Ross Williams and Trevor Thrash of Eureka and weighed 10.84 pounds. They caught the big bass on a shaky head jig.
A total of 1,135 bass for a total weight of 3,826.37 pounds were weighed in during the tournament. The average weight per fish was an impressive 3.37 pounds. Four bass weighed more than 10 pounds.
June and Ed Clarke of the Tackle It tackle shop and the Clear Lake Bassmasters bass club assisted in the weigh-ins. The tournament operated out of Konocti Vista Casino, Resort and Marina. With its 149 teams, the tournament was the largest one held at Clear Lake this year.
In addition to Holder Ford-Mercury, the sponsors for the tournament were the Lakeport Regional Chamber of Commerce, Lake County Record-Bee, North Lake Pharmacy, Piedmont Lumber, Lakeport Camper and Truck, Western Bass.Com, Tot-orica Plumbing, Carl-ton Tire, Tackle It Sport Shop, Hillside Honda, Bi-Coastal Media, UCC Rentals, The Ice Water Company, Dr. Sandy McGeoch DDS, Dunken Pumps, AAA Insurance and Skylark Shores Resort.
