January kicks off the bass tournament season on Clear Lake and there are 12 tournaments scheduled on the lake the next three months. At an average of four tournaments per month, that means a tournament will be taking place just about every weekend and that doesn”t include the dozens of smaller bass club tournaments.
Most of the tournaments are team events drawing from 20 to 40 boats, however, there are also several large tournaments and one of the biggest is the annual Holder Ford-Mercury Team Tournament scheduled for March 13-14 (the DFG Web site inaccurately lists the tournament dates as March 14-15). That tournament is expected to draw in excess of 100 boats. According to Richard Hoover of Holder Ford, sign-ups for the tournament start on Jan. 23 beginner at 9 a.m. at the Holder Ford dealership on 2575 S. Main St. in Lakeport. The blast-off order for the first day of the tournament will be in the order fishermen sign up. For example, the first team to sign up on Jan. 23 will be the first boat out of the gate on March 13. The blast-off order is reversed for the second day of the tournament.
The payout will be slightly changed this year. The tournament still features a 100-percent payback of the entry fees but there will be only one option and that will be the big-fish option, which pays down to three big-fish awards each day. The entry fee for the tournament is $150 per team and the big-fish costs an additional $50. That means the maximum a team will pay is $200.
Hoover said the tournament is operating out of the Konocti Vista Casino, Resort and Marina. Konocti Vista is offering rooms for a rate of $59 per room and there will be a dinner for all the fishermen on Saturday night for $10. There is also a breakfast the next morning for $3 per person. Hoover said the entry forms should be in all the local tackle shops by next week. For more information call 263-5603.
Just one week after the Holder Ford tournament, Bassmasters will be visiting Clear Lake for its Elite Series. That tournament is also expected to draw at least 100 professional fishermen from throughout the United States and it will be strictly a pro-style format. Each boat will have a pro and an observer (called a marshal, but only the pro is allowed to fish). Bassmasters is charging the marshals $100 per day just to be an observer. The tournament starts on March 18 and winds up on March 21. Lakeport will host the tournament. Many of the bass pros in the tournament are recognized nationally, including Kevin Van Dam and Skeet Reese. The pros paid an entry fee of $5,000 and the winner collects more than $100,000.
Prior to the Holder Ford tournament and the Bassmasters tournament is the West Coast Bass Pro/Am tournament scheduled for Feb. 27-28. West Coast Bass President Larry Viviano said a new custom Harley motorcycle worth more than $15,000 and cash is up for grabs in the tournament. The entry fee is $350 for the pros and $200 for the amateurs. It will be a shared weight with the pros and amateurs actually fishing as a team and both being credited with the weight for the five-fish limit. The tournament operates out of the Skylark Shores Motel in Lakeport. Call (916) 410-0749 for more information.
The popular Viviano is a veteran when it comes to running bass tournaments and it”s good to see him back doing what he loves.
Most of the tournament organizations schedule their events between January and the middle of June, with the Tournaments of Champions taking place in October. The question on the minds of the tournament fishermen is what will the lake level be this winter and spring? Hopefully the drought will end and we will have a full lake, but don”t count on it.
