CLEARLAKE >> Sixty-five boats holding 115 high school fishermen and 10 junior anglers blasted off from Redbud Park in Clearlake on Sunday to participate in the Lake County Fishing Club second annual high school/junior tournament on Clear Lake.
First place in the high division went to Pierce Mehrten and Luke Lipanovich of the Spartan Anglers with a five-fish limit of 21.75 pounds. Runner-up honors belonged to Dean Smith and Justin Rusciolelli of vista Del Lago with a five-fish limit of 15.35 pounds. In third place with a five-fish limit of 15.32 pounds was the Yuba Sutter Fishing Club team of Joseph Brown and Nick Clair.
Big-fish honors went to Clair of Yuba Sutter Fishing Club for his 7.91-pounder.
In the junior division, Dylan Watson of the Lake County Fishing Club came in first with a five-fish limit of 9.14 pounds, including the big fish of 2.49 pounds. Another Lake County Fishing club member, Russell White, was second with a five-fish limit of 6.68 pounds. Third place went to Jake Keithly of the Lake County Fishing Club with a four-fish total of 6.49 pounds.
More than 200 people were on hand to witness the weigh-in support these up-and-coming fishermen at Redbud Park.
Deanna Goff of the Lake County Fishing Club said the tournament would not have been possible without the contributions of Francesca Oranje, Vern Westberg, Molly Keithly, Tony DeLapo, Clearlake Outdoors, Clearlake Bait & Tackle, Danny’s Roadside Kitchen, Stonefire Pizza Company, DJ’s Pizza, The Game Hub, Cactus Grill, Foods Etc-IGA, Walmart Clearlake, Bruno’s Foods, Griffin’s Furniture, Bass Pro Shop, Clearlake Bass Masters, Catherine Reese Fine Art Photography, and Patty from Water Resources who not only did the boat inspections and provided quagga mussel stickers at no charge, but also educated the boaters on the quagga mussel problem. Goff also thanked those boaters who donated their time to take 20 anglers out on the lake during the tournament.
