LAKEPORT >> Lane Coale of Team Colorado is the pro leader after day one of the B.A.S.S. Nation Western Regional pro-am bass tournament at Clear Lake. The three-day tournament blasted off on Wednesday and concludes Friday.
Weigh-ins each day take place at 2 p.m. at the Konocti Vista Casino, Resort and Marina in Lakeport, the tournament headquarters. The entire field of 110 pros and 110 co-anglers competes in the first two rounds of the tournament. Friday’s final round will include only the top 22 pros and co-anglers as well as team leaders in both categories provided they aren’t already ranked in the top 22.
Eleven western states — California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming — have teams consisting of professionals and co-anglers entered in the competition. Pros are allowed to bring a maximum of five fish to the weigh scale every day and pro-anglers a maximum of three.
Pro fishermen
Coale was the only fisherman to crack 20 pounds on Wednesday as he weighed in a five-fish limit of 21 pounds, 2 ounces, nearly half of his total coming from the big fish of day one, a 10-pound, 7-ounce catch.
Other pro leaders, all with five-fish limits, were Shane Baertsch of Team Montana (17-14), Todd Herman of Team Arizona (17-14), Christian Gladfelter of Team New Mexico (16-9), Adrian Murar of Team California (16-4), Joe Conway of Team Colorado (16-3), Mike Lavallee of Team Utah (16-1), Jim Conlin of Team Montana (15-14), Brent James of Team Nevada (14-15), and Joe Cole of Team Wyoming (14-14).
Co-anglers
In the co-angler division, Quincy Grupenhoff of Team Montana led the way with a three-fish limit of 13-3. Also cracking double digits were Loren Bryant of Team Arizona (11-5), Anthony Ocamica of Team Idaho (11-0), Bill Rosenbalm of Team Oregon (10-14), Tucker Cappella of Team Wyoming (10-9), and Mike Estrada of Team New Mexico (10-1).
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers are Clay Williams of Team Idaho, seventh with 9-11, Timothy Flueter of Team Colorado, eighth with 9-10, Jared Harris of Team California, ninth with 9-4, and Ty Faber of Team Wyoming, 10th with 9-2.
Ocamica had the big fish on day one at 6-11.
College leaders
Running at the same time as the B.A.S.S. Nation Western Regional is another Bassmater-sponsored tournament, the 2018 Carhartt College Western Tour.
Twenty-four two-man teams representing colleges and universities throughout the nation are entered in the four-day tournament, which started Wednesday and runs through Saturday.
Through day one, Caleb Gibson and Tyler Wilson of Northeastern State University are atop the leader board with a five-fish limit of 21 pounds, 15 ounces although the second-place team of Tyler Craig and Spencer Lambert of the University of Louisiana at Monroe is close behind at 20-5.
The Chico State teams of Carson Leber-Tyler Bounds and Austin Crane-Tyler Firebaugh are fifth and sixth, respectively, with first-day weights of 17-3 and 17-1.
The Craig-Lambert team took big-fish honors on day one with a 7-pound, 10-ounce catch.
Weigh-in for the college teams is 5 p.m. each day of the tournament at Konocti Vista Casino, Resort and Marina.
