LAKEPORT — Randall Doyle and Nick Flanigan of Redding took top honors in the 32nd annual Lake County Chamber of Commerce Team Bass Tournament with 50.31 pounds for the two-day event, which concluded Sunday at the Konocti Vista Casino & Resort. They earned $5,000 for their victory.
The 100-percent payback tournament drew 131 teams and the top 26 finished in the money. Additionally big-fish prizes of $1,000 were awarded each day. The team of James Lockard and Josh Huggins in Nice caught Saturday’s big fish — and the big fish of the tournament at 10.41 pounds. Team champions Doyle and Flanigan weighed in Sunday’s big fish of 9.09 pounds.
There also was a big-bag prize of $1,000 that went to first-round leaders Daniel Shelton and Noah Newton, who brought 30.78 pounds to the weigh scale Saturday. They ended up fourth overall to pocket an additional $1,500.
It took 35.99 pounds to finish in the money.
Doyle and Flanigan said they caught their fish on swimbaits and the A Rig near Lakeside County Park.
Second place went to the the father-and-son team of Jose and Jackson Juarez of Kelseyville with 45.67 pounds. They won $3,000.
Alex Niapas and Tom Schachten came in third with 44.37 pounds and won $2,000. After Shelton and Newton in fourth place, the team of Ron Bruggman and Tory Mihalenko rounded out the top five with 43.55 pounds, good for $1,200.
Placing in the top 10 were the teams of Tonya Koregelos and Matt Westphal, sixth with 42.15 pounds ($1,000); Cody Bashore and Denny Alexander, seventh with 42.06 pounds ($925); Tom Helberg and Brian Barthman, eighth with 41.51 pounds ($875); Andrew Loberg and Rudy Der, ninth with 40.98 pounds ($800); and Don Edmonds and Curtis Patterson, 10th with 39.67 pounds ($775).
Overall the tournament produced 1,066 bass (all 1,066 released back into the lake alive) for a total weight of 3,507.97 pounds, an average of 3.29 pounds per fish. The average team weighed in eight fish during the tournament (out of a possible 10) and recorded a final weight of 28.29 pounds (a complete list of paybacks is available on Local scoreboard at www.record-bee.com).
