SAL HERRERA AND MARIO GARDEA WIN THE FIRST BBT OPEN ON LAKE McCLURE
Their totals include 14.38 lbs. & a Big Fish of 6.74 lb Largemouth on a Dropshot.

The BBT OPEN started taking sign-ups at 4:30 AM at Barrett's Cove on Lake McClure. Angers lined up to check in, get their boat numbers, boat compartments checked by the BBT Staff then launched and awaited 'safe light'. Mike Goncalves, an angler signing up drew boat number 75, to be the first boat out at blast off.

The temperature was in the low 30's in the early morning hours and increased to 52 degrees by the time weigh-in began at 3 PM on the dock. The sun was a pleasant addition to the morning and was enjoyed by all. Around the one o'clock hour the sun started disappearing behind clouds, not to be seen again the rest of the day.

Many anglers came to the scales with average size bass caught in deep water and a few better than average size bass were weighed in, giving those anglers more of an advantage to place higher in the field and take home some money.

Sal Herrera From Discovery Bay and his partner Mario Gardea from Stockton came to the scales with a nice 6.74 pound kicker, caught by Sal using a swim bait, which turned out to be the Big Fish of this event. They had a weight of 14.38 pounds for their limit. They told everyone they fished slow along the mud lines in the main lake and caught their bass on swim baits, tubes, dart heads and drop shotted, giving them the edge for the win. For their day on the water they took home $4450.00 in winnings, two nice First Place trophies and Sal took home the Big Fish trophy to show to his friends and family. Congratulations on your successful day!

Kirk Sakamoto and his partner Keith Friesen both from Dinuba had planned to fish this tournament however Keith had to leave before the tournament started so Kirk fished alone. Kirk said he fished deep cuts from 30 to 60 feet deep in the main lake to land his limit fishing worms and swim baits. He weighed in 11.66 pounds anchored by the Third Place Big Fish, a 3.96 pound bass. He took home $2350.00 and two nice trophies for his efforts. Congratulations Kirk on your Second Place win!

Chris Gosselaar from Clovis and his partner Jordan Brendel from Santa Rosa came to the scales with the Second Big Fish caught by Chris weighing 4.71 pounds and their limit weighing 11.36 pounds for the Third Place win. They fished near the dam using worms, jigs and used the drop shot technique for their bass. They took home $1680.00 in winnings. Sweet!

Fourth Place went to the team of Danny Wood of Clovis and Joe Alanis of Fresno who came to the scales with 10.71 pounds for their limit and took home $860.00 in winnings for their time spent at McClure.

Fifth Place was the team of Mike Goncalves from Modesto and Rob Mansor from La Grange who weighed in a limit of 10.49 pounds. They took home $680.00 and fish stories to share.

During the Awards Ceremony immediately following the weigh-in, which took place up in the parking area in Barrett's Cove, packages of Emerald Premium Snacks were tossed to the anglers, who enjoyed eating the nuts while prizes were given out to anglers who were present when their boat number was drawn. Boat numbers 59, 76, 66, 65 were drawn however these team had left prior to the prizes were to be given out and when boat number 14 was called, Darren Vieira and Andrew Stanz were happy to receive a Abu Garcia Vendetta Rod from Berkley, one of the BBT Sponsors. A second Abu Garcia Vendetta Rod was given out to Boat number 85, Mike Goncalves and Rob Mansor won this one as they were present when their number was drawn, after hearing the previous numbers called 31, 63, 50, 69, 58 however these anglers were not present to win this great prize.

Three sponsor gift bags were given away to boat numbers 19 - Eric Habit and Mike Frank, boat number 68 - Bryan Grier and Tom Nieto and boat number 55 - Randy Burger and Matt Chase won these fine prizes donated by our sponsors as they were present to win.

An Abu Garcia reel was awarded to boat number 15 - Keith Rakoncza and his partner Kyle Rasmussen were present to win this great prize donated by Berkley.

We would like to thank the anglers who participated in this tournament and we hope to see you again fishing Best Bass Tournaments in the future. Our 2013 schedule is posted on our website www.bestbasstournaments.com If you or your company would like to become a sponsor of the BBT, please contact Randy Pringle at 209-543-6260.

A special thank you goes to the BBT Staff: Kevin Cheek - the Mother Lode and Central Valley Tournament Director, Ancilla Cheek, Chelby Cheek, Kevin Ryan, Dave Orange, Brian Orange, Shawn Hilbert, Rich Hale, Jim Henry and Mario Ramirez for making this event run like smoothly and efficiently.

Sincerely,

Randy and Sheri Pringle