February 24, 2024
Good morning RB Bass Outdoors fans!!! You’re going to love this fishing story, as relayed to me by Glenn and Shelley Sargent. They are good friends of mine and are a husband and wife bass fishing Team that consistently fishes the BBT Northern Circuit, and are as competitive as any tournament angler I know. So much so they travel 5 to 7 hours to get to any one venue from the snow blanketed mountains of Janesville, Ca., which is about 11 miles South of Susanville, Ca.
Last Saturday they ventured forward out of the cold and headed to Pleasure Cove at Lake Berryessa for the BBT Northern Berryessa Team Tournament with only one day of pre-fishing in mind. They set up camp and launched the boat and optimistically set out to execute Plan A, which was to find what they could lol. A day of pre-fishing only produced a few small cookie cutter bass, which led them to believe it’s going to be another long grind that we’ve all been through.
With a good night’s sleep they were up early to get on the water for the blast off. As usual the Anthem was played and all 75 boats were released in flights. Glenn and Shelley were boat 44 and in the 2nd flight so they had to plow their way through the boat wakes to set up on a offshore flat just South of the Vineyards on the East side of the main lake. They were optimistic as the day brought forth the clear warm skies of a high pressure system. The water was fairly Clear with the exception of the creek inlets, and water temperature was warm at 51 to 54 degrees and actually found some water at 58!
They moved up into 10 foot shallow water and began to execute Plan B, which was identical to Plan A the day before lol. Not deterred they pulled out their 7’3” Medium Heavy Kistler rods and went to work with different terminal tackle, learning from the pre-fish. They put on a single ball Reaction Innovation Beaver in Green Pumpkin and went to work. Glenn was scoping bait fish all over and with the high pressure system they went to the bottom searching. It wasn’t long before they were rewarded their first fish at 4+ lbs and then again a bit later with a 2.68 lber and then again much later another 4+ lber. You know that inner feeling you get when you know you’re not near fish? This isn’t one of those times. Glenn put on the spotlock and they stay in this area the whole time. Glenn and Shelley only put about 10 fish in the boat all day, but they were some good ones, as Shelley laid into one and boated it (thanks to her net man) with it weighing 6.43 lbs!!! Now things are getting exciting!! This continued throughout the day, all on the beaver. At the end of the day they rushed back to the check in boat knowing they fished hard and did their best. They were excited that they had what they had but not knowing if it was enough because some big bags have come out of this lake.
At the weigh in their 5 fish tipped the scales at 19.79 lbs for a 1st place Win and to top it off Shelley’s 6.43 pounder was Big Fish of the Tournament. Elated and in shock they stepped forward for the Win!!! I think they are going to buy a snow plow with their win lol.
Congratulations from RB Bass to a great couple and fantastic ambassadors for our sport!!! High Five and Nice job!!
