Clear Lake Bass In All Phases Of Spawn For Carhartt Western B.a.s.s. College Conference Regional
Catching five quality bass a day should prove to be no problem for the 40 or so teams of collegiate anglers in the Carhartt Western B.A.S.S. College Conference Regional tournament on California’s famous Clear Lake this week.
Getting that big bite each day will probably be the difference, said Guillermo “Memo” Nunez of the New Mexico State Team.
Nunez, a rising junior majoring in business, and teammate Tanner Cooper, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering, spent the first three days of this week checking out the fishing on Clear Lake, the first time either of them had ever fished the acclaimed big bass waters.
“We don’t think it will be hard to catch 15 pounds a day, but the difference between 15 to 20 pounds to 25 pounds is pretty significant,” Nunez said. “We’ve caught a lot of quality fish in practice, but at Clear Lake it takes the big ones to win.”
Nunez said the bass are in all three phases – pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn.
“You can catch them just about any way you want to fish. It’s just a matter of finding that big bite,” he said.
The situation on Clear Lake is 180 degrees different from the situation on Lake Amistad a year ago when Nunez and Cooper won the 2013 Carhartt Central Regional title. New Mexico State switched from the Central Division to the Western Division this year, which opened the possibility of them winning titles in two divisions in consecutive years.
“We definitely would like to win here on Clear Lake,” Nunez said. “Last year was our first legitimate tournament fishing together and it was a lot of fun. It would be pretty cool to win both divisions. As far as I am aware that has not been done before.”
At Amistad last May the water temperature was in the 50s and Nunez and Cooper caught most of their fish off ledges adjacent to deep water.
“We were casting up on flats and catching pre-spawn fish exclusively,” he said. “But here the water is up in the mid-70s and a lot of the fishing is pretty shallow compared to what we are used to.”
Hank Weldon, college tournament manager, estimated a field of 40 boats for the regional, which will qualify the Top 10 finishers for the 2014 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship July 31-Aug. 2 on Georgia’s Chatuge Reservoir. He said he expects some tough competition for those 10 berths.
Carhartt Western B.A.S.S. College Conference Regional
May 15-16, 2014
Clear Lake, CA
