A buzz and a stir could be heard as anglers made their way to the CBAF check in held at the Spillway Feb 11th. Rumor had it that names like John Harper (2005 Angler of the Year – AC Pro Am), John Billheimer (2006 FLW Stren Series Havasu winner), Russ Snyders (2005 Bass West “Young Guns”), Jim Davis (BassMaster & AC top finisher) and Richard Dobyns (need we say more) had already checked in for the second CBAF tournament at Lake Oroville.
All totaled 34 teams were met with calm winds, mild temperatures and a lake full of cooperative spotted bass. Once again prior to blast-off anglers were greeted by the CBAF registration staff which provided plenty of hot coffee, fresh doughnuts and an extremely well organized and speedy sign-in process. Anglers stood in amazement at one of the most spectacular sunrises most had ever seen… many with camera phones in hand (see photo gallery – keyword “Oroville”). A smooth, no wait boat launch was followed by the national anthem and a flawless two flight blast-off.
As boats returned to the launch at day’s end most anglers reported limits. It was clear teams with a solid limit and a kicker would be in a good position to cash in on the prize money. As if it was scripted the big guns weighed healthy bags and looked to dominate the top 5 places. But the weigh-in crowd had a surprise when the team of Doug Jones and Chris Zimmerman leaped to the front of the leaderboard with an impressive 5 fish limit weighing 12.74 pounds. The pair spent their day dragging jigs on the main body of the lake for their better fish.
Close behind in second place was the team of Russ Snyders and Richard Kong with a bag weighing 12.49 followed in third by the team of Ted Tencati and Clark Paulsen with a solid 12.08 pound limit. Money places were rounded out by John and Ryan Harper in fourth (11.89), John Billheimer and Long Nguyen in fifth (11.39), Bernie Kroen and Ted Escober in sixth (10.95) and Cirie Orlando and Terry Swanson in seventh (10.80).
The awards ceremony and barbeque hosted by the Oroville Family Church was just the thing to cap a fantastic tournament. Anglers shared stories of their day over plates mounding with burgers, hot dogs and all the fixins. The next event is scheduled for March 11 at Anderson Reservior and is expected to be another in the series of one of the most professionally run, family friendly and competitve tournament circuits on the West Coast. Click Tournaments for information and registration.
