Peak and Nathan Top 171 WRL TOC Field
By Bill Hutcheson

The Berkley-AC Western Rookie League came off another wildly successful year with 171 teams meeting at Clear Lake the weekend of October 1st & 2nd to determine who would be crowned the 2011 team of the year.

Conditions leading up to the event were ideal with air temperatures in the low 90’s and numerous teams reporting catching limits of fish up to 25 pounds.

The first day of competition greeted the field with overcast conditions as a part of a frontal system that was slated to move in later in the week. The conditions were perfect for topwater baits and the tournament staff on the starting boat commented on the possibility of some big limits coming to the scales.

The weather held until about noon when the skies cleared and a slight breeze graced the surface of the lake. The first flights were due in at 2:20pm and on cue, the boats started to arrive. 25 limits of over 20 pounds made their way up to the stage area – including three big fish of the day that all went over 7 pounds. When all fish were weighed for day one, it was the small boat team of Chriss Cabodi and Russ Olson who lead the field with 24.63 pounds.

The second day of the team championship found the anglers competing under similar weather conditions. With the starting order reversed for the day, all anglers blasted off successfully in their quest for the top prize – a Legend boat/Mercury motor prize package.

When the scales closed on day two and the official results were tallied, it was the team of Charles Peak and Bob Nathan who emerged victorious. Sporting boat #34 and qualifying out of the Motherlode region, the duo managed to put together limits of fish on both days for a total weight of 46.24 pounds. This weight was just enough to edge out the runner up team by a little over one tenth of a pound.

“We had a limit of fish by about 9am on Saturday”, noted Peak. “It went about 15 pounds which as anyone knows is not enough to get the job done on Clear Lake. We motored around and found a section of sloping, rocky bank in the south end of the lake around 11am. There were about 4 or 5 other boats in the area within about 2 to 300 feet of each other. Bob and I went ahead and dropped the trolling motor and proceeded to catch about 20 to 30 fish on dropshot rigs to get our first day limit of 22.69 pounds”, Peak closed. The team utilized Zoom six-inch finesse worms rigged on 8lb Seaguar fluorocarbon line to put the hurt on the fish.

“When the second day rolled around, we were really worried about boats sitting on our spot since we had about 140 boats going out prior to us”. Bob stated. “Sure enough, when we hit our spot, there was a boat on it, so we stayed close and waited for him to move off which they eventually did”.

While the fishing mirrored what they found on day one, the team had a cardiac moment when an hour prior to weigh-in, they went to start the boat and found that they had a dead battery. “We were very fortunate that one of the boats that was fishing close by came over and gave us a jump start”, Bob noted. “Suffice it to say, with another good limit in the livewell, we stayed close to the weigh in area and never shut off the big motor”.

The team wanted to thank the other boats that were fishing in the area that respected their bite and stayed off of their water. They also wanted to thank the unnamed anglers who provided them with the jump-start that final afternoon.

The winning duo walked away from the event with a pair of custom first place trophies valued at $500 as well as the first place prize package of a Legend 186SCX boat and trailer package equipped with a Mercury ProXS 150hp motor and 24 volt MotorGuide trolling motor.

The runner up team for this event was Bryant Smith and David Pearl who qualified from the Choice division. Smith and Pearl amassed a two-day total weight of 46.13 pounds that earned them a $8,690 cash prize. The duo credited the wind for their success as they employed a run and gun strategy, hitting over 50 spots a day with hitch colored swimbaits and chartreuse shad crankbaits to catch their sacks. “We made long casts into shallow water and only managed to catch 6 keepers on our first day”, noted Smith. “We ended up with only 7 fish on the second day, but they were all good bass – including the 7.22 pound fish we took on day one”.

Jeff Hardin and Paul Eusey who also ascended to the TOC from the Choice division nailed down third place. This team credited their 46.03-pound total weight to a milk run on the south end of the lake. “We worked 5 spots consisting of rocky structure in about 8 to 15 feet of water. We had our best luck on Saturday morning throwing Lucky Craft crankbaits, Carolina rigs, and drop shot rigged Roboworms”. Said Jeff Hardin. “We did not get the same fish on Sunday until later in the afternoon”. The team earned a cool $5,280 – all in cash – for their weekend work.

Shane and Michael Soriano also made the fish-off through the Choice division and took fourth place honors and $2,900 in cash. Team Soriano took 2-day limits weighing in at 44.63 pounds and mentioned that they had lost a big fish each day. “Shane and I had a consistent bite going all day long and culled out lots of small fish – in fact, we probably culled 4 times”, Michael said. The pair caught most of their fish around Rattlesnake Island on swimbaits and Strike King 1.5 crankbaits in a Chartreuse sexy shad color.

The top the team of Brandon Gaither and Kyle Gentry from the Motherlode trail rounded out the top five. Earning $2,000 in cash for the weekend, this team credited their 42.82-pound catch to a milk run of two spots that they hit alternately both days. “On the first day, the bite we had set up dictated that we bagged our fish by 10am”, stated Kyle. “The bite changed to an afternoon bite on Sunday though”. The duo plied the waters with Lucky Craft LV500’s in ghost minnow, senkos, and swimbaits to amass their two-day total.

The overall big fish of the tournament was a nice 8.25-pound largemouth that went to the team of Craig and Barbara Smith late on the second day of competition. “Craig caught it on a trash fish swimbait thrown on 15lb test”, Barbara stated.

Other major prize winners for the event included Kevin Hunter who won a $5,250 Amazon Peacock Bass fishing Trip from Hooked on Adventures, Jim Henry, Kory Kramer, Jason Moreira, and Kevin Ryan who all won Lowrance HDS-5 units valued at $750 each, Mark Gomez who walked away with a Lowrance HDS-8 valued at $1,400, Andy Anderson who won a 8’ Power Pole worth $1,400, Robbie Merwin who walked away with a $500 General tires certificate, Steve Pester who won a $100 Clear Lake Cottages certificate, and Barbara Smith who took home a $500 Poseidon alarms certificate. In addition to the above, numerous other product prizes were given out to various participants Congratulations to all the AC-WRL prize winners.

The tournament accounted for 1,303 fish for a total weight of 3,686.40 – an average weight of 2.82 pounds per fish. Total cash and prizes awarded came to over $55,000.

The Berkley AC-WRL circuit would like to thank the many sponsors who helped to make the 2011 season a memorable one. Thank you to Legend Boats, Mercury Marine, Berkley, Abu-Garcia, Hooked on Adventures, MotorGuide, Lowrance, Powerpole, General Tires, Eye Surrender, Old Trapper Beef Jerky, Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce, Clear Lake Bait & Tackle, Clear Lake Cottages, IGA Foods, Grocery Outlet, Clear Lake American Observer, Clear Lake Moose Lodge 2284, Penny Slaver, Lakeshore Sports, Bill Edmunds Realty, Mediacom, Featherbed Railroad, and Tom Hewlett Dental.