Angler's Choice "The Largest Team Bass Fishing Trail in America"

December 8, 2002
Parra And King Win Folsom


Parra And King	Colin And Schroder
Maes and Graves
	Janousek
Results

Pulling into the IHOP parking lot I noticed that there were already 7 truck and bass boat rigs there. The doors were opening right on time at 04:30 and the anglers were eagerly filing in and claiming their seats. The cheerful IHOP staff greeted them all with smiles, coffee and menus. In fact, the tasty IHOP coffee was on the house if you ordered breakfast. Thanks to the staff and manager John Khauv of IHOP for a great start of our 2003 California Foothill season!

We set up our registration area as the line to sign-up began to grow! Seemed the anglers were anxious to get the paperwork over and right to breakfast. Thanks to Tom Sams, 84 Lumber was the trophy sponsor of the event and there were camouflage "84 Lumber" baseball caps on hand for the anglers. The anglers also received Gary Yamamoto Custom Bait sample packs and RoboWorm products. A few anglers said it felt like their birthday or Christmas with the items they were getting. Well, Christmas IS just around the corner! Once the 36 teams had registered and ate breakfast, it was just a short 5-mile drive to Brown's Ravine.

When I arrived at Brown's Ravine, most of the teams were in the water and ready to fish. Blast off would be in the order of sign-up for our first event. This would honor our Angler's of the Year, Marcel Colin and Troy Schroeder, by giving them the opportunity to be first out. The lake appeared fairly calm with just a slight breeze rippling the water. Was this to stay that way or would mother nature whip up the winds to boil Folsom Lake. I blasted them all off at 6:50 a.m. just as the sun was beginning to peek above the majestic Sierra-Nevada mountain range. Teams 1-18 would weigh-in at 3:00 p.m. with teams 19-36 at 3:15 p.m. It would be a float by weigh-in at the docks of the Brown's Ravine marina store. Once the teams had weighed-in they would then motor to the Hobie launch ramp to trailer their boats. Along the way they would release their catch. The awards ceremony would be held in the Hobie ramp parking lot.

What a weigh-in! Folsom Lake had given up 25 limits to the 36 teams. There were also quite a few nice Smallmouth bass in the 3 pound plus range mixed in the limits along with a Spot/Smallie crossbreed now and then. Two thirds of the teams weighed-in 8 pound or more limits and only 2 teams blanked. That a fairly good score for Folsom Lake! With the last team weighed in and the weighed bags stowed, Cliff King and Eric Parra were to be the "Kings" this day. Their 13.46-pound limit topped the heap and netted them a check for $1265.00 along with 1st place plaques. Less than a ½ pound away with 13.03 Marel Colin and Troy Schroeder had 2nd place and $630.00 in the bag. And a ½ pound behind them was the team of John Maes and Russ Graves, of the Fishin' Depot, with a 12.54 limit that was good for $530.00 and 3rd place. On their heels was the team of brothers Michael and R.J. Bennettt whose 12.45 limit had 4th place and $410.00 nailed down. Fifth place and $335.00 went to Mat Brooks and Dave Parker for their 11.68 limit. The father and son team of Kelly and Jared Owens took home $260.00 for their 11.18 limit. And in 7th place was Tom Janousek and Homer Clark with a 10.84 limit that included a 4.07 Spotted Bass that was Big Bass of the event. They took home $225.00 for 7th place and $350.00 and a Tactical Assault Revolver Rod cranking stick valued at $190.00 for Big Bass! The 2nd Big Bass of the event was a 3.70 Spotted Bass brought in by Marcel Colin. Marcel received a team set of EZ-Cul-RZ, a jar of Craw-Cane and a $20 IHOP gift certificate. One spot out of the money was David Yates, of Just Fishin Boats, and Larry Noss with a 10.78 limit. Since David had provided us with 2 $25 gift certificates good at Just Fishin's tackle shop, he decided that we should give the Just Fishin' certificates to the next team. So David and Larry each received a $20 IHOP gift certificate and Bob and Bobby Trijillo received the Just Fishin' gift certificates for their 10.61 limit. I had a gift certificate from Sunny's Electric Marine good for a trolling motor tune-up valued at $125.00 still to give away. I reached in the can containing the numbered poker chips and drew the boater of team number 34! Ryan Ollenberger was the lucky recipient of the Sunny's Electric Marine gift certificate!

Our first event of the 2003 season had been a success! I would like to thanks our national sponsors Mercury, MotorGuide, BassCat boats, Lowrance, Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits and Hamby's Boat keel guards. Also thanks to our local sponsors 84 Lumber, Just Fishin Boats, RoboWorm, Tactical Assault Revolver Rods, Sunny's Electric Marine, Ultra Truck Works, Sacramento Pro Tackle, EZ-Cul-RZ and Craw-Cane. With the help of our national and local sponsors our events are FUN!

Our next event will be held on Lake Berryessa out of Markley Cove on January 12th, 2003. Spool up those reels with some six-pound test get a bag of darter heads and RoboWorms and join us for a fun event! If you have questions please drop me an e-mail at 481terry@msn.com!