The Bassbusters of Santa Clara County started out their 2005 tournament season at Lake Nacimiento in Monterey County the weekend of Jan. 15th.  18 anglers showed up for a 2 day tournament and what proved to be some very tough fishing conditions.  Saturday’s blastoff started in thick fog that did not lift until about 10:30.  Sunday was a little better with no fog at blast off, but thick fog came in a few minutes later that did not lift until 9:00.  Both days were pretty calm on the water with little or no wind.  The lake itself was only about 25 feet down.  There was a lot of debris in the water and that meant boaters needed to be very cautious.  The water was also extremely muddy from about 14 days of rain before the tournament.  Many of the anglers commented they had never fished a lake that dirty before and the bites were few and far between.

1st place in the tournament was captured by prospective member Rashaun Woods.  Rashaun brought 5 fish to the scales for a total weight of 10.14 lbs.  He also had the big fish for the tournament at 3.56 lbs.  Rashaun was throwing Rapala Husky Jerks in firetiger, and blue with orange belly.

Coming in 2nd was Spiro Stamos.  Spiro weighed in 3 fish for a total of 3.6 lbs.  Spiro fooled his fish by dart heading 3’ Grandpa’s Atomic Shad worms and by pitching a jig.

In 3rd place was Henry Silva with 2 fish for 3.5 lbs.  Henry caught his fish by drop shotting.

4th place was won by prospective member Michael Chen with 2 fish for 2.44 lbs.  Michael caught his fish by split shotting a peanut butter and jelly Baby Brush Hog in 15-20’ of water.

5th place was taken by Joe Alvarez with 1 fish for 2.28 lbs.  This was the 2nd big fish of the tournament.  Joe caught his fish on a black jig with a Sweet Beaver.

6th place was taken by prospective member Calvin Walls with 2 fish for 2.16 lbs.  Calvin caught his fish on a black and blue spider jig and by dart heading a Warmouth Roboworm.

7th place was taken by Joe Costa with 2 fish for 2.02 lbs.  Joe caught his fish by drop shotting 3” salt and pepper worms with chartreuse tails in 20-30’ of water.

8th place was taken by Francisco “Sego” Segoviano with 2 fish for 1.86 lbs.  Sego caught his fish by drop shotting a 6” blue ghost with chartreuse tail Roboworm.

9th place was taken by Tyler Linscott with 1 fish for 1.44 lbs.  Tyler caught his fish by wacky rigging a 5” chartreuse Senko.

10th place was taken by John Fernandez with 1 fish for 1.04 lbs.  John caught his fish by drop shotting a 3” salt and pepper with chartreuse tail Grandpa’s worm.

11th place was taken by John Neibel with 1 fish for .98 lbs.  John caught his fish by dartheading an oxblood worm.

12th place was taken by Scott Seggermann with 1 fish for 9 lbs.  Scott caught his fish by tossing a black and blue jig with a purple trailer near the dam.

Our next tournament is at Lake Commanche on Feb. 19th.  All of us are looking forward to clearer water and a lot more fish!
Lake Nacimiento  2005