Farage wins co-angler title
Wade Curtiss of Meadow Vista, California, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 22 pounds, 7 ounces Saturday to win the Rayovac FLW Series Western Division event on the California Delta presented by Ranger Boats with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 61 pounds, 13 ounces. For his victory, Curtiss earned $36,100. “This has been an amazing tournament,” said Curtiss, who earned the first victory of his career. “After starting the day in 10th place, I knew I’d have my work cut out for me. And I honestly didn’t think that I had enough weight to win it. This is my seventh or eighth tournament that I’ve competed in on the Delta, and to get the win is just so sweet.”
Curtiss said that he fished, “from the north end of the Delta to the south end of the Delta,” targeting grass beds and big flats.
“The first two days I ran my areas and caught a lot of fish – around 50 keepers on day one, and 25 keepers on day two. Today, I just went fishing and ended up fishing a lot of new water. I caught around 20 keepers, and none of my fish came deeper than 6 feet of water all week.”
Curtiss credited two key baits for his success throughout the week – a Jackall MC 60 crankbait in red or brown and orange, and a 3/8-ounce bluegill-colored swimjig with a Zoom Horny Toad trailer. He also said that he picked up a Jackall Iobee Frog Saturday and used it to boat his largest bass of the day.
“In the mornings I would catch them real well on the incoming tide,” Curtiss said. “I would just try to run the high tide each day as long as possible. The key for me was definitely finding the right fish along the grass lines. I knew the fish were there and that’s how I like to fish, so this tournament set up perfectly for me.”
The top 10 pros on the California Delta were:
1st: Wade Curtiss, Meadow Vista, Calif., 15 bass, 61-13, $36,100
2nd: Ken Mah, Elk Grove, Calif., 15 bass, 59-9, $13,989
3rd: David Valdivia, Norwalk, Calif., 15 bass, 55-13, $10,830
4th: Chris Parks, Eugene, Ore., 15 bass, 55-13, $9,025
5th: Stephen Tosh Jr., Turlock, Calif., 15 bass, 55-5, $8,122
6th: Joe Uribe Jr., Surprise, Ariz., 15 bass, 54-6, $7,220
7th: Phillip Dutra, Antioch, Calif., 14 bass, 50-4, $6,317
8th: Gary Dobyns, Live Oak, Calif., 15 bass, 49-15, $5,415
9th: Austin Bonjour, Atascadero, Calif., 15 bass, 47-9, $4,512
10th: Nick Nourot, Benicia, Calif., 13 bass, 43-12, $3,610
Valdivia caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the pro division Friday – a monster weighing 10 pounds even – that earned him the day’s Big Bass award of $254.
Jack Farage of Discovery Bay, California, won the co-angler division and a Ranger Z117C with an Evinrude or Mercury outboard motor, with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 54 pounds, 9 ounces. Farage’s winning margin of 15 pounds, 7 ounces was the third largest co-angler margin of victory in Rayovac FLW Series history.
The top 10 co-anglers on the California Delta were:
1st: Jack Farage, Discovery Bay, Calif., 15 bass, 54-9, Ranger Z117C with a 90-horsepower outboard
2nd: Todd Kline, San Clemente, Calif., 15 bass, 39-2, $4,536
3rd: Jordan Pinasco, Galt, Calif., 14 bass, 38-15, $3,629
4th: John Rossetti, Stockton, Calif., 14 bass, 38-4, $3,175
5th: Eric Hawkins, Sacramento, Calif., 15 bass, 38-0, $2,721
6th: Randy Bruno, Huntington Beach, Calif., 13 bass, 37-8, $2,268
7th: Daniel Leue, Colusa, Calif., 15 bass, 36-11, $1,814
8th: Paul Reutlinger, West Jordan, Utah, 12 bass, 36-9, $1,588
9th: Rafael Ortiz, Roseville, Calif, 12 bass, 33-10, $1,361
10th: Tom Nokes, Riverton, Utah, 15 bass, 33-6, $1,134
Bruno caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division to earn the day’s Big Bass award of $169.
The Rayovac FLW Series consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western. Each division consists of three tournaments and competitors will be vying for valuable points in each division that could earn them the opportunity to fish in the no-entry-fee Rayovac FLW Series Championship. The 2015 Rayovac FLW Series Championship is being held Oct. 29-31 on the Ohio River in Paducah, Kentucky.
The Rayovac FLW Series on the California Delta was presented by Ranger Boats and was hosted by the City of Oakley. It was the second of three Western Division tournaments in 2015. The next Rayovac FLW Series tournament will be a Southeastern Division event presented by Evinrude, held May 21-23, on Lake Seminole in Bainbridge, Georgia.
ABOUT FLW
FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2015 over the course of 240 tournaments across five tournament circuits, four of which provide an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW" television show and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world.
By: Joe Opager, Director of Public Relations
