Lake Oroville bass fishing sizzles for open tournament

Lake Oroville is officially rated the twenty-fourth best bass lake in the United States by BASSmaster magazine, but for the past couple of weeks it's hard to imagine any lake anywhere that is a better spot for bass anglers. The Lake Oroville Open Bass Tournament hosted 63 two-person teams last Saturday, and every team found results ranging from very good to spectacular.


Numerous teams reported releasing over 50 bass, and at least five teams reported releasing over 100 bass for the day. As is typical for Lake Oroville, the fish were not monsters, but solid two-pounders were the order of the day, and they were very willing to bite almost any well-presented lure.


The winning team of Dugan Mcintosh and Ryan Mcintosh of Oroville weighed in 13.58 pounds for five bass, and took home $600. Their strategy consisted of concentrating on largemouth bass. "We caught a total of only about 25 fish today", advised Dugan. "All but one of our fish were sight fish on beds, and were caught on Senkos up in the pockets of warm water near trees."


Chico Bass Club member Jim Carr of Paradise teamed with fellow club member Leo Trombley; the duo weighed in 12.06 pounds total, and ended up in fourth place. "We released 57 fish today", said Carr. "Most of our fish were in from one to 15 feet of water. Best lures were four-inch worms in red crawler or morning dawn colors, fished on a shaky head or dart head on 6-pound test line. The bite was very good early, and then shut off about 11:00 AM."


A total of 268 bass were weighed for the event, with a species breakdown of: 227 spotted bass, 40 largemouth bass, and one smallmouth bass. All except for three fish were safely released back into the lake by Jason Bubier's NorCal 90 Release Boat.


Final results: Dugan Mcintosh/Ryan Mcintosh- 13.58 pounds total [$600]; Don Reighley/James Shipps- 12.97 [$335]; Jack Wrobel/Paul Orlando- 12.36 [$275]; Leo Trombley/Jim Carr- 12.02 [$225]; Rex Woodard/Jerry Woodard- 11.27 [$180]. Big Fish- Jim Hensley of Sutter- 3.58 ]$236].


The event is conducted by the Chico Bass Club, and helps support the club's activities, including the Lake Oroville Florida-strain bass plant, and the kids fishing events in Chico and Gridley.