| __________________________________________________ April 27, 2004 - Vol. 5 No. 11 __________________________________________________ YAMAMOTO BABY CRAW PINCHES SPAIN'S RECORD BASS Story by Joan Arnal, GYCB's European Correspondent For photos, visit: http://www.insideline.net/articles/spain-record-bass.html Europe's bass anglers do not hear stories very often about whopper bass lurking in his or her waters. There is little big bass history in Europe. Florida strain largemouth are not present on the Old World continent, and the combined constraints of small waters that are few and far between, therefore heavily-pressured, makes big bass very rare to catch in Europe. The largest bass on record in Europe came from small clear ponds in France and Italy, and in the warmer climes of Spain. But no bass on record ever broke the 9 pound barrier. That weight seemed to be unachievable in Europe. Yet that was just what Guillermo Gomez, a tackle shop owner from Logroņo, Spain, found on the end of his line on April 8, 2004. It was a big female bass, weighing 9 lbs 1 oz. She appeared obviously ready to spawn. Guillermo Gomez is a big fan of Yamamoto soft plastics. However, he never expected to land his huge trophy on what he did - a four inch Baby Craw in Watermelon Red color (3S-10-208), Texas rigged with 10 pound test line. "I've always heard that small lures catch only small fish," Guillermo said, "but on this day, my partner and I, we caught seven bass over 6 lbs with these bitty Baby Craws. We sure tried bigger lures as well, but the Yamamoto Baby Craw was the real sweet deal for these big monster Spanish bass." In order to compare the awesome day Guillermo and his partner had, it's worth noting that in most tournament in Europe, a five pounder is worthy to take the big fish award. Guillermo's record bass was caught in the Ebro waters, near Lake Caspe, Spain, the place where Gary and Beverly Yamamoto took big fish honors in the European Classic three years ago. Guillermo's tackle shop, Planeta Agua (which means Water World) has a huge fish tank with bass, pike and walleye in it. However, he was so worried about the life of his trophy that he decide to release her after a short session of properly weighing and measuring it for the records. "I'm sure having the Spanish national bass record swimming in my tackle shop fish tank would be good for my business," says a proud Guillermo, "but I prefer for her to be swimming back where I caught her from, and where she can spawn this year." Guillermo adding jokingly, "Who knows? I may catch her again when she weighs 10 pounds!" From Gary Yamamoto Spain and from everyone who loves bass fishing worldwide, we shout out: Congratulations Guillermo on your record catch AND release! For photos, visit: http://www.insideline.net/articles/spain-record-bass.html __________________________________________________ CONGRATS TO BASS FED FIVE GOING ON TO CLASSIC! Five spots to the Bassmaster Classic in July were won by competitors in the BASS Federation National Championship held last Saturday on Keystone Lake (Tulsa, Oklahoma). The Federation path may be the hardest way to get to the Classic. There are multiple steps that can take over two years to complete. Federation anglers must succeed first in BASS club, regional, state, Divisional and finally the National Championship from where the top five go on to the Classic, the World Series of the bass fishing sport. You know, it's one thing to be a bass pro with financial sponsors and who often has a fishing-related business or job to fund the pro's participation on the major circuits. It's quite another thing to be an ordinary BASS club angler with a family, an everyday job, and who still finds time to fish and win from local club tournaments all the way up through the regional, state, divisional and national levels. That's not easy! Avid Federation anglers like the five Classic qualifiers below, their families, employers, and fellow BASS club fishin' buddies who support them are truly the unsung heroes of our sport. Congratulations to all five Federation qualifiers to the Classic this year: 1. Alabama Federation's Russ Lane 2. Pennsylvania Federation's George Acord (2nd Classic) 3. Washington Federation's Jeff Boyer (3rd Classic) 4. Iowa Federation's Thad Takes 5. Arkansas Federation's William Pippen __________________________________________________ BASS FED DIVISIONAL ON LAKE POWELL MAY 16-21 We've all heard, seen pictures of, or perhaps we've visited the spectacular Grand Canyon, one of the world's greatest natural wonders. Now envision Lake Powell, formed by damming Glen Canyon, not far upriver from and equally awesome in beauty as the Grand Canyon. There is no mistaking Lake Powell is the most scenic bass fishery in the world, with 1,800 miles of spectacular shoreline. The BASS Federation Western Divisional will be held May 16-21 on the scenic fishing wonderland that is Lake Powell. "In the past, the national and major Western circuits made pro tour stops on Powell. High-teen to mid-twenty pound daily limits were necessary to win on Lake Powell," says Angler's Choice Lake Powell Division tournament director Allen Bratton. "However in the last several seasons, at least from the late nineties through 2003, the bass fishery on Powell kind of crashed and so did Powell's world class striper fishery. They all seemed stressed and undersized," says Russ Bassdozer. Catching great quantities of bass was not the problem. In fact, you can catch so many bass on Powell that lake rules let anglers harvest 20 smallmouth, 5 largemouth and unlimited striped bass daily. Fish with a buddy and it is easy to take home 50 bass most every day and as many stripers as can be caught. For the recreational angler who enjoys eating fish, Powell is one of America's most bountiful bass fisheries. Unfortunately, most of Powell's bass were under 12 inches and under one pound. But in 2003, something incredible happened. The fishery enjoyed historically high shad reproduction right as Lake Powell, due to a drought in the Southwest, hit its lowest water levels since being filled. Concurrent with high shad rates and low water, the length and weight of bass caught by anglers and fishery sample survey nets began to climb in 2003. By year-end, a good percentage of 1.5 pound smallmouth were evident in the population. Bona fide two-pounders appeared regularly in catches. It was an overnight sensation! "In 2004, it's typically taking eleven to twelve pounds per day to win a tournament on Powell," says Angler's Choice Lake Powell Division tournament director Allen Bratton. "If whatever is causing this growth momentum continues, many of these two-pounders may push three pounds by autumn," says Russ Bassdozer "We expect to see fifteen pounds plus per day to win tournaments on Powell by autumn," says Allen Bratton. Let's look more closely at a few factors that may have influenced this bass size boom. Lake Powell is down eighty feet from three years ago (March 2001). By content, Lake Powell is only 42% full. This may mean not only shad, but crawdads also are likely to be at their historically highest concentrations ever. This doesn't necessarily mean more crawdads, just more crowded crawdads. With the dropping lake level, eighty feet worth of safely-embedded crawdads have been forced to constantly migrate and crowd down deeper. Eighty feet of water column loss means the entire population, every crawdad on Lake Powell, has been forced to continually relocate, thereby becoming more exposed and more vulnerable to bass predation now than ever before in the lake's entire history. This is an epic, unprecedented migration of crawdads. Low water, historically high shad reproduction, epic crawdad relocations are three possible factors why the 12 inch dinks of spring 2003 have been replaced by two pound chunks in spring 2004. If whatever is causing this growth momentum continues, Powell will quickly reclaim its crown as one of the Southwest's best tournament fisheries. Good luck to those BASS Federation anglers competing in the BASS Western Divisionals on Powell on May 16-21. You are in for some of the best fishing in recent years on Lake Powell, the world's most scenic bass fishery. For more information on Lake Powell weather, water levels, weekly DNR fishing reports, individual angler reports, interactive forum, interactive topo maps, water levels, inflow source discharges, snowpack melt, marinas, amenities, guides, 2004 tournament schedules and more, please visit: THE LAKE POWELL PAGE http://www.bassdozer.com/lakepowell.shtml For more information on Angler's Choice Lake Powell team tournaments, please contact: Lake Powell Tournament Director: Allen Bratton Phone: (435) 586-3097 Email: abelectric@infowest.com __________________________________________________
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