Phil Garcia
The 2010 SouthWest Division Championship, Presented By RadBack Energy began today on the California Delta marking the beginning of the No Entry Fee 2010 TBF Division Championship Series.
The overall tournament leader after day one is Phillip Garcia, from Yuba City, Calif., with a limit of bass weighing 18lb 9ounces. Garcia is representing the 2010 TBF California State Team, and representing well. “I got them all in the boat,” Garcia said, getting just five bites and catching five fish. During pre-fishing, he wasn’t hitting one area for long like he is now, but moving around to find the hot spots. “I’d never thought I’d catch these fish in this area. My co-angler finished fishing his spots and we were close so I thought I would give it a try,” Garcia said. He got his last bite at 12:30 fishing a 300 yard stretch about 10-14 feet deep. “It’s a good stretch of water, so, I haven’t burned them up yet; tomorrow, I’m just going to go out there again and wing it.”
Day 1 Leader - Phil Garcia
Close in second, in overall standings, is Larry Hardy, from Tonto Basin, Ariz., who brought in a limit of bass weighing 16lb 11ounces. Hardy is the TBF Arizona State Team Captain and has definitely shown leadership in his catch today. “Yesterday they were small there; I went back today and they had grown overnight I guess,” Hardy jokes. He caught all his fish before 8am and plans to do the same thing tomorrow. “I covered only about one-third of that water, so I know there are still some there.”
(In third overall is, Greg Gizzi, from Widefield, Colorado, with five bass weighing 12lb 8ounces. Tim Price, from Peoria, Ariz., is in fourth with 3 fish weighing 12lb 5ounces and Nicholas Phelps, from Glendale, Ariz., is in fifth with 5 fish weighing 12lb 4ounces.)
The home team, TBF California State team, pushed ahead of the other state 12 person teams today, grabbing the number one slot with a total combine weight of 107lb 13ounces. They brought in 46 bass to the scales. The 2009 Western Division Champions, the Utah Bass Federation State team, are looking to repeat last year’s success to grab the championship title. They’re nipping at the heels of these California anglers coming in second after day one weighing in a total of 40 bass for a combine weight of 93lb.
(TBF Arizona State team is in third with 35 bass weighing 83lb 8ounces. Then, TBF Colorado with 32 bass weighing 72lb 8ounces and TBF Nevada with 21 bass weighing 44lb 4ounces.)
Colorado’s Steve Barbee, leads the Solar Bat big bass award with a 7.6 fish
Steve Barbee
Take off’s begin everyday at 6am, and weigh-ins at 2pm at Russo’s Marina, on Bethel Island, Calif.
Take off’s and weigh-ins are free to the public.
