Rush Wins Stren Series Event on Lake Oroville
Category: press release
May 16th, 2009 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified May 16th, 2009 at 12:00 AM
OROVILLE, Calif. (May 16, 2009) – Pro David Rush of Palermo, Calif., caught a five-bass limit weighing 9 pounds, 10 ounces Saturday to win the Stren Series Western tournament on Lake Oroville with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 29-8. For his victory, Rush earned $16,716 cash and a 198VX Ranger boat and trailer with an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard.
“I tried to stay away from everybody and fish a little different,” said Rush. “I honestly thought Jason [Bubier] or [Michael] Tuck would win it.”
“I caught more fish today than I did the first two days of the tournament,” said Rush, who was throwing four- and six-inch Roboworms on fluorocarbon line and also 3/16-ounce Texas-rigged green pumpkin YUM Mega Tube. “I was fishing two to 30 foot deep focusing on post spawn at the major points heading out to the main lake. I was concentrating on points instead of fishing areas.”
Rush opened the tournament in sixth place Thursday with five bass weighing 9-12. He then caught five bass weighing 10-2 Friday to make the crucial top 10 cut in fourth place.
Rounding out the top five pros are Ishama Monroe of Hughson, Calif. (15 bass, 29-4, $6,687); Jason Bubier of Oroville, Calif. (15 bass, 29-2, $5,349); Michael Tuck of Anelope, Calif. (15 bass, 29-1, $4,681); and Jeff Michaels of Lakehead, Calif. (15 bass, 28-6, $4,012).
Duane Dunstone of Reno, Nev., caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Pro Division Friday – a 5-pound, 11-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s Folgers Big Bass award of $245.
Charles Peak of San Jose, Calif., won the Co-angler Division taking home a 177TX Ranger boat and trailer with an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard, with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 27-3. Peak fished with pros Glen Lockhart and James Miller on Thursday and Friday respectively, and sealed his victory fishing with Tuck on Saturday.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Ken Whalen of Lompoc, Calif., (14 bass, 26-5, $2,905); J.R. Wright of Truckee, Calif. (15 bass, 25-11, $2,179); Kyle Baker of Lancaster, Calif. (15 bass, 25-7, $1,816); and Gary Morris, Tracy, Calif. (15 bass, 24-12, $1,634).
Whalen earned an additional $2,500 for being the highest finishing Ranger Cup qualifier earning him a total of $5,405.
Tom Salo of Yuba City, Calif., caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Friday – a 3-pound, 5-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s big bass award of $122.
The next Stren Series Western event, hosted by the City of Oakley, will be held May 28-30 on the California Delta in Oakley, Calif. Boats will launch from Russo’s Marina in Bethel Island, Calif. and the final weigh-in will be held at the Walmart located at 4893 Lone Tree Way in Antioch, Calif.
After four qualifying events are complete in each Stren Series division – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western – the top 40 pros and 40 co-anglers based on the points standings from each division will advance to the Stren Series Championship on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Ala., Nov. 5-7 for a shot at $150,000 in the Pro Division and $60,000 in the Co-angler Division. The top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers from each division will also qualify for the 2010 Walmart FLW Tour® and Walmart FLW Series®, bass fishing’s top professional circuits. The highest-finishing pro and co-angler from each division at the Stren Series Championship will also qualify for the $2.5 million 2010 Forrest Wood Cup, where anglers will compete for the $1 million grand prize – the most lucrative award in bass fishing
In Stren Series competition, pros supply the boats, fish from the front deck against other pros and control boat movement. Co-anglers fish from the back deck and compete against other co-anglers. Every angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points that determine angler standings. Two hundred points are awarded to the winner, 199 points for second, 198 points for third, and so on. The full field competes on days one, two and three, with the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers advancing to day four based on their three-day accumulated weight. Winners are determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all four days.
Total awards are based on a full field of 200 boats in every tournament.
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