2010 Oroville Pro-Am
Final Story

Zaldain tops 92 boat - Western Pro AM Opener field at Oroville

 U.S. Anglers Choice opened its West Coast Pro-Am season this past February 27-28^th at Lake Oroville, CA.  Despite the cold and rainy conditions, 92 boats converged on the rapidly rising lake to take advantage of what proved to be a good spotted bass bite. 

When the dust - or mud as it was for this tournament had settled, it was Chris Zaldain of San Jose, CA who cracked the code at Oroville for a two-day, 27.09 weigh that earned him the title and $10,453 in cash.

“I’d only been to Oroville a half dozen times in my life”, Chris stated.  “I decided to get up there 2 weeks prior to the tournament to do some pre-fishing.  I drove up there after work and got in really late, so instead of staying in a hotel, I chose to drive to the lake, park in the lot, and sleep in the back of my truck.  About 5:30 in the morning, I heard a bunch of trucks and guys milling around.  There was a team tournament going on, so I signed up and decided to use that as my pre-fish.  I spent that day chasing the wind and fishing points with stained water using a jerkbait.  I ended up catching some nice fish and took third place fishing solo at that team event.  I even took big fish for the day”.

When it came to the Angler’s Choice Oroville Pro-am, Chris adopted much of the same strategy.  “ I got out and did some pre-fishing in the driving rain on Friday”, Zaldain commented.  “I ran around to many of the same areas that I fished the weeks before and found that there were still fish in these areas”.

On tournament day, Chris was boat number 53 and launched out in the middle of the 92 boat field.  “My game plan was to target the deeper water main lake points that were wind blown, had stained water, and had spawning flats nearby.  I had only one rod on the deck for the entire tournament – a Powell 686 with 12-pound fluorocarbon line and a Lucky Craft Pointer 128 in trout pattern.  The fish really seemed to be keying in on the trout pattern”, Zaldain commented.

“The day started out fast and furious.  I had a 10-pound limit in the first 6 casts of the morning and ended up catching about 40 fish throughout the day, including a couple of three pounders and the second place big fish of day one, a 4.67 pound spotted bass.  My partner ended up spending the bulk of his day culling through our limit of fish” Chris chuckled.  Zaldain finished out the day firmly ensconced in second place on the back of his 13.91-pound limit,

Day two proved to be more of the same as Zaldain targeted wind swept points in the west branch and south fork of Oroville.  “I made a lot of casts with that Powell 686 rod and covered a lot of water”, Zaldain stated.  “It was slightly tougher the second day as it took me about 10 casts to limit and we only culled about 30 fish”.  Although he managed fewer fish on day two, the 13.18 pound limit Zaldain brought to the weigh station would prove to be enough to do the job and garner the 2010 AC Oroville Pro-Am crown.

Second place on the Pro side Preston Henson

Second place on the Pro side went to Folsom, CA angler Preston Henson.   “This event was looking rather bleak for me as my boat broke down around noon during Friday’s pre-fish”, noted Henson.  I was able to get a loaner boat from a buddy and make it out on the water for the tournament.

Henson concentrated his efforts up in the South Fork area of the lake catching his fish on Luhr Jensen Speed Traps in a white/pink stripe pattern.  “I caught bass during pre-fish in this area and when I came back for the tournament, it seemed that that grew a bit in size”.  Preston noted that he lost a couple of 3 pound fish on day one of the event, but still managed to bring a weight of 11.77 to the scales on day one to situate himself in 10^th place going into the second day of competition.

Henson went back to the same South Fork spot on day two but found he had company.  He still managed to bang out a limit, including a 4.09 pound largemouth which was big fish on day two.  Unfortunately for Henson, he did not get into the big fish option.  The bite lasted until about 1pm but that was good enough for Henson to bring in the big bag of day two at 14.61 pounds, which thrust him into second place and a $4.750 payday.

Third place in the Pro division Mike Nichelini

Third place in the Pro division was secured by Napa, CA pro Mike Nichelini who took overall big fish honors and $2,112 in option money for the 5.78 pound fish he took on day one of the event. Mike’s big fish came at about 1pm on a chartreuse and white ¾ ounce spinnerbait.  “We had caught about 20 fish and culling was starting to get tedious, but I had no problem adding this one to the livewell”, he chuckled. 

Nichelini had spent two days pre-fishing for the event and had narrowed his locations down to the middle and south forks.  Plying the waters with Dobyns Rods, Nichelini employed a variety of baits including Staysee 90’s. 5 inch Senko’s, Pepper Jigs, and tube baits.

Mike’s 14.75 pound limit on day one proved to be the big sack of the tournament. He added an additional 10.73 pounds to this on day two for a total weight of 25.48 pounds, securing him the third place position and $6,072 in winnings.

On the amateur side of the tournament, Oroville angler Randy Chapman edged out runner up Rick Knight by a mere .26 pounds to take the title and $5,027 in winnings.  “I wanted to fish as pro for this event on my home lake”, noted Chapman.  “Unfortunately, my boat was in the shop being reupholstered and the carpet was on backorder”.  As such, Chapman missed the opportunity to pre-fish.  Fortunately, he drew Dugan McIntosh as his pro for day one.  The duo spend the bulk of the day fishing the main body of the lake, fishing mostly drop shop worms and Senkos.  “We caught about 20 fish and managed to cull until we had a limit that went 12.10 pounds”.