BASS LAKE – After the excitement of lucky angler Pete Antonino landing the fish of a lifetime with a $10,000 payout on the first day of the 2013 Bass Lake Fishing Derby, fishing enthusiasts headed for the lake for hopefully a 2nd day of landing the “big one”, either the remaining $10,000 beauty or the one and only $5,000 tagged trout.
Anglers were greeted Sunday morning with much cooler weather than the nice, sunny 80 degree day of Saturday.
A cold weather front moved in overnight and angler’s apparel changed from shorts and bikini’s to long pants and hooded sweat shirts!
It appeared not as many boats or bank fishermen participated on Sunday but it was still quite a turnout for the 2013 event.
This was the first event since the completion of the PG&E dam upgrade and while the water level was not back up to full lake status, it was still higher than the past couple of years.
Michelle Miller, of Miller’s Landing, reported that almost 1,000 participants signed up for the 2013 Derby and 357 tagged fish were redeemed as follows at either Miller’s Landing, The Forks or the Pines Resort:
$20 fish: 297
$100 fish: 59
$10,000 fish: 1
Total payout of $21,840
In addition, many more non-tagged trout were caught and most participants and sponsors agreed that the 2013 Bass Lake Fishing Derby was a huge success.
Before Saturday’s big $10,000 catch, the highest prize fish had eluded capture since the Derby of 2007, and 1992 before that.
Michelle mentioned that her favorite derby moments were of the families who took part, especially when the parents or grandparents joined in.
Hey, I even caught a Crappie which I didn’t know was also abundant in the lake for knowledgeable angers.
