BOARDMAN, Ore. – Greg Gutierrez of Red Bluff, Calif. started off Day One for the BAM Pro Tour at the Columbia River where he left off a month ago at the BAM Pro/Am and his strategy earned him the top spot with a TourneyX verified five-fish limit that weighed 19.41 on the first day’s leaderboard at the three-day event presented by the Boardman Chamber of Commerce / Boardman Parks and Recreation.
“I had 16 or 17 pounds by 6:30 a.m.,” said Gutierrez “Then, I got to thinking about it and figured I should layoff that spot before I killed it.”
Planning for fish management, Gutierrez expanded his pattern on other areas of the Columbia. “I would catch one here and one there and every time it was a bigger one, I would cull,” he said.
Without the usual, competition-day, tight-lipped tournament talk, Gutierrez shared an early reveal saying he was throwing shallow topwater and looking for those reaction bites where the fish are up feeding.
“I would go back through the same areas with a finesse bait,” he added. “With either a big heavy plastic or a Frenzy Baits Nail with a Ned rig type of setup and one of those two baits was going to get bit if the fish were still up there and once they stopped biting, I would move on to the next spot”
Again. focusing on strategy, Gutierrez avoided several areas that he knew where holding fish. “I just found some spots with lots of fish; but I figured I had good weight and didn’t want to burn them in case I needed numbers of fish later. Like, about 9:30 a.m., I made a run to Arlington and culled there a couple of times. It was a couple of limits with around 16- to 17-pounds of fish each.”
By day’s end he had refocused to his goal to secure areas to fish on Championship Sunday. “If I made it, I wanted to find spots to be close to the ramp; so, I didn’t have to run a long way,” he said. “I would like to stay within 10 miles of the ramp in case it is lumpy; but tomorrow I will probably make a long run again and smash those fish until they stop biting and then head back to the ramp.”
Boomer Boats 67 Bass
Landing a phenomenal, TourneyX verified 67 bass, Jake Boomer of Spokane Wash. finished out Day One as the leader on the Keeper Count side
“My thumbs hurt, and I’ve got tape on every one of them; but how cool is that to say that you caught that many fish,” said Boomer. “The biggest thing is that I knew that I wasn’t going to focus on one or the other (heaviest bag of numbers of scorable bass). I just knew that if I was catching fish, I would have my opportunities to better fish.”
Boomer’s scorable bass not only gave him the Keeper Count lead, his heaviest five also put in the runner-up position for total weight, less than one pound behind Gutierrez.
“I had a couple good bites, but I was just fishing when I got ‘em,” he said. “The goal was to catch as many as I could and hopefully the bag mattered. It is a double blessing to be in the lead for keepers but have a good weight, so if I have a good weight tomorrow, it will go really, really well.”
By Jody Only
Top-10 BAM Pro Tour Columbia River Day One
PLACE NAME TOTAL WEIGHT KEEPERS
1 Greg Gutierrez *19.41 29
2 Jake Boomer 18.60 *67
3 Conrad Demecs *18.49 12
4 Colby Pearson 18.11 *65
5 Jake Arbuckle *18.02 12
6 Beau Fletcher 16.95 *35
7 Jason Hickey *17.8 28
8 Karl Okerman 15.57 *32
9 Zach Richard *17.68 17
10 Nicholas Cloutier 17.29 *29
BAM Pro Tour Columbia River Day One Full Results
Note: BAM Pro Tour anglers are ranked in the Pro Tour events by both biggest five fish limit and numbers of scorable bass caught. First place is held by the angler with five biggest bass and second place is the highest keeper count. The standings then continue to alternate by weight/numbers. Anglers ranked by weight are denoted with an asterisk. Field will be cut at end of Day Two.
Anglers blast off at 5:45 a.m. and scales open at 3 p.m. Join your favorite angler at the Columbia River weigh-in or watch the tournament weigh-in live as top western pros weigh in live starting Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
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The Bass Angler Magazine Tournament Trail (BAM TT) provides an exceptional platform for both anglers and sponsors. It combines extensive exposure opportunities, celebrating the skills of western bass anglers. The circuit receives broad media coverage across print and online magazines, emails, podcast, websites, videos, television, and multiple social media channels.
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