Diamond Valley Lake April 29, 2017
Nelson Barrios destroys them at the Diamond bringing home the gold!
The weather man is hardly ever correct… this day at Diamond Valley Lake in Hemet, CA the weatherman was right on the button. The wind was blowing North Northwest with severe gail warnings all across LA and Inland Empire. What are you gonna do when the wind is blowing… you and twenty eight of your favorite buddies are going fishing anyways! With just a few windows of decent fishing conditions and water that looked like freshly squeezed orange juice only green in color the Basscontender field gathered for a blast off outside the launch ramp in the April CBC season opener and duel Top Ten fish-off.
Fishing out of the red boat corner… in his first ever bass tournament and probably the fourth or fifth time ever fishing from a boat… the winner for CBC DVL April 2017 and brand new CBC member fishing in his first official event ever… the one and only weighing 90lbs soaking wet fighting out of La Puente CA Nelson ‘The Hitman’ Barrios! Nelson recently purchased a nice 2013 Ranger boat… he doesn’t have a tow vehicle yet so if you have a 2′ tow ball and wheels hit him up for the next prefish. Way to go Nelson we are all happily surprised for your killer accomplishment on a lake that played stingy and hard to get. Today DVL tricked most seasoned anglers but that didn’t stand in Nelson’s way as he used a Zoom green pumpkin grn/gold flake drop shot to tame the savage beasts from the depths of DVL. Nelson said he went through well over a dozen short dinks to land his winning limit.
Coming in second place with a hint of Asian persuasion seasoning on his bait was the beast Derrick Yoshinaga who tickled the huge lips of the behemoth slug and DVL lunker weighing in at 9.22lbs. Derrick also fishing in the Top Ten event today brought home the coveted first place finisher and winner of an additional $286 pay day to along with second place money and Big fish money honors for the day. What a friken toad and super Big Fish that may be an all-time CBC tournament record that fell to the likes of Senko drizzled with that oriental jizz sauce!
Falling into the final third slot was Conrad Apodaca Jr fishing out of the blue corner and representing team Champion… “No other boat rides like a Champion” is their motto and tag line and almost no other angler is more consistent than Conrad Apodaca Jr. Today Conrad Jr also slotted the second place win in the Top Ten fish-off as his Neko rig produced best flipping and pitching up in the trees and bushes also known as “the shit”… Conrad landed his fish early and never got a bite all day long, on this day “the shit” proved to be “the shit” as all top four fisherman caught their fish up inside the bushes.
Speaking of ‘the shit’… A special fourth place recognition for long time member Joe Nava who has a longtime rare reputation for bringing his own bottle of “Beano” on board with him as he never leaves home without it… Joe is so photogenic as he is pictured below with a nice DVL smallmouth that if brought to the weigh-in would have landed him in first place and in the drivers seat. He also proudly shows off his big bucketmouth and nice three fish to go with the big bucketmouth outlined in grey hair! He said that’s how he held his mouth everytime he got a bite.. it was the Beano mouth pattern he was on!
Talley of the red tape! Read ‘em and weap boyz:
Air temp: 50 degrees launch 88 degrees weigh-in
Conditions: Blue bird skies clear, wind NNW 5-25 mph
Water temp: 65-70 degrees (should have been perfect)
Water: Clean water with heavy algae pulp 2-3’ visibility
Name/Fish/Weight/BigFish
1) Nelson Barrios 4/11.50
2) Derrick Yoshinaga 2/11.46 9.22lbs
3) Conrad Apodaca Jr 4/10.90
4) Joe Nava 3/9.84
5) Big Ed Cazares 3/8.39
6) Adam Day 3/7.89
7) Alex Pisarski 3/7.02
8) Randy Estrada 3/6.45
9) Alfred Vasquez 2/5.52
10) Gary Crouse 1/4.71
11) Kevin Duncan 2/4.60
12) Dan ‘Pops’ Colgan 2/4.52
13) Mark Chadeayne 1/.4.47
14) Mark Pavlinac 1/2.50
15) Joe Won 1/2.45
16) Manny Guillen 1/2.08
17) Tim Irwin 1/1.72
26) David Mendez 0/0.00
27) Conrad Apodaca Sr 0/0.00
27) Paul Herber 0/0.00
27) Richard Hoffman 0/0.00
27) Mark Quaternik 0/0.00
27) Adrian Meza 0/0.00
27) Jorge DeLaCruz 0/0.00
DQ) Gil Bowman 0/0.00 (late)
DQ) Brian Reaves 0/0.00 (late)
Honorable mentions showed up but did not enter:
Fun) Kenny Isgao who caught a Big One
Fun) Terry Snyder who netted a Big One
Big Boat: Alfred Vasquez/Nelson Barrios 17.02lbs
Big Fish: Derrick Yoshinaga: 9.22lbs
CBC shout out to prospective guests Landon Moore and Daniel Vasquez for showing up on derby day!
RESULTS: Top Ten Fishoff and payout:
1) Derrick Yoshinaga $285
2) Conrad Apodaca Jr $166
3) Adam ‘Destroyer’ Day $129
4) Randy Estrada MD $101
5) Alfred‘Assassin’Vasquez $83
6) Tim Irwin $64
7) Paul Herber $23
7) Richard Hoffman $23
7) Conrad Apodaca Sr $23
10) Mark Bowman $23
Thank you to the members who sent in photos for this article. Please continue to photograph your fish both big and small so we can share them here on the website. remember you can click on any photo to view the photo in its original size. Big Ed!
WINNING WAYS: Senko in the bushes, Drop Shot in the bushes, Neko in the bushes, bushes in the bushes. If you weren’t fishing up inside the bushes you weren’t fishing.
EDITORS NOTE: Every family is complicated and every family is dysfunctional and the simple fact is that we don’t get too choose who our family is, all we can do is respect one another and be good people. Just like branches on a tree we all grow in different directions but our roots will always remain together as one!
I would like to wish my good friend Dr Randy Estrada all the best on his journey moving forward. I am saddened to report Randy has decided it is a good time to take a high road and move on, he will not be fishing with us anytime soon. Randy has been an integral part of this club for well over a decade and his presence will be missed by many, none more than myself and a couple of others. Randy Estrada has helped people all of his life literally.. he saved countless lives in his successful career as medical doctor and he has been equally successful in life, in family raising three wonderful polite brilliant kids putting them through college with a wife he adores and numerous successful tournaments as a seasoned pro fisherman. Randy my friend, I hope your journey ends back up here at home where you belong. On behalf of almost every California Bass Contender club member we will not say goodbye because goodbye is permanent… We will rather say see you soon good friend!
One of my many fond memories of Randy was back in 2013 when he and Tim Irwin fished the WON Bass US Open. Please take a moment to read the CBC archived article in the following link: https://wp.me/p5aAUy-fX
Hope too see you all on the water: Big Ed!