Yesterday, the last frog was thrown in the 10th Annual Snag Proof Open on the California Delta. The 2011 frog fight on the west coast attracted over 350 anglers with an untold amount of Snag Proof frogs in every size, shape and color to Russo’s Marina for the two-day, shared-weight team tournament.
After a tough first day on the Delta, many of the frog fishermen found it could get worse as they set off to find their second, three bass limit of the tournament.
Day One – Big Fish pictures here.
Day Two – Big Fish pictures here.
In a weigh-in interview, Ron Howe and Dan Wells explained how they led day one running away with the lead, holding a 17-bag of bass. “If I had one piece of advice, I would say protected areas, away from the wind were the best for us; also, all but one of ours came from mats, we didn’t really focus on open water areas.”
As the team returned on day two with less than 5-lbs, many thought they would slip in the standings; but just as they wrestled with the tide turn, others had too and their two day total of 21.99 was enough to be crowned the frog kings of the 2011 Snag Proof Open. Sparrow and Cicada Bobby’s Perfects were their most productive frogs. In addition to the frog trophies, the team pocketed $6,200 for their weekend on the water.
The team of Cornell and Watkins were surprised at their second place ending of 19.73. They explained, “We didn’t decide to fish the tournament until the Thursday night and we only practiced a little bit on Friday; we struggled to land the bites we were getting.” The team got 15-20 blow-ups; but said they “couldn’t execute on ’em all”. They boasted the Bobby’s Perfect Delta Demon and Ish’s black Phat Frog as their best baits. They earned nearly $4,000 for their fish.
Rounding out the top three was the team of French and Masters with 19.41. They boasted their bags of bass came on a black Bobby’s Perfect and “just gettin’ lucky.” A $2,000 payout is a good check for just gettin’ lucky.
Final stats on the event given were 178 boats with 119 registered as pros and 59 in the am division. Snag Proof paid down 23 teams with five big fish on the pro side. Pro first place big bass was 8.56 and earned $700. For the am anglers the payout reached 12th place, with three big fish paid, biggest at 4.89 earning $500.
Complete standings below;
pro
- 21.99 Wells/Howe $6200
- 19.73 Cornell/Watkins $3750
- 19.41 French/Masters $2000
- 18.49 Leber/Peacock $2300
- 17.84 Dolph/Mensor $1800
- 17.42 Mee/Mueller $1550
- 17.21 Stafford/Stafford $800
- 16.52 Fontaine/Siegried $700
- 16.26 Medina/Belvins $700
- 16.13 Cuccia/Santora $650
- 15.68 Silvey/Goncalves $500
- 15.65 Slerman/Ronelli $450
- 15.64 Young/Newell $950
- 15.42 Payne/Roberson $400
- 15.36 Weyer/Brewer $400
- 15.16 Balbas/Case $350
- 15.05 Johnson/Miguel $300
- 14.89 Wood/Harris $300
- 14.63 Daniels/Andrews $300
- 14.89 Pioharz/Gray $300
- 13.92 Papkie/Naguchi $200
- 13.85 Fischer/Donelly $200
- 13.44 Cole/Selk $200
am
- 18.55 Arlin/Fonbuena $2200
- 16.27 Kreighbaum/Chapman $1400
- 13.63 Brown/Deal $1050
- 13.37 Chapman/Goodwin $550
- 12.80 Flowers/Tallon $500
- 12.58 Larson/Olson $700
- 12.32 Clark/Jackson $300
- 10.72 Rector/Acha $200
- 9.71 McLaughlin/McLaughlin $200
- 9.65 Cornwell/Green $200
- 9.53 Stevens/Estep $150
- 9.16 Foster/Rodgers $150
Big fish pix of the Snag Proof, click here.
More information and other stories available here.
The Snag Proof website, can be visited here.
