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Event Article:
Pros and Press on Pardee Lake |
Rain or Shine the
Smallies come out for the Pros on Pardee Lake
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Date: |
1/27/08 |
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Location: |
Lake Pardee,
California |
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Event Dates: |
Jan 27th,
2008 |
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Reviewer: |
Zander |
Introduction:
Winter
fishing can be tough at times, but when the water is still cold it can be a
great time to change your focus from largemouth to smallies. Lucky for us in
Northern California there are some lakes that don't require anglers to make
the tough choice between one or the other. Lake Pardee is one such lake and is home
to both trophy smallmouth and largemouth. We spend a day fishing with the Pros
to see just how they tackle the combo in the adverse conditions of winter.
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Cal with
Irvin "Bo" Marks the Tribal Vice-Chairman at Jackson Rancheria, a
Casino/Hotel located nearby Pardee Lake |
The Event:
Ultimate Bass radio host and professional angler Kent Brown decided it was high
time to kick this season into gear and put together the Pardee Pros and Press
day in which press from across the nation would gather together to fish the lake
one week before it would open to the public.
The pros that attended the
event included Corey Fenske, Russ Graves, Mark Blanton, Ryan White, Dean
McDaniel, Greg Guiterrez, Bub Tosh, John Maes, Randy McAbee Jr, and RJ Bennett.
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Out the back
entrance and its a short walk over to the area where trucks and bass boats
can park. Bo has made sure that Jackson Rancheria is "angler friendly" |
On the press side there were representatives from all over the nation on both
the print and online side. We came together today for a day of pre-fishing a
week before Pardee officially opens. With our gear loaded up we watched the
weather report all week, and as each day passed the predictions went from bad to
worse. The region had just been pounded by two storms in a row, and we were set
to fish in the beginning of a third. Still, the elements were not enough to keep
the pros and press from a chance to test out some techniques and tackle on
Pardee. To make it even more exciting Kent had four winners from his radio show
contest come out and spend a day on the water as well.
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The back of
the Jackson Rancheria hotel and convention center |
About Lake Pardee:
Lake Pardee is one of the mother lode lakes which includes Lake Amador,
Camanche, Salt Springs, New Melones, McClure, Don Pedro, and Tulloch. Pardee
Lake is most famous for it’s unbelievable smallmouth fishery, in fact the
current state record smallmouth came out of Pardee. The current recorded record
is held by Harold Hardin and is 9.83 pounds. This beat the previous record set
on Trinity Lake in 1971 which was 9.1lbs.
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The pros
parked their boats in the back lot which is watched by security |
The facilities at the lake
are excellent and owned and maintained by Richard and Kerry Cooper. They run a
first class operation complete with a café and recreation store, plenty of
bathrooms, and a tournament capable launch ramp.
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Zander and
Bo talk in the lobby |
A good place to stay overnight when coming out to Pardee,
Amador, or Comanche is the ever expanding Jackson Rancheria casino and hotel.
The hotel offers great rooms at reasonable rates, and is a great home base for
multiple days of fishing on the local lakes. The parking area in the back of the
hotel is designed to accommodate even the largest bass rigs.
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To kick off
the event the hotel prepared dinner for the pros and the press |
Rather than making the trek at 3:00 in the morning Cal and I
decided to head to Jackson Rancheria the night before, get a good rest, and see
if we could give the pros a run for their money. We found the facilities at
Jackson excellent, from the good food to the comfortable rooms, but what really won
us over was the free wireless internet which allowed us to keep on writing and
posting on the forum.
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The next
morning everyone heads to the lake early hoping to get fishing time in
before the storm looming on the horizon makes it over the lake |
Next
Section: Time to fish for some smallies!
