Day Three Western Divisional Results
YUMA, Arizona — Bill Golightly saved the best for last here on the final day of the BASS Federation Nation Western Divisional. Checking in with a 13-1 limit, he vaulted from seventh place to capture the individual title of the three-day event staged out of Hidden Shores Recreational Village on the Colorado River.
The angler from Preston, Idaho, fishing as part of the Wyoming team, finished with 31-1, more than two pounds ahead of Oregon’s David Brinkerhoff, whose 10-10 limit on Day Three, gave him 29-0.
Washington won the state championship with 237-5. Oregon claimed second among the 11 teams with 212-4 in a tournament noted for bright sunny skies and temperatures hovering around 100 degrees every day.
Idaho anglers, meanwhile, claimed both positions in the one-day Junior Bassmaster competition. Thirteen-year-old Eathan Peterson of Hayden, Idaho, brought in the most weight with 9-6 and was the only Junior to manage a limit. Tyler Ashton, his 17-year-old teammate from Boise, won in the 15-to-18 age group with three bass that weighed 5-13.
“This was my first year in BASS, but I’ve been fishing since I could hold a rod,” said an excited Peterson.
Ashton caught his fish by flipping and pitching, while Peterson, fishing from the same boat, found success with a dropshot rig. Both techniques were popular among adult competitors as well, as was dragging a frog through reeds and over grass.
Golightly also found flipping the reeds to his liking, as he caught many of his bass with a watermelon/red flake tube with red-dyed tentacles. On Day One, four of his keepers came on a River2Sea frog.
“Today (Day Three), I focused on flipping deep water all day,” he said, adding that he looked for the deepest river curves that he could find.”
Day Two Leader David Mays of Oregon also brought in a limit on the final day, but his weighed just 6-15 and he slipped to fourth, while teammate Jason Hooper took third.
Qualifiers for the National Championship this fall on the Red River include the following: Bill Bravence, Arizona, James Smiley, California; Allen McCaw, Colorado; Brandon Palaniuk, Idaho; Jay Evans, Montana; Paul Hemsley, Nevada; Bob Lechel, New Mexico; David Brinkerhoff, Oregon; Jerry Frahm, Utah; Joey Nania, Washington, and Bill Golightly, Wyoming.
In the team competition, New Mexico took third, behind Washington and Oregon. California managed fourth, Utah fifth, and Montana sixth.
Idaho claimed seventh, Wyoming eighth, Arizona ninth, Nevada 10th, and Colorado 11th.
