King City angler looks to build on past success

Winning the opening event on the San Luis Obispo County Bass Ambushers’ schedule two years in a row is an accomlishment appreciated by a King City angler.

But Tom White is focused on inproving his position in the club rankings nine events into the schedule.

White placed sixth in the 2015 Angler of the Year standings, and this time around he has his sights set on a much higher ranking.

A year ago, the best he could do after the opener was a fourth place finish in tournament No. 3.

For this season’s Jan. 24 opener, Lake Nacimiento was foggy early and had few expanses of water that were not colored.

White, 62, a longtime U.S. Post Office mail carrier in King City, said, “The majority of the 14 fish I caught were hooked on jigs at a depth of 15 to 20 feet of water. All were taken on jigs. I was able to cull four times.”

This season, White has expanded his fishing competition to include the American Bass Pacific Coast series. He and King City partner Mike Garza currently rank 12th with 187 points. Twenty-three teams have entered the 2015-16 series.

Ambushers’ Top 10 (all five-fish limits): 1. Tom White, King City, 8.62 pounds, $310; 2. Jim Keeney, Paso Robles, 8.42 pounds, $187; 3. Steve Berada, Santa Maargarita, 8.30 pounds, $125; 4. Del Bishop, Templeton, 8.04 pounds; 5. Fernando Salazar, Atascadero, 7.95 pounds; 6. Mike Garza, King City, 7.80 pounds; 7. Ken Meeks, Atascadero, 7.46 pounds; 8. Mark Scribner, Avila, 7.34 pounds; 9. Erik Zillig, Paso Robles, 7.16 pounds; 10. Al Rush, Paso Robles, 7.10 pounds.

First Big Fish: Ron Christian, Santa Maria, 2.27 pounds, $90.

Third ABA Pacific Tourney Saturday

Test No. 3 in the ABA Pacific bass tournament series will be contested Saturday at Lake Nacimiento. The top five teams in the current standings are within seven points of each other.

Leading the pack with 219 points after winning the January competition are Joey Reggio of San Luis Obispo and partner Kyle Greenlaw, two years removed from competing with the Cal Poly entry in collegiate fishing tournaments.

Both are employed at Tackle Warehouse.

They surprised themselves last month as they pulled their limit of bass out of their live well, and the fish were bigger than they recalled. It turned out their 9.17-pound limit provided nineteen-one-hundreths of a pound edge on runners-up Darrin Bishop of Paso Robles and his cousin from Tulare, Dean Miller.

Teams on the heels of Reggio and Greenlaw are: Gene Gray and Jay Short, 216 points; Chase Austin and Jeramie Dyer 215, Todd Reccord and Mike Maddux plus August Kinney and Mark Scribner, both with 212 points.

It’s Not Too Late to Order

Albacore enchiladas can still be ordered for your family or friends to share during Super Bowl Sunday. The sale is a fundraiser for Central Coast Women for Fisheries. The organization provides college scholarship money for Central Coast students. There are two varieties of enchiladas: green sauce/corn tortillas or red sauce/flour tortillas. Four enchiladas per tray sell for $10. For tickets, call Jackie at 805-772-8281 or Sharon at 805-674-4854.

Orders are to be picked up Saturday between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. at the Morro Bay Community Center, 1001 Kennedy Way, Morro Bay.

Santa Margarita Lake

Marina manager Ken Hemer said: “The bass bite has been on the upswing this past week. Several anglers reported multiple fish days using rigs, rip baits and jigs. The biggest fish reported was 8.75 pounds taken on a football head jig.”

This story was originally published February 4, 2016 at 12:20 AM with the headline "King City angler looks to build on past success."