At some Central Coast bass tourneys, a little turns into a lot

Sometimes, a little is a lot in tournament bass fishing.

So it was for Atascadero’s Gene Gray and partner Jay Short of Templeton. The event was the third stop on the American Bass Pacific Region schedule last Saturday at Lake Nacimiento.

“Usually we catch a lot of fish at Nacimiento,” Gray noted. “Not so this time. We only caught 10 fish all day. But the two-plus-pounder we boated in the last five minutes won the tournament for us.”

Catching four fish early in the day had the pair thinking it was going to be a typical day. However, a three-hour period with no fish followed.

I asked Gray whether that was nerve-racking.

“Oh, boy, was it,” he groaned.

The team had a limit by noon, including what proved to be the event’s biggest fish.

Short — who has mastered the knack of contributing big fish — produced again, reeling in a 2.83-pound spot employing a Senko in 15 feet of water. It was the big fish of the tournament and paid an additional $375.

Short honed his skills starting as a 15-year-old in Gold Coast Bass Club tournaments. That was more than a few decades ago.

Gray and Short weighed a 10.24-pound limit for the win. It was almost a half-pound better than the Atascadero duo of Jeremy Gearhart and Tony Salvucci.

Gearhart, 32, a Utilities Department employee of the City of San Luis Obispo, and Salvucci, 37, a tree trimmer by trade, are bass teammates for the first time. This tournament also was the first time Tony competed against his younger brother, Nick, 35, the longtime partner of Bassmaster Elite bass pro Jared Lintner of Arroyo Grande.

Gearhart and Salvucci guesstimated they caught 12 to 15 bass fishing the later part of the tournament “off rock walls and tapered points,” Gearhart said.

They didn’t have a scale in their boat, so their 9.75-pound limit was heavier than expected. A 2.14-pound bass caught by Tony in the final 30 minutes didn’t qualify for big fish money, but it did propel the team to a second-place finish.

(Nick Salvucci and Lintner placed seventh with an 8.78-pound bag.)

Gray scanned the posted weights and declared that the fishing is improving at Nacimiento. Three teams posted 9-pound plus limits behind the winners’ 10.24.

In the previous two ABA tests at Nacie, there was one 10-pound bag and one 9-pound sack..

Midway through the Pacific Region schedule, Gray and Short are perched atop the standings with 316 points, two more than the Joey Reggio and Kyle Greenlaw, and Mark Scribner and August Kinney — two duos who share second place.

ABA Pacific Top 10

1. Gene Gray, Atascadero, Jay Short, Templeton, 10.24 pounds, $3115

2. Jeremy Gearhart, Nick Salvucci, Atascadero, 9.75 pounds, $834

3. Jason Letterman, J.D. Escobar, King City, 9.50 pounds, $701

4. Darrin Bishop, Paso Robles, Dean Miller, Tulare, 9.07 pounds, $280

5. Matt Clausen, Prunedale, Jason Lazzerini, Moss Landing, 8.88 pounds, $400

6. Troy Tidwell, Scott Mullins, Prunedale, 8.85 pounds

7. Nick Salvucci, Atascadero, Jared Lintner, Arroyo Grade, 8.78 pounds

8. Mark Scribner, August Kinney, Pismo Beach, 8.63 pounds

9. Damon Meeks, Atascadero, Erik Zillig, Paso Robles, 8.04 pounds

10. Jim Dobbs, and Bob Grayson, (home towns not available), 7.83 pounds.

1st Big Fish: 2.83 pounds, $375, Gray & Short; 2nd Big Fish: 2.40 pounds, $220, Letterman & Escobar; 3rd Big Fish: 2.28 pounds, $150, Bishop & Miller.

This story was originally published February 10, 2016 at 5:12 PM with the headline "At some Central Coast bass tourneys, a little turns into a lot."