Cal Poly students pull off big bass tourney win

A sophomore and a freshman competing in their first college bass tournament showed nary a trace of being overwhelmed.

Instead, they put on a show Feb. 20 at Shasta Lake en route to a Western Conference collegiate championship coupled with a berth in the 2017 Fishing League Worldwide National Championship event.

The duo was representing the green and gold colors of Cal Poly. The father of the Mustangs’ sophomore entry, Nick Rinauro, explained why in a brief phone conversation, saying, “he began fishing as a 4-year old.”

Both Rinauro and freshman Alec Pitts were accomplished TBF/FLW fishing anglers, Rinauro for Leland High School in San Jose and Pitts for Analy High School in Sebastopol. Pitts’ team won the 2015 California prep championship on the California Delta.

Despite being collegiate rookies, Rinauro and Pitts were very comfortable on the water. The families of both anglers were summer house-boaters on Shasta Lake.

“We didn’t expect to win, especially after a fairly unproductive five-hour Friday practice in the rain,” Rinauro said.

“We knew that most of the 28 teams entered were going to fish up the Sacramento River arm of Shasta. We wanted to avoid the crowd and do something different. We found clear water and current in Shasta’s McCloud River arm.”

Rinauro, a 20-year-old agricultural business major, continued: “Using shaky-head rigs with swimbaits and jigs, we had a limit by 10:30.”

Pitts, an 18-year old construction management major, said, “Late in the day, we moved out to main lake points and ran from spot to spot. We caught 20 to 25 fish, including a 4-pounder I caught and a 5-pounder by Nick.”

The victorious Cal Poly team agreed: “Using baits with larger profiles than many of the other teams was key to their unexpected success.”

Bigger swimbaits and jig trailers and longer worms were instrumental in their triumph.

“To get the win was both surprising and awesome,” Rinauro said.

Cal Poly had two other entries. Johan Eide of Sebastopol and Colton Farquer of Oakdale finished eighth with a 7-pound, 11-ounce limit. Christopher LeClair of Oakdale and Clayton Lauchland of Sebastopol placed ninth with a 7-pound, 10-ounce limit.

The 10 top teams in each of the three regular season Western tournaments qualify for the 2017 FLW College National Championship.

The next Western stop will be April 23 at Clear Lake. There are five regions nationally.

FLW College Western Conference

1. Nick Rinauro & Alec Pitts, Cal Poly, 5, 12-3 pounds, $2,000

2. Tanner Austin & Ethan Clark, Sacramento State, 5, 10-9 pounds, $1,000

3. Andrew Loberg & Travis Bounds, Chico State, 4, 10-2 pounds, $500

4. Carson Leber & Lucas Boxwell, Chico State, 5, 9-10 pounds, $500

5. Jacob Wall & Dalton Taylor, Oregon, 5, 9-1 pounds, $500

8. Johan Eide & Colton Farquer, Cal Poly, 5, 7-11 pounds

9. Christopher LeClair & Clayton Lauchland, Cal Poly, 5, 7-10 pounds

(Winnings go to the school’s team account.)

Lake Nacimiento

A North County father-and-son team won their second Tri Valley Club bass tournament at Lake Nacimiento last Saturday.

The Bishops, son Darrin from Paso Robles and dad Del from Templeton, had a field day, catching “close to 50 fish,” according to Darrin.

“The water is becoming clear. You can see three or four feet down. The water temperature is 57 degrees. It’s putting fish in a spawning mode.”

Darrin reeled in the tournament’s big fish, a 3.15-pound spotted bass with a Senko offering.

“I’ve only caught one largemouth at Nacimiento this year,” he added.

The other father-and-son team in the tournament, Dustin and Ted McAllister from San Luis Obispo, caught the second biggest fish at 3.09 pounds.

The third Tri Valley tournament is tentatively scheduled for Santa Margarita Lake on March 19. Quite a lot of rain is needed if that is to materialize.

Tri Valley Top 10

1. Darrin Bishop, Paso Robles, Del Bishop, Templeton, 12.31 pounds

2. Fernando Salazar, Dan Holtzman, Atascadero, 11.16 pounds

3. Graham Grove, Mark Scribner, Pismo Beach, 10.54 pounds

4. Robert Gardner, Dale Litwiler, Santa Maria, 9.97 pounds

5.Dustin & Ted McAllister, San Luis Obispo, 9.50 pounds

6. Kyle Greenlaw, San Luis Obispo, Patrick Touey, Nipomo, 9.45 pounds

7. Russs Minneau, Dan Dostal, Grover Beach, 9.42 pounds

8. Bill Lukeman, Mike Truitt, Santa Maria, 9.23 pounds

9. Joey Reggio, Cory Smith, San Luis Obispo, 9.22 pounds

10. Jeff Hodges, Arroyo Grande, Bud Aquino, Grover Beach, 9.20 pounds.

1st Big Fish, 3.15 pounds, Bishop & Bishop; 2nd Big Fish, 3.09 pounds, McAllister & McAllister.

Nick Salvucci Places in FLW Money

Atascadero’s Nick Salvucci placed 19th in a field of 125 anglers in the Costa FLW Western Region Bass tournament at Shasta Lake Feb. 16-18.

Salvucci had 5-fish limits weighing 11-8 pounds and 8-13 pounds. His 20-pound, 5-ounce total paid $2,694 and 19th place.

Greg Gutierrez of Red Bluff, a former running mate of Arroyo Grande’s Jared Lintner in Bassmaster Elite tournaments, was the pro winner. His 40-pound, 7-ounce 15-fish weight paid $36,176.

In the co-angler portion of the tournament, Andy Levy of Grover Beach placed seventh with 15 fish weighing 24-5 pounds paying $1,807.

Stanley Beebe of San Luis Obispo was 16th with 10 fish, 16-2 pounds worth $723.

Finishing out of the money were Roger Haas of Morro Bay, 49th with 10 fish weighing 13-14 pounds, and Tony Salvucci of Atascadero, 9 fish, 13-7 pounds for 66th place.

Santa Margarita Lake

Marina Manager Ken Hemer reports: “The red hot bass bite slowed this past week, although many anglers managed a few quality fish. This bite should become more consistent with warmer weather. Wim baits and rip baits are working the best. Crappie action remained good with fish up to 2.75 pounds.”

This story was originally published February 24, 2016 at 4:16 PM with the headline "Cal Poly students pull off big bass tourney win."