Triton Owners Tournament West

By Kent Brown

Eric Aasen and Russ Meyer top TOT Western Field

Lake Shasta’s Bridge Bay Resort was the host of the 2^nd annual Triton Owners Western Tournament October 25^th and 26^th with 172 anglers competing for the $5000 top prize and one lucky contestant would leave with a fully rigged Triton TR200, Mercury 225 Optimax, Motor Guide Trolling Motor and Lowrance Electronics just for fishing the event.

Northern California is under a severe drought and the launch ramps at Lake Shasta were in their final stages of use and without the hard work and constant shoveling of sand onto the launch ramp from Nixon’s Marine Jeff Preister and tournament director Gary Stiles the day two launching was questionable. With Lake Shasta down some 170 feet there was no shortage of sand.

Fishing his first tournament ever Triton owner Eric Aasen teamed up with Russ Meyer a veteran western tournament angler and took the tournament lead on day one with 11.12 pounds. Aasen and Myers never looked back and held on to win with a two day total of 21.38 pounds. They caught most of their fish on plastics and reaction baits in the Pit River arm of Lake Shasta to take home the Champions Plaques and $5000.

 Jim Nickell and Chris Fancelli finished in second with 19.94 that they caught on worms throughout the lake. Dave Palmer and Curtis Johnson slipped into third after weighing in day ones second heaviest bags with 18.64. Curtis Johnson once again left the field speechless with his rendition of the National Anthem at Friday’s banquet. Last year’s TOT West Champion Katrina Dehaven and Bill Townsend finished in fourth and weighed in the second biggest bass of the event a 4.00 pound spotted bass that earned them $500 from Longhorn Tobacco.

 The biggest bass of the tournament was weighed in by Joe White of Redding, CA a 4.10 pound spotted bass that earned the former owner of Galaxie Marine a check for $1000. Joe was one of the original Triton Dealers in the West and has since retired to Lake Shasta.

Jim Broberg found himself standing on the right compartment lid at the end of the boat giveaway where Ultimate Bass Radio host and Triton Pro, Kent Brown let the six finalists pick which compartment they thought the winning envelope was in.  Broberg was the first finalist and chose the passenger side rod locker first and stressed through offers of thousands of dollars to sell his spot. In the end Broberg towed off his new black and blue TR200, Mercury Optimax powered Triton Boat.

With the help from the BASS Federation, The Black Bass Action Committee Live Release Boat and Triton Livewells all 415 bass caught in the tournament were released alive back into Lake Shasta.

Special thanks go out to Phil Mitsuada of Phil’s Props, Redding Holiday Inn, Bridge Bay Resort and all of you that participated on making the second Triton Owners Tournament a great event.