John Murray – Shasta Everstart Practice It’s Colder Than Phoenix Up Here

Amy and I went with our friends Brent Ehrler, Brett Hite and our Western Region Ranger Rep Keith Tripp to a cowboy bar in Cave Creek, Ariz. on Friday night. We were at a place called The Buffalo Chip for a bull riding competition, and it was a lot of fun.

Ehrler was there in the middle of the bar in his surfer boy jeans and tennis shoes wearing an Abu Garcia sweatshirt; he was really not the main demographic of the place. B-Hite, who lives in the area, is starting to fit in a little more, and Tripp is a cowboy at heart, so he was right at home.

It’s funny to see how good Brent and Brett have become in this sport. I’ve known both of them since they were young, and just starting out in the sport, and now here they are, Super Stars. I’m really proud of them and happy for them too.

I’m up here in Northern California for the first event of the Everstart Series Western Division schedule. The first thing I’ll say is – it’s cold. We’ve had some great weather in Phoenix for the last little while, and this is going to take some getting used to.

Despite the cold, I’m only going to be able to fish a couple of these events with the schedule I’m planning to fish this year. So, I’m not fishing here for a check; I’m looking for a little better quality fish.

With that thought in mind, my first day of practice sucked; one rat after another. Typical Shasta, catch a bunch of little knotheads for hours in search of the right bites.

I fished the FLW Series National Guard here a year ago, and this place couldn’t be any different. Last year, the lake was down more than a hundred feet, and this year they are working to keep it stable at 40 feet down for the runoff and flood control.

The one thing I’ll say is that the weather is going to change and these spotted bass always adjust during the rainy weather; a lot. I know someone’s going to catch at least one really good bag then hold on to be there at the end. I think it’s going to take 30 to 33 pounds to win, the WON Bass event here last week took almost 22 to win, so that should be about right.

I’ll check in next week after the tournament.

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