I enjoyed talking to Kent just as much as fishing with him and it was clear that he has a passion for getting anglers of all levels involved in the sport he loves. We spent the rest of the afternoon comparing notes on different products and industry happenings as well as catching a few fish in the process.

Kent drags heavy jigs down deep

Kent heads back to the marina where he landed a nice largemouth early in the day

On the other side of the lake Dean and Cal worked different areas that Dean knew often held lunkers during the spring. During the rest of the afternoon they took it easy by experimenting with different lures. Cal as usual put in his time with swimbaits swinging for the fences for those lunker bass, but unfortunately the big ones were camera shy today.

Cal and Dean McDaniel setup to work jigs

Dean is one of the very best when it comes to working finesse jigs deep

As we head back into the marina to compare notes with the rest of the field we learned that Pro Angler Earl Dalton had landed an 8lb largemouth. We also discovered that Taylor had a busy afternoon, and successfully boated a 9 pound largemouth with a swimbait on the same spot we fished this morning.

Earl Dalton boats a very nice largemouth

Chris Zaldain mixed it up early and delivers with an exceptional bag of smallmouth

Taylor Parsons finishes the day culling fish. At the end of the event he holds up a massive smallmouth as well as a lunker largemouth bass, showing everyone why he was the 2009 co-angler of the year.

Conclusion: All in all there were a lot of four to five pound smallmouth and largemouth between five and seven pounds boated by many of the pros, and Bub Tosh even managed to get a catfish to swallow a Hudd!

Shooter! Put that thing down, Bub catches a cat on a Hudd!

Pardee can be somewhat of a perplexing lake to fish during winter for anglers not accustomed with deep water fishing, or for those unwilling to adapt quickly, but like all lakes once you put in the time like Taylor Parsons obviously has done, it can be downright spectacular.

Kent Brown put on a great event for the third annual media day full of Pros, Press and a few nice fish too!

The event showed us again why Pardee continues to be a popular Northern California fishing destination. The quality of the fishery continues to impress us and when it comes to monster smallmouth I can’t think of another lake that gives you a better chance at a trophy smallie in the entire region. During the warmer months the big girls do come up to play and the wakebait bite can be the stuff of legend. This year the Young Guns were in the house, and boy did they step up and represent! 

Thanks to Kent Brown, Jackson Rancheria and the team at Lake Pardee for bringing the Pros and the Press together for another memorable event!