Four-time Bassmaster Classic champion Rick Clunn recently returned from Italy, where he participated in a B.A.S.S. Federation Nation event and expanded the reach of his Luck E Strike RC2 crankbaits and RC Stix jerkbaits.
He inked a deal with Blue Springs, the largest tackle retailer in the country (200 stores), to be the exclusive provider of the baits and he's brought an Italian angler named Luca Quintavalla on board to promote them. The two met in 2005 when Quintavalla visited the U.S. to expand his bass-fishing knowledge.
The Federation Nation tournament took place on Lake Bolsena, an extant volcanic crater near Rome that Clunn compares to California's Clear Lake in terms of appearance and characteristics. The fish aren't as big, though – specimens topping the 5-pound mark are uncommon.
Clunn teamed with Mark Curry of Nitro Boats for the event and reported that they didn't fare extremely well. They got on a decent topwater bite on day 1, but weren't prepared for the ultra-calm conditions of day 2.
"We didn't have anything smaller than 12-pound line, and almost all the fish that day were caught on dropshots on line no bigger than 5-pound," he said.
The tournament also featured a couple of German teams and one from Russia. Clunn said he learned from one of the German competitors that tournament fishing in that country is basically nonexistent, primarily because catch-and-release is illegal.
