By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor


(Editor's note: In observance of the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, a new top story will not appear until Tuesday.)

The "old guys" showed up well this year on the Western FLW Series, as all three winners were on the north side of their 50th birthday. The latest was Charley Almassey, who prevailed last week at the California Delta with a 3-day total of 60-01.

Almassey, a 53-year-old resident of nearby Oakley, Calif., assumed it would take considerably more than a 20-pounds-per-day average to top the standings. Nonetheless, he was thrilled to join former tour pro Greg Gutierrez (Lake Shasta) and Southern California fire captain Todd Woods (Clear Lake) as circuit victors who are old enough to play on golf's Champions Tour.

Almassey had a chance encounter with Woods after day 2 that he said gave him further motivation to close out his biggest career triumph on the final day.

"I'd just weighed that big sack (26-06) and I was filling up at a gas station, and out of nowhere Todd comes up to me," he said. "He didn't do so well that day and he was on his way out of town.

"He just wanted to shake my hand and wish me luck, and he said he had a good feeling about me winning. I told him I took a lot of inspiration from his win after putting in his time for so many years, and I hoped it could happen for me as well. Sure enough, it worked out."

Practicing Right Cycle Was Key

There are no off-limits periods for FLW Series events, but Almassey nonetheless did the vast majority of his pre-fishing 2 weeks prior to the start of the tournament. He wanted to practice on the same tide cycle that the tournament would occur on, and the tide turns over ever 14 days.

The weather was calm and extremely warm at that time and a high percentage of the bass were still on their spawning beds. He threw an ABT Lures Glide Bait, which imitates a bluegill, in areas that he though might be holding big fish.

"If I didn't have a 5- or 6-pounder either bite it or follow it, then I wouldn't fish there (during the tournament)," he said.

The spawn had concluded by the time the derby got under way, but a lot of big fish remained in those same locales. He stuck with big reaction-based presentations – the Glide Bait, along with a Bobby D’s Custom Baits Grinder bladed jig with a small swimbait trailer and a 3/8-ounce Blade-Runner paddle-head swimjig with a 4.8-inch swimbait.

"They were sitting in the sparse hydrilla clumps where the bluegill are now spawning," he said. "It was critical to be there when the tide was right – as soon as it was two-thirds of the way out, that's when they were locked on and feeding. They'd move from the flat out to the weed edges.



Charley Almassey
Photo: Charley Almassey

The guide configuration on Almassey's SpiraLite rods makes a 180-degree turn before reaching the tip.

"I thought it was going to take between 70 and 75 pounds to win. It was setting up really well for reaction-bait fishermen with the wind and cloud cover and stained water, but I think everybody's timing was off a little bit, including mine. The wind blew so hard on day 2 that it took another hour or so for the tide to drop and on the third day it didn't blow and the tide went out faster than people expected. A lot of guys missed the window.

"If you weren't on your primary spot for the last third of the tide," he continued, "then you probably weren't going to get the big fish to bite."

Win Helps with New Venture

Almassey, who previously held corporate management positions with West Marine and Toys 'R Us, has a new "day job" now. He's in charge of sales and marketing for Wisconsin-based SpiraLite Rods, which is re-introducing the spiral guide-wrap design that has a fairly large following in the saltwater realm, but has never really caught on in bass fishing.

It'll be the second major attempt to mass-market the design to the bass industry. Californian Rich Forhan brought it out in the 1990s with his Revolver series, but a lot of anglers couldn't get past the look of a guide configuration that made a circular trip halfway around the rod.

He says the advantages of the design are three-fold.

"First, it eliminates line-rub on the blank," he said. "And with that, you can eliminate one or two guides, so it lightens the rod up in that regard. The third thing is reducing blank-twist.

"What breaks rods is both bend and twist. If you can eliminate twist, you can use less resin, so you've lightened the rod without reducing the breaking strength."

Ken Whiting, who previously worked for Airrus, Duckett Fishing, CarrotStix and other companies, was the original designer for the project, but he died about a year into it. The company then turned to Californian Dennis Papike to pick up where Whiting had left off, and Almassey said the rods should reach the market by the end of 2016.

"Ultimately, if people can get past the look and just use them, they'll never want to go back to conventional," he said.