Best in California?

Recently, George Kramer of Kramergoesfishing.com released his annual “Top 40” list which is comprised of the anglers he believes to be the best in California . George does a great job and works hard to compile his list, but rating subjectively there is always room for discussion which is great and we at Left Coast Bass have a few thoughts on the list. Like any good writer George knows how to stir up a little controversy when making the list and this year did not disappoint.

For the most part we believe George got most of the right guys on the list, but here's our top 30 plus list and why.

This is what our list looks like:

1. •  Skeet Reese- If winning the classic and finishing 2 nd in the AOY standings on the premiere bass fishing circuit doesn't make you the number 1 angler in your state, then what does. Skeet has always been a threat for every event on the BASS tour, but over the past few years Skeet's really made a surge to the top of the list. He's the only angler in the world to step up and give Kevin Van Dam some competition and if Skeet keeps up the pace he's been on, it'll be Van Dam trying to give Skeet some competition.
2. •  Brent Ehrler- Any other year he could have claimed the number 1 spot, but Skeet earned it in 2009 with the Classic win. Nobody works harder than Brent. He spends sun-up to sun-down on the water during pre-fish and he finds ‘em. Brent is consistently in the top 10 in any event he fishes. He's been playing leap frog with Skeet Reese with the #2 and #3 spots on the BassFan.com rankings.
3. •  Cody Meyer- This guy can catch fish in a puddle. He can find and pattern fish quickly and has already made a name for himself on the national stage with his 3 rd place finish in the Forest Wood Cup. He is the current FLW Stren Western series angler of the year and held the top spot in the FLW NG Series AOY race after 2 events this season. He has already qualified for the FLW Cup in 2010 and will be making his FLW Tour debut in January.
4. •  Ish Monroe- Although he had a tough year he's still one of the best anglers in the world. He can compete on any lake at anytime. The bigger the weights the bigger the threat Ish is to win. Ish was one of the first to put the swimbait on the national scene and he's one of the best (if not the best) angler in the world with a frog on the end of his line. If he just focused on the western trails who knows how many tournaments he'd win.
5. •  Zack Thompson- Zack is a phenomenal fisherman and showed that this year winning the AOY for the FLW Western Series. Zack can pick a spot a part better than any angler on the water. He's another hard worker, putting in long hours and hard work for every event. Zack He's been back east before, but will he venture back this year?
6. •  Cameron Smith- He's a guy that has been dominating tournaments down south for years. In 2008 he won all 4 events in his federation region and this year he went up to Shasta and won the CA Federation championship. He's also been very consistent in the FLW events in 2009 finishing no worse than 41 st in the 2009 season. He finished in the 10 th spot in the AOY race and is qualified for the FLW cup for 2010.
7. •  Gary Dobyns- No longer a zip-code fisherman, but really, he never was. Winning the U.S. Open this year is his only real tournament accomplishment in 2009, but that's because he didn't fish any FLW events. Gary proved that when he wants to win everyone else is fishing for second.
8. •  Robert Lee- Robert Lee has been the model of consistency this year finishing as the runner up to Cody Meyer in the Stren AOY and finishing in the top 10 in the FLW Series. He's proved to everyone he's not just a Delta guy.
9. •  Jared Lintner- In Lintner's sophomore season on the BASS tour its safe to say he didn't have his dream season. However, in his rookie season he was the model of consistency and was a regular in the paycheck line. When he did fish local tournaments he did well finishing in the top 10 at Clear Lake in the FLW National Guard and doing well in at least one team tournament circuit TOC.
10. •  Michael Bennett- He had a tough year on the FLW Tour this year, but a lot of that can be attributed to his attitude toward the tournaments. He took a lot of risks and went for the wins and in the end it will ultimately pay off, look no further than his million dollar win for a perfect example. Michael Bennett although not as consistent as some of the others on the top ten is certainly as big a threat to win as any of them.
11. •  Justin Kerr- Justin is a guy that always finishes high in the AOY standings and fished tough in the U.S. Open a year after winning it.
12. •  Rusty Salewske- He surprised quite a few people with his showing at the Forrest Wood Cup leading after day. This season he struggled in the points but made up for it with a Series win on the Delta. A lot of people don't realize that he's fished back east and had some success too.
13. •  Randy McAbee- When it comes to team fishing success Randy McAbee is hard to match. Winning multiple boats in consecutive years fishing T.O.C.'s on Clear Lake he (along with his father Randy Sr.) became the kings of Clear Lake . Over the past few seasons Randy has proven that he is no “one lake wonder.” In the first season of the FLW NG Western Series Randy won the AOY title. In just three years he's amassed over $180,000 in career earnings with FLW alone. In 2009, it took a miracle day by Cliff Pirch to keep him from winning on Clear Lake again.
14. •  Mike Long- Mike is the big bass guru and understands fish on a whole other level. Everyone knows he catches big fish, but he also wins tournaments dominating series in San Diego with fellow top 40 angler John Kerr.
15. •  R.J. Bennett- R.J. may not have won a major tournament event, but he held his own winning AOY in the A/C pro-ams. He's a very good fisherman and can't be ignored.
16. •  Mike Folkestad- Mike is a legend of the sport and is still doing his thing having a great season finishing top 20 in both the Stren Series and the Guard.
17. •  Mike Reynolds- Nothing fancy about the way he fishes but the results don't lie. The guy is good, real good.
18. •  John Kerr- He's an amazing fishermen with a U.S. Open win to his credit and is always a threat to win the event. Besides being a great tournament angler he is also a great big fish hunter. He's the other member of the San Diego dream team often fishing local tournaments with Mike Long.
19. •  Justin Lucas- He proved his doubters wrong and gave his supporters more reason to believe in his talent. After a few years dominating from the back of the boat he went back east and did really well with two 2 nd place finishes. He also made the Forrest Wood Cup from the front of the boat in the National Guard Series.
20. •  Jason Cordiale- After a rough tournament on Havasu, Jason bounced back in the Guard by finishing no lower than 19 th in the next 3 tournaments and finishing 4 th in the AOY standings.
21. •  Mike Hart- Doing well on a particular lake can lead people to call you a zip-code fisherman, but this guy did better than well. He dominated.
22. •  Jon Strelic- He finished 8 th in the Guard this year beating many of the guys in front of him on this list. He's done well in his FLW career and competes for the top spot almost every season.
23. •  Matt Allen- This is one choice we couldn't agree more with. This guy may be the best fisherman you've never heard of. He's becoming an increasingly prolific trophy hunter, and if you want to see what we mean take a look at some of his big fish pictures on calfishing.com.
24. •  David Valdivia- A relative new comer, but had a great season in the Stren's. He's a socal guy with a knack for finding good fish in high pressured waters. As Kramer noted in his column David has an incredible story behind him. We'll bring you that story on LeftCoastBass.com in the near future.
25. •  Greg Gutierrez- Greg is a full time fireman in Northern California and voluntarily left the BASS circuit for family health reasons. Greg is one of the best angler's in the country. He truly belongs higher up the list but, his cut schedule the last few years requires a small drop in the list.
26. •  Mike Tuck- Mike Tuck has also cut back on his fishing over the recent years to spend more time with his family. He's a western “one to watch” and if he could get the funding together would be a terror on the national tour. Mike's a threat to win on any body of water any time of year.
27. •  Gabe Bolivar- Gabe Bolivar is one the hardest workers in the sport. He puts the time in on the water to be competitive in every event he's in. Gabe's always a threat for a top ten but, his forte is clear water impoundments.
28. •  Chris Zaldain- Chris Zaldain from the San Jose area has made a huge charge up anyone's top 40 list over the past couple seasons. Chris is a swimbait specialist but, he can fish any bait with the best of them. He may be 29 right now, but its not far fetched to forecast him into a top 10 slot someday soon.
29. •  Jim Davis- Big Jim Davis is a full time bass angler, which not many of the top 40 are.
30. •  Mike Andrews- Mike Andrews may be the best Delta angler in California today. Only a miss count of fish in the livewell kept him from running away with FLW Series tournament in 2008. Mike is a regular on the podium in team events. In 2009, Mike had an injury but, he'll be back dominating the Delta again in 2010.

There are 100 names that could grace the next ten spots. Here's our ten but, you there are dozens more deserving of the recognition; Jason Borofka, Matt Newman, Sean Stafford, Charlie Weyer, Bobby Barrack, Jimmy Reese, Tommy Cardoza, Kevin Hawk, John Billheimer Jr. and Richard Dobyns.