Arbuckle man going big

As a young boy, not even as tall as the fishing rod his grandparents had given him, Garrett Charter would pedal his way over to an irrigation ditch not far from his home.

"I remember riding my bike to the cement canal down in Arbuckle, even in the rain. People thought I was crazy," said Charter, who was delighted to hook a blue gill, perch, the odd catfish; whatever was biting.

Now Charter, 30, fishes for bass, and he is serious about it.

With 30 smaller tournament titles to his credit, and about $30,000 in prize money, Charter leaves Monday for his second shot at bigger money, which he hopes will lead to even more after that.

"Last year, I went to Missouri, to the Stren Championship. The first day I was in ninth place. I ended up falling to 51st the next day — bad luck," the Arbuckle resident said.

That first day's success, however, left Charter wanting more.

Yeah, I got a taste for it," he said.

So he is headed to Pickwick Lake in Florence, Alabama, for the FLW Outdoors Stren Series Championship with the top prize of $115,000.

"They say it is the best smallmouth lake in the country," said Charter, who has been scanning online fishing reports from the Tennessee River-fed lake and watching past tournaments from the site.

But Charter will depend more on his own instincts and what he learns after a week of fishing Pickwick prior to the tournament's start.

"You go out and hit your spots and see what they are eating," Charter said. "They have been getting rain down there for about two months straight, so it will be interesting in the high muddy water."

Charter also knows the region draws water to generate power, a man-made current that attracts fish, and something he is not particularly accustomed to working around in the West.

"I try to find areas that remind me of places I know; that remind me of things back here."

For Charter, that means smallmouth lakes like Berryessa, Stony Gorge, Black Butte and Trinity — the last being one of the top smallmouth fishing spots anywhere.

And, of course, he will rely on his skills — the same skills that have led to six Angler of the Year titles from the Westside Anglers.

While it was a youthful rush that got him started, it was the anglers club that got him hooked.

"I started in 2001, and this is my fifth year as a professional," Charter said.

He earned a spot in the Stren Championship by finishing 11th at the Western regional championship held at Oroville.

Had he finished 10th or higher, he also would have qualified for a spot in the big series back East, where the competition is tougher, but the checks are bigger, too.

"First place is $100,000 back there," said Charter, noting most of the tournaments he is in, the top prize is rarely more than $25,000.

Two hundred anglers — 40 from each region — will take to the water on Nov. 5. The top 10 after the first two days fish one more day for the prize money. It also will eventually be televised on Versus.

Charter said he would love to be the top fisherman from the West at the tournament, which would qualify him for a $1 million Forestwood Cup in Atlanta next summer.

But it is not all about money, Charter said.

He is still that little boy who rode his bike over to the cement canal to catch blue gill.

Th 1997 Pierce High graduate also played football, basketball and he golfed, and that competitive desire lives on in his fishing.

"Yeah, it brings out the competitive edge, and it's nice to be able to still go out and keep competing at something," Charter said.

After high school, Charter attended Sonoma State, but never got his degree.

"Fishing got in the way," he said.

Oddly, it is fishing that is getting in the way of his other passion: Leah, the 1-year-old daughter of he and his wife, Sarah.

"That's the hardest part of going; leaving the baby," Charter said.