REDDING, Calif. – The Wild West Bass Trail (WWBT) welcomed 110 boats to Lake Shasta on Feb. 27 for its second circuit stop of the California Teams division.
Partners Sage Baker, of Shasta Lake and Jon Kenyon of Redding, Calif. bested the field with a seven-fish limit for 28.65, leaving their nearest competitors trailing by 9 lbs.
The lake locals credited “one spot” for the majority of their weight.
“We fished it throughout the day, three or four different times,” said Kenyon. “We came to that spot about 9:30 a.m. and Sage got a seven pounder off of it. We hit it about two hours later and got a 4 ½ lb’r off of it and then came back later in the day – about a half hour before weigh-in – and caught two more of our big ones on it.”
The team reported that they were located in the Sac Arm and threw Huddies for four of their fish; but did not choose to reveal color or ROF.
Baker and Kenyon grew up together. They have been tournament teammates for the past eight years. This $7,550 payout is the largest win of their partnership. The amount included $500 of Yamamoto Toad of the Day earnings for their 6.98 big fish as well as contingency dollars of $250 Lowrance, $250 Yamamoto and $250 P-Line.
2ND DOYLE/FLANIGAN
Hailing from Redding, Randall Doyle and Nick Flanigan took the runner’s up position weighing in 19.63. The pair each used the same single bait to build their tournament limit.
“We just threw big swimbaits and hit points and it seemed like every point we hit, we would get a bite or a nice fish,” said Flanigan.
Both Doyle and Flanigan threw a Top Shelf Shasta Trout all day, catching more than a dozen fish between them.
Flanigan noted that water color and shallow depths were common to all of their productive areas. “There was maybe a ½ ft of visibility; the whole Squaw Arm is like that,” he said. “We were runnin’ and gunnin’ all day; but, there was a particular bay that was red hot and most of our weight came from there.”
The duo have been fishing competitively for the past two years. The WWBT format of seven fish is an interesting attraction for the team. “Five is fine and you can always catch fish on Shasta; but, seven nice fish makes it a challenge,” added Flanigan. This weekend, their seven-fish limit earned the team $4,000.
3RD MARTIN/WALKER
Jesse Martin, of Auburn and Jared Walker, of Ukiah rose to the Top-3 with 18.27. They attributed their fish to “luck”, a trio of baits and a single area.
“We covered a lot of water in the morning and then stumbled upon a long, slopping point with chunk rock,” said Martin.
Once on the productive point, they quickly found a majority of their limit with their biggest coming on a swimbait and three more on “back-to-back-to-back” casts of an umbrella rig.
“When the wind died and we lost the mudline there, the bigger ones stopped biting,” said Walker. “We bounced around trying to duplicate the pattern, but we couldn’t get anything going. We returned to the point a couple different times through the day and ended up getting all of our fish there.”
Walker reported their bites coming shallow with most of them in 10 ft or less.
“Honestly, we just happened to be at the right spot, at the right time,” said Walker. “If we would have gotten to the point earlier, I don’t know if we would’ve even stayed, because I don’t know if the fish would’ve been up shallow yet, or not.”
They reported their Shasta arsenal included Johnny C’s CRL 6-inch swimbaits in Spot Candy, 3.8 Keitechs on an umbrella rig and 3.3 Keitechs on 3/16- and ¼-oz ball heads.
This is the fourth year of the Martin/Walker partnership. Their Shasta efforts earned them $3,000.
The following contingency payouts were awarded:
$500 Yamamoto Toad of the Day to Baker/Kenyon
$500 Run and Win with Lucas Oil to Jon Bradford
$500 Evinrude to Michels/Zanotelli
$300 Evinrude to Saavedra/Almassey
$200 Evinrude to Durling/Durling
The WWBT brings their next California Teams event to Lake Berryessa on April 2.
The WWBT debuted in 2016 with 17 events that include two Pro/Am and two Teams circuits – one based in California and the other in Arizona. Each Pro/Am circuit consists of three tournaments and a combined, year-end qualifying championship event. The Teams circuit includes four tournaments and a year-end championship.
A special thanks to all of the WWBT sponsors – Lucas Oil, Ranger Boats, Evinrude, Lowrance Electronics, Dobyns Rods, General Tire, Add-A-Wrap, Protect the Harvest, Gator Guards, P-Line, Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits, Power-Pole, Industrial Decals, Hydro Force Marine, Super Clean and E3 Spark Plugs.
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