Forty-two teams qualified for competition in the Wild West Bass Trail’s (WWBT) California Team Championship on Clear Lake presented by Ranger Boats.
Lake local Wayne Breazeale and partner Gary Barrett from Princeton, Calif. bested the field by more than a five-pound margin, weighing in a tournament total of 70.80 for the two-day event and claiming the first-ever California Teams Championship title in the inaugural year of the WWBT.
Breazeale’s original plan put the partners on a path to sight fish; but an adjustment was required by mid-day.
“I had 12 sight fish picked out and I was only able to catch four of ‘em; because other people had gotten to ‘em first, so I decided that wasn’t going to win the tournament and just went dropshotting,” he stated. “That first day, I ended up weighing three sight fish, three dropshot fish and a crankbait fish.”
Their first day weight came in at 30.41. On the second day of competition, they sacked up 40.39, crediting all of the weigh fish to a dropshot with an open-hook presentation.
“We were shaking it out of the weeds and that is when the bites came (after we would pop it out of the weeds),” revealed Breazeale. “My partner caught a key fish in a little patch of tules that turned me on to that and we worked that patch over for about three hours to cull out five of our seven fish on that bank. It was a good bank; but that had to do with the wind and the timing.”
Their dropshot rigs consisted of wacky-rigged Roboworms in Margarita Mutilator and Red Crawler on a Gamakatsu dropshot hook with a 1/4-oz weight and a 12-inch leader. Their sight fish fell to a variety of Yamamoto Baits plastics and the single crankbait fish hit a chartreuse blue-backed, deep-diver, coming up from a depth of 25-ft.
“Everyone once in a while, I would see a place with some wind on it and I would make a few casts with that deep cranker; but I only got the one.” he added. “The whole thing was incredible. It is an incredible lake and I have had an incredible year on the lake.”
It is Breazeale’s second boat win on this fishery for this season. He is a formidable competitor with a decades of experience on the lake. He and Barrett have joined their fishing forces as partners intermittently over the past twenty years.
Their win earned a Ranger Boat RT 188 prize package that included a 115 HP Evinrude and Lowrance Electronics. They also collected contingency dollars that included Yamamoto $250, P-Line $250, Lowrance $250 and Ranger Cup $500.
2nd – Durling/Durling
The runner-up position went to Wade Durling II and Joseph Durling, both from Santa Rosa, Calif. Team Durling held the lead on Day 1 with 34.81, slipping to second after the final day with a total weight of 65.63.
Like the champs, the Durlings also had a bed fish strategy for their first day, with six marked for the taking. “We had two before the sun came up, just flippin’ to where the bed was,” recalled Wade. “Three of them were gone when we got to them, so we only got to go for the other three.”
After the bed fish were in the box, the team turned to topwater to fill out their first day’s limit.
On Day Two, the Durlings were met with the challenges of boat traffic and wind, which turned their water into mud.
“That really ended our chance for any bed fish; but I knew where there were a couple of better-sized, fry guarders that we had left alone and we were able to get those pretty easy,” stated Wade. “After that, I figured our best chance was to throw the topwater all day long and try and get seven bites in the boat.”
The vast amount of shad was another obstacle for the Durlings. “It is good to have all the shad,” said Wade. “It makes the fish really healthy and really fat; but for me, it makes them hard to catch.”
Wade named the River2Sea Whopper Plopper in Munky Butt and a bluegill ChatterBait as their topwater lures. The bed bait was a punch rig with a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver and a few bites were credited to a Texas-rigged, weightless Senko in a special order color.
The Durlings are cousins. This is their first full season as teammates. They enjoyed their freshman year together in the WWBT and were especially happy with the Evinrude contingency. “I think we got first place Evinrude money three times and that helped out a bunch,” Wade said.
For Clear Lake, they banked $4,500 in winnings with $500 contingency dollars from Evinrude.
3rd – Fontaine/Welton
NorCal anglers Paul Fontaine of Brentwood and Nick Welton of Galt rounded out the top-3 with an event total of 65.59.
Once again bed fish was the primary strategy.
“Going into the first day, we had 10 to 15 bed fish that were a very strong possibility; but it turned out that Wayne (Breazeale) also knew about those fish,” said Fontaine. “So, we were trading water with him – back and forth. We were able to get three or four of those to go, but that was it.”
As the day progressed and the water dirtied, the team had to reroute and began to target post spawners.
“We stayed in the same area and just moved out a little to work the structure,” Fontaine explained. “We took a ride to Cache; but only got one four-pounder. The fish in there just weren’t goin’ for us, so we came back out and started pre fishin’ for Day Two.”
The team kicked off the next day in the north-end, targeting riprap and after a quick 20-lb limit, they went south for the post-spawners.
“Ninety percent of our fish were on a wacky-rigged green pumpkin/black Yamamoto Senko,” said Wade.
A Snag Proof frog in Cicada was credited for their biggest bass.
Fontaine and Welton have been fishing together since 1997. They pocketed $3,000 for the championship.
AOY – Gutierrez/Hines
In addition to the crowning of the Clear Lake champs, this stop of the WWBT brought the California Teams Division to a close.
At event’s end, the NorCal angling duo of Greg “Double G” Gutierrez from Redding and Billy Hines of Vacaville sat atop the point’s race, taking the Angler of the Year (AOY) title in the debut season of the circuit.
Gutierrez and Hines kicked off the season strong with two top-10 finishes at Oroville (5th) and Shasta (7th). The last half of the season they kept above mid –field at Berryessa (30th), the California Delta (24th) and Clear Lake (17th).
“We fished different types of water for the first events and we were right up there,” said Gutierrez. “We had the finesse bite going on. It was all about light line and fishing the Nail. Billy and I just crushed it.
“Then, there were a couple of tournaments that we stumbled a little bit and didn’t get on it or we were on it and didn’t get the fish in the boat; but in the end, we got it done and the title is a great accomplishment. When you fish an entire season against stiff competition that crown or acknowledgement, of being the Angler of the Year, really puts the exclamation point on the ability to be consistent.”
Looking back on the year, Gutierrez believes the blend of he and his partner’s thought processes was the key to their success.
“Billy is a good stick and we ended up working well together in the boat,” said Gutierrez. “We didn’t always agree; but we were able to throw things out there and see what was going to stick to the wall. That allowed us to see things the way that the other one did and figure out what would work best.”
Competing in the WWBT was a good experience for the team as well as a fun and exciting circuit for Gutierrez, a former Bassmaster Elite Series pro. The off-limits format and payback are what drew him to the WWBT.
“I really like that you can’t be on the lake for a week; you just have to show up and fish,” he said. “I think that makes it exciting. It makes you think and move faster. Also, the fact that they have brought the lie detectors to into the events is good. It is such a necessary component in today’s environment.
“I also enjoy the Wild West because I know we are fishing for a chunk of money. We’re not only fishing for a 100 percent payback, we are also fishing for the sponsor support that the Wild West has. That means we are not all going out to fish for each other’s money; we’re not just swapping checks from the next angler. The Wild West allows us to fish for a better paycheck with the sponsorship dollars that they bring.”
The following contingency payouts were also awarded:
$500 Yamamoto Toad of the Day to Williams/Groenewold (10th)
$500 Run and Win with Lucas Oil to Dobyns/Strader (7th)
$300 Evinrude to Dobyns/ Strader (7th)
$200 Evinrude to Molhatra/McGrath (14th)
The WWBT Lucas Oil Western Class Pro/Am Championship will meet for a year-end qualifying event at Lake Mead on Sept. 30 – Oct 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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