PAYSON, Ariz. – The first circuit stop of the Wild West Bass Trail (WWBT) Arizona Teams event drew 91 boats to Lake Roosevelt on Feb. 13. The husband and wife team of Victor and Debra Cunningham of Tonto Basin took the trophy and a $6,500 payout with a winning weight of 16.04.
Although they witnessed the majority of anglers banging the bank, the Cunningham’s stuck to a deeper winter pattern, targeting fish in 17 to 40 ft of water for their victory.
“I found these fish in practice and they were still out there in the tournament,” said Victor. “We didn’t really get on the pre spawn pattern that other teams were fishing. I could only find the smaller males up shallow. When we were out deep catching them, they would barely fight when I was reeling them in. They were still cold and less active and that gave me a clue to continue fishing deep.”
The team used green pumpkin and orange, 3/8 oz jigs with a green pumpkin trailer for all of their weigh fish.
“My wife caught four of the ones that we weighed, including our big one (4.08),” said Victor. “She started with the smaller jig and I started with a 1 oz. I saw hers was working and I ended up going to the 3/8 also.
“We got most of them off a little hump with some brush on it. The fish were holding on the edge of a drop-off.”
The Cunningham’s have been tournament team partners since 2000. They plan to pay off their truck with their winnings which included $500 in contingency dollars from Yamamoto and Lowrance.
The father and son team of Jim and Levi Armstrong of Payson, Ariz. landed the runner-up position, only .03 behind first, with 16.01.
The team ran five or six spots, catching 10 fish total for the day. Their biggest hit first thing in morning; however the bites were more frequent after the sun came up.
“For the water level and temperature, it was a slow,” said Levi. “We were on several different stretches on some really good channels that we normally fish.”
The observable conditions caused the Armstrong team to target shallow fish. “When the water is rising, it usually makes the fish go to the banks and hold tighter to the cover and the lake was setting up that way,” shared Levi. “We flipped all of our fish in 2 to 5 ft on stumps, trees and brush.”
Their flip rig was weighted with a ½ oz Tungsten and included a green pumpkin Yamamoto Kreature.
The father and son team has been fishing competitively together in events for eight or 10 years.
They netted $3,400 for the day with $250 in P-Line contingency money.
Although, they described the fishing as “tough”, Tommy Jonovich and Sean Coffey from Phoenix, Ariz. weighed in 15.91 to complete the top trio on the leaderboard.
In practice, they found the water was abnormally cold, noting that it had warmed up by game day.
“Before the off-limits, we were getting’ them in 27 to 30 ft,” said Jonovich. “They moved up shallower for the tournament, but a lot of the fish were still in the winter mode and those fish are harder to catch. We were targeting the shallow fish that were willing to eat (preparing for the spawn). There were less of them and a lot of those were the small males (1 to 1 ½ lbs).”
The team targeted very specific locations with softball size rock in transition areas with water depths of 5 ft or less.
“It had to go from a steep bank to a 45 degree bank or rock to mud or to sand,” said Jonovich. “Another component was the sparse grass. They’re usually in the cocklebur, but they weren’t this time. They were in this really sparse, green, healthy grass. We only found two stretches like this.”
They credited a jig for all but one of their weigh fish.
“We used ¾ and 1 oz Gary Yamamoto skirted jigs – anything green or brown; but it had to be moving and crashing in the rock, Jonovich added. “I was using a 705 Dobyns Savvy Series. This rod has enough tip for sensitivity and a good hookset, which was really important because of the aggressive way the fish were eating it.”
Jonovich and Coffey are fishing together as a team for their second season. They claimed $2,600 for their 3rd place finish.
The following was also paid:
- $500 Yamamoto Toad of the Day to Pawlik/Copan for their 4.48 big bass
- $500 Run with Lucas Oil to Lawrence/Miller
- $500 Lucas Oil Foreman/Billetdeaux
- $500 Lucas Oil Ratlief/Ratlief
- $500 Evinrude to Thompson/Randall
- $300 Evinrude to Shull/Au
- $200 Evinrude to Hawk/White
The WWBT returns to Roosevelt for their final Arizona Pro/Am event on March 19. It will make its 2nd circuit stop at Mohave on March 26.
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. The WWBT will return to Shasta for their second California Teams stop on Feb. 27.
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.
Advertising