Bryant Smith of Castro Valley, Calif., weighed a tournament total 15 bass for 26.08 in the 2016 Wild West Bass Trail (WWBT) Lucas Oil Western Classic on Lake Mead presented by the City of Henderson.
HENDERSON, Nev., - Bryant Smith of Castro Valley, Calif., weighed a tournament total 15 bass for 26.08 in the 2016 Wild West Bass Trail (WWBT) Lucas Oil Western Classic on Lake Mead presented by the City of Henderson. The victory earned Smith $66,750 that included contingency payouts from Lowrance, P-Line and Yamamoto and a fully-rigged Ranger Z520 / Evinrude G2 package.
“The win means so much to me,” said Smith. “It is my first big win on the pro side as far as Pro/Am’s go. I have been fishing pro for six-years and to have all that hard work and long days on the water pay off, meant the world to me.”
Smith braved the changing conditions of Mead over the course of the three-day event, adjusting each day to land a limit.
“The first day was flat calm and sunny,” he said. “I caught four keepers (good ones) by 9:30 a.m. and had the rest of the day to catch my fifth one; but the second day, it was a lot tougher. I only had two keepers first thing in the morning. I started running new water, looking for the same type of areas and ground out my next three bites. The third day the wind picked up. I caught two keepers in the morning; but I had to change the game plan while still staying around my same spot.”
Grassy areas that were holding shad were the key to his success.
“There is grass pretty much around the whole lake all the way to 20-ft,” he said. “I was kind of in the back pockets of the creeks or anywhere there would be a little indentation with the grass. I found that is where the fish would setup and then I would use my baits to pull them out of the grass and force them to react.”
Smith noted he used only two baits for all of his weigh fish – a Stained Reaction (white) Megabass 100 jerkbait and a Zoom Super Fluke with a ¼ of a nail-weight in the head. He opted for the white Fluke in the morning and then as the sun came up, he would go to Baby Bass.
Smith plans to compete in the WWBT next season fishing from his new Ranger. “It is a great circuit,” he said. “I can’t wait to see what happens. I know they will only get bigger and better.”
2nd WWBT Lucas Oil Western Classic 2016 - TAI AU
After weighing in at 11th place on the first day, Tai Au made a daily climb up the leaderboard to end the event in the runner-up positon, weighing a three-day total catch of 15 bass for 23.40. The Glendale, Ariz. pro earned $15,000 in cash that included Evinrude contingency dollars.
Each day, Au made a 40-mile run, tempting his bites with a two-fold attack – a reaction presentation for early morning and late afternoon and then adjusting to the mid-day lull with a dropshot.
“For me the key was the shad,” recalled Au. “I fished shallower early and late when the stripers had the shad pushed up and I used a creature bait to target fish in the grass that were setting up for the shad.”
Au started with a lavender shad Rapala DT 10 when on the reaction bite; but changed colors.
“Originally, I thought the fish were only targeting shad, but after the first day when I saw the fish had spit up crayfish in my live wells, I knew they were eating those as well,” he recalled. “I noticed that the crayfish were greenish/brown and that every one of them had some orange on it. I changed my crankbait from shad to this crayfish pattern and it worked really well. Before I changed I had only caught one fish on the crankbait, but after the change on Day 2, the crankbait counted for half of my catch.”
His creature bait was a Baby Brush Hog in watermelon red dropshotted with a 3/8-oz round weight.
“I went with the round weight, because it went through the grass a lot better than a cylinder weight and I fished that on 8-lb P-Line Fluorocarbon with a Dobyns Rod and Daiwa Reel, because it had a good drag that I needed to pull the fish out of the grass,” added Au.
Au plans to use his winnings to repower his boat with a new Evinrude motor and return to WWBT competition next year. “It is all because of the sponsors,” he said. “Without them, we wouldn’t get to keep doing what we love.”
3rd WWBT Lucas Oil Western Classic 2016 - Shane Moline
Rounding out the top-three was Kingman, Ariz., pro Shane Moline with 23.15. The notable factor with Moline’s weight was that he climbed into third with only 10 bass of the possible 15 that he could’ve brought in. He pocketed $8,000 for the effort.
“I was definitely in the motherlode spot of Mead,” said Moline. “It just held quality fish. In fact, my non-boaters weighed eight fish for over 25-lbs behind me. That’s over a three-pound average. The winner had a 1.7-pound average and I had a 2.3-pound average.”
Moline attributed the right area to his success and determined the dirtier water and the structure of the location was the attractant for the bigger bass.
“In the clearer water, the fish tend to roam a lot more; but here they seemed to stay in the area,” he said. “I was relocating them every day and I didn’t have to go more than 100-yards to find them. Unfortunately, the last day we had four-footers and my area got blown out.”
Three baits claimed Moline’s bass – a Jackall crankbait, a brown/purple Fat Sack Tackle jig with a homemade pork trailer and a Texas-rigged finesse craw.
“I fish two colors of the crankbait – chartreuse shad and Super Craw,” he said. “I fished this same color jig in all sizes from 3/8- to ¾-oz and the finesse bait was a Strike King Menace Grub in green pumpkin. I had it on a 3/8-oz Bass Pro tungsten weight.”
The jig and crankbait put the fish in the boat the first two days and the craw was his choice for day three.
“I was pitchin’ it into the trees and working it really slow over the limbs, making 15 to 20 pitches to each tree,” he said. “When the wind really picked up, I had to go back to crankin’ and heavy jigs; but I couldn’t get bit except for one catfish. I tried for four hours with the waves so high they were hitting me in the chest.”
Moline has put much of his winnings for the year into a new property for a new house. He plans to reinvest the remaining cash into more tackle.
“Fishing Wild West has more than paid for itself,” he said. “Without a doubt it is the best platform that we’ve ever had. I am supporting it all the way through. I cannot thank Wild West and their sponsors enough. What they’ve put together is phenomenal!”
Full pro results can be found here.
WWBT Lucas Oil Western Classic 2016 - Co-Angler Victors
1st Co-Angler WWBT Lucas Oil Western Classic 2016 - Rocky Ward
With an event total of 16.64 for eight bass, Rocky Ward of Lebanon, Ore., won the title of co-angler champion, earning the co grand prize of $24,500 that included a Ranger 188/Evinrude E-Tec 115 package and contingency paybacks from Yamamoto, P-Line along with the Yamamoto “Toad of the Day” payout for his big fish of 5.57.
Ward caught every one of his fish on a black and brown jig.
“I went pre fishing in a boat that had been fished in the U.S. Open and saw a crawdad in the livewell from that event,” revealed Ward. “I picked my bait because of that and put a Yamamoto Twin Tail trailer on it. As soon as I started fishing it, I started getting bit. My first catch in pre fish was a three-pound smallmouth.”
Ward noted that the same lure caught fish regardless of the different styles of fishing that were done each day by his different pro draws.
“The first day, I got my biggest one on a rock pile in dirty water,” he said. “The next day, we were in clearer water; but it was still rock-based and I managed to put five in the boat. On the last day, we were fishing reeds in muddy, shallow water; but I started throwin’ it and dumped a three or four pounder first thing in the morning; so I kept at it.
“We stayed on this pattern all day. At one point we pulled up on a point that had rock on it and I got bit. It was a 1.21 and that led me to the win.”
Ward will kick off the new season with the Wild West at Lake Shasta and in the meantime he is putting his winnings to good use.
“I am taking that Ranger Boat and fishing it all over the state of Oregon,” he said. “It fits the bodies of water up here to a tee. It’s going to work out absolutely wonderful.”
2nd Co-Angler WWBT Lucas Oil Western Classic 2016- Timmy Wells Jr.
Weighing eight fish over the course of the event, Timmy Wells Jr. of Fresno, Calif., put together 15.63 to grab the runner-up position on the co-angler side, earning $5,000. The outcome was a welcome surprise for Wells Jr. as he blanked on the first day.
“I knew it was a really tough bite from my pre fish; but I was definitely bummed out and down on myself after weighing nothing on Day 1,” he said. “But, I figured if I could come in with six or seven-pounds, I could get back in check range; so when I caught the first three-pounder on Day 2, I knew I was back in. It shows you can never give up – especially on Mead."
The remaining two days played out quite differently for Wells Jr. with each of his pros focusing on a different pattern.
“One day we were on an offshore structure bite and I caught two of my fish on a green pumpkin Phenix ChatterBait with a green pumpkin Yamamoto Swim Senko trailer and the other three hopping on a green pumpkin Yamamoto Hula Grub on the rocks and draggin’ it through the little bushes,” said Wells Jr. “The other day was completely different water. We were fishing steep, bluff walls and it was much clearer. I went to a heavier jig still with a green pumpkin Hula Grub.”
Wells will parlay his winnings for entries to compete on the pro side of WWBT next year. “I am really looking forward to it,” he said. “I want to thank WWBT for what they’ve given us.”
3rd C0-Angler WWBT Lucas Oil Western Classic 2016 - Dink Mendez
Dink Mendez of Campbell, Calif., put together 14.54 to round out the top-trio of co-anglers, banking $3,500.
Mendez fished two patterns during the three days, throwing topwater in the morning and moving to a dropshot for the remainder of the day.
“The dropshot was the main thing I caught my fish on all three days,” he said. “I was catching a lot of fish, but a lot were shorts. At least 20 the first day alone and another 15 on the next day.”
His dropshot rig was weighted with a 3/16-oz and a leader from 6- to 8-inches. He rotated his plastic between a four-inch Roboworm in Morning Dawn and a purple Berkley four-inch Power Worm. His topwater temptation was a River2Sea Walking Popper.
Mendez also faced different fishing conditions each day that varied with his pro draw.
“One day, we were in the back in coves in the creek channels, fishing all the way down to 25-feet in the grass,” he said. “Another day, we were on rock walls that had a little bit of a flat with a break on it and I caught fish at about 30-feet. The last day it was totally different. We fished the Vegas wash looking for single fish – one here, one there. We weren’t going for a lot of fish; but we were going for size, and I caught a largemouth first thing in the morning on the walking popper. The rest of the day we fished rock piles in maybe 15-feet.”
Mendez will also reinvest his winnings back into his fishing fund for Wild West next year.
“I really had a chance to win, but I lost too many fish,” he said. “I like fishing Mead. It is challenging and it tests you. I am looking forward to going back to the lake to try and win the WWBT Classic next year.”
Full co results can be found here.
The WWBT Lucas Oil Western Classic event had a total payout of $182,450.
In addition to the above listed contingency payouts, the following were also awarded:
$500 Run and Win with Lucas Oil to Brent Shores (12th Pro)
$500 Run and Win with Lucas Oil to Hobby Nelson (37th Pro)
$500 Run and Win with Lucas Oil to Frank Bulthuis (72nd Pro)
$500 Yamamoto Toad of the Day to Daniel Pecotte (74th Pro)
$500 Add-A-Wrap to (Ralph Encizo)
$300 Evinrude to Jeff Michaels (7th Pro)
$200 Evinrude to Justin Patti (19th Pro)
A special thanks to all of the 2016 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.
For 2017, the WWBT will conduct 16 events that include a Pro/Am circuit and two Teams circuits – one based in California and the other in Arizona. The Pro/Am circuit consists of five tournaments throughout California and Arizona and a year-end qualifying championship event. Each Teams circuit includes four tournaments and a year-end championship. Follow WWBT on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.
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