We had a full field registered (50 boats) and the show of support was nothing short of amazing. We want to first and foremost thank the anglers, their families who support them, and our amazing sponsors!
The weather conditions were great, the lake is nearly full, and the water is crystal clear in most places.
The water temp was in the low 60s. The air temp peaked in the mid 70s. Few clouds with light to moderate winds did make it a little challenging. The bite was a little off from what most predicted.
The fish were primarily holding in 20 to 30 feet of water and were focused on bottom baits that were either stationary or slow-moving. Most anglers reported catching fish on dropshot, carolina rig, ned rig, and stick baits.
Ultimately, Kong Thao from Fresno, CA. figured them out and brought in a solid 3 fish, 56" limit for the win. The Trapper Tackle Big Fish of the Tournament (20.5" largemouth caught by Kong Thao) came on a Huddleston Deluxe swimbait in the same depth range.
Kong reports that he focused his efforts on a cove that led into a spawning area. He described that were was a point in the middle splitting the cove into two arms. Additionally, there were fallen trees and rock piles which only made it more appealing.
He quickly caught a 18.75" spotted bass on a Neko Rig which gave him the confidence to stay in the area. A little while later, he caught another solid fish on the Neko Rig, this time it was a 16.75" largemouth.
He then saw trout busting the surface of the water and thought that they might be getting chased by bass. He picked up the Huddleston 68 Special Swimbait and chucked it between a rock pile and brush pile. The fish bit it on the way down and the fight was on. "I was afraid I was going to lose the fish. I set the hook and I hauled it in as fast as I could", said Thao.
When he put the fish on the board it measured out at 20.5" and he reported he was "pumped". He was not expecting to win the tournament as he was on 15" fish in pre-fish. He took some advice from a good friend on where to fish and then followed his instincts to ultimately be crowned the 2018 MKA Motherlode Series Lake Don Pedro Champion and qualifed to fish the 2018 MKA Motherlode Series TOC on Kelsey Bass Ranch on 5/12/18.
Angler Profile:
Kong Thao, 26, lives in Fresno, CA. with his wife and 2 young girls. Kong describes himself as a "Weekend Warrior" who has started fishing for bass from the bank 6 years ago. He got into kayak fishing to get off the bank and to be able to have more access to areas that were not available to shore anglers. His passion quickly grew and now he is regularly competing in kayak bass fishing tournaments.
In the fall of 2017, he decided to focus his 100% of his efforts on learning how to fish off-shore. He upgraded his kayak with a Lowrance Elite 5 Ti with down and side-scan imaging with Fish Reveal.
"My Lowrance unit has helped me identify off-shore structure and fish that were not previously visible. With the new Fish Reveal feature I am able to see fish in brush and hugging the bottom that I was not able to see before, it is a game-changer", said Thao.
Thao reports that he is looking forward to future events and will continue to compete in the Central Valley Kayak Fishing and Motherlode Kayak Angler Tournament Trails.
Full Results:
Name / Total / BF
Kongo Thao 56 / 20.5
Xiong Moua 52 / 18.25
Mark Carroll 50.5 / 19.25
Damian Thao 50.5 / 18
Brian Konefat 49.25 / 17.5
Shadowns Vangyi 48.5 / 17.5
Rob Knoles 48.5 / 16.5
Brigham Vang 48.25 / 16.5
Chris Laird 48 / 17.25
Obedie Williams 47.5 / 16.5
Kyle Stone 47.25 / 16.5
Chue Vang 47.25 / 16.25
Freddie Mercado 47.25 / 16
John Skaggs 46.5 / 18
Jacob Traba 46.5 / 15.75
Felipe Maciel 46.25 / 17.5
Michael Lavoie 46 / 17.75
James Williams 45.75 / 15.25
John Myers 45.5 / 15.75
Ponch Rangel 45.5 / 15.5
Dang Xiong 45 / 15.25
Yair Sierra 44.75 / 16.25
Chava Moua 44.75 / 16
Kong Her 44.25 / 15
Adam Baumbach 44 / 15
Dan Smartt 44 / 17
Brian McAfee 44 / 15.75
Gary Barajas 43.75 / 16
Wes Jones 43.5 / 14.75
David Oien 43.25 / 14.5
David Borofka 43 / 15
Brandon Hernandez 42.5 / 15
Sean Beach 42 / 14.25
Barry Forbes 41.5 / 14.5
Teng Xiong 41 / 13.75
John Parker 40.5 / 14.5
Sean O'Connor 39.25 / 14
Moulim Lee 38.25 / 13.25
Francisco Zambrano 36 / 13
John Adlesperger 26.75 / 13.75
Jonathon Chavez 24.5 12.5
Shawn Hiatt 13.5 / 13.5
Mike Austin 0 / 0
Augustin Diaz 0 / 0
Ryan Goman 0 / 0
Tim Thomson 0 / 0
Yia Yang 0 / 0
Andrew Black 0 / 0
Emilio Manrique Jr. 0 / 0
Steven Kirkpatrick 0 / 0
Stats:
50 anglers registered
39 limits
1832.75 total inches
45.33 Average limit length
15.82 average big fish
Top 20 qualifiers for TOC:
1. Damian Thao 97 points
2. Kong Thao 94 points
3. Brian Konefat 93 points
4. Obedie Williams 90 points
5. Felipe Maciel 82 points
6. Chue Vang 82 points
7. Brigham Vang 80 points
8. Shadowns Vangyi 80 points
9. Xiong Moua 78 points
10. Ponch Rangel 77 points
11. Rob Knoles 76 points
12. Kyle Stone 76 points
13. Chava Moua 73 points
14. John Myers 73 points
15. Chris Laird 69 points
16. Kong Her 66 points
17. Gary Barajas 63 points
18. Michael Lavoie 59 points
19. Jacob Traba 58 points
20. Sean O'Connor 56 points
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