BULLHEAD CITY, Ariz. – The Wild West Bass Trail (WWBT) made its second stop for the Arizona Teams division at Lake Mohave on March 26.
Taking the victory were Arizona anglers JJ Gibbs from Lake Havasu City and Luke Eggers from Kingman with their seven-fish limit of 24.93.
Gibbs revealed that all of the team's bass were caught sight fishing.
"Both me and my partner practiced the week before in separate boats," he said. "Everything that we caught, we had located the week before and marked for the tournament. We had marked 13 beds with fish that were all between three and four pounds. They were all in 1- to 5-ft of water."
Gibbs stated their biggest – a little over 4 lbs - was caught first in the morning.
"The longest we spent on a fish was 10 minutes," he added. "They were all smallmouth, so pretty much if they’re there, you can catch em really quick."
The duo used a white tube and a white Zipper Grub for all of their fish.
"The wind was brutal," said Gibbs. "We crossed the basin about 10 a.m. It was about as rough as it has ever been. If we hadn’t found the fish the weekend before, it wouldn’t have been good; but since we had them marked, we could still see them with the waves on them."
Gibbs has been fishing Mohave off and on for 15 years. It is the first year that he and Egger have partnered in team events.
This finish puts the team in first place in the Year-to-Date standings for Arizona Teams and earned them $5,500, which included a total of $500 contingency dollars from P-Line and Yamamoto.
2nd – Kerr/Stanton
A limit of 24.34 put Justin Kerr of Simi Valley, Calif. and Gunnar Stanton of Boulder City, Nev. in the runner-up position.
"I fish that lake a lot and have a about 10 areas that I go to; so we fished a little run that I have,” said Kerr. “I guess I got lucky and picked the right areas for the day. The fishing was decent, but it's better when it's calmer and the wind was just brutal, so I went where I could get out of the wind. Basically, I was looking for sheltered areas that were fishable."
The team ran 40-miles north from the launch at Captain's Landing, concentrating on a ½-mile stretch that featured coves and points.
"I only found one bed fish in the event that was worth fishing for and after that we just continued fishing not even looking for beds," he said. "We caught that one a bed and the rest on jigs and a drop shot in 5- to 15-ft of water."
Kerr and Stanton threw a ½-oz brown jig with a green pumpkin Yamamoto Craw trailer, a purple Roboworm on the dropshot with a 6- to 8-inch leader and got their bed fish on a Texas-rigged, 4-inch, chartreuse fat Roboworm.
Kerr took Stanton under his wing at 15-years-old when they met at Lake Mead. Stanton now attends Northern Arizona University and the two fish together as team partners. This event earned the team $2,600 in winnings.
3rd – Moline/Ravelo
Shane Moline of Kingman, Ariz. once again made the WWBT top-3 for the Arizona Division. This time with partner Brian Ravelo, from Las Vegas, Nev. They landed their top-trio position with 22.02
Like Kerr and Stanton, Moline and Ravelo ran north and chose to stay away from the bed fish strategy.
"We decided to go for the pre spawn fish and not have to worry about the wind or people being on our big bed fish,” explained Moline. “We made a about a 20 mile run to get away from the traffic and the fishermen. I was at Roosevelt the week before; so my partner went out and practiced for us here. He located a bunch of pockets that had cruisers in them and that told us where to fish."
Moline described their productive area as "a stretch that had four pockets".
"The key was having a transition – from sand to gravel or chunk rock to sand or something like that," he said.
The team got their morning fish throwing spinnerbaits and then switched to crankbaits, culling up three to four times during the day.
They threw two different spinnerbaits. One was a ½-oz tandem with a Colorado and a willow blade. The other was a double willow. Both in the color French lick by Fat Sack Tackle. They used cranks by Megabass in craw colors, changing back and forth from red, orange and green.
Moline has fished Mohave for over two decades. He and Ravelo have been fishing team tournaments together for three years. They cashed $2,300 for the event.
The following was also paid:
$500 Yamamoto Toad of the Day to Carrill/Molinari (11th) for their 5.50 big bass
$500 Run and Win with Lucas Oil to Lawrence/Miller (28th)
$350 Run and Win with Lucas Oil to Hawk/White (27th)
$350 Run and Win with Lucas Oil to Scroggins/Scroggins (17th)
$500 Evinrude to Little/McMains (14th)
$300 Evinrude to Hawk/White (27th)
$250 Lowrance to Weisfuss/Leon (4th)
The WWBT continues the Arizona Teams division with their next stop at Lake Pleasant on April 30.
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.
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