REDDING, Calif. — When the big guns failed to deliver, APEX Cup angler Jeff Michels shifted gears and sacked up a Day-2 limit of 11.91 pounds and won the Wild West Bass Trail Superclean Showdown Pro/Am on Lake Shasta. with a two-day total of 23.45. For his effort, Michels earned a $25,000 first-place award.
The event was originally scheduled for three days, but an unforeseen complication involving local regulations postponed the start to Friday.
Hailing from Lakehead, Calif., Michels placed second on Day 1 with 11.54. Spending his tournament in the McCloud and Sacramento River arms, he fished a two-pronged game plan in which he looked for big bites early on a 10-inch Hog Hunter Magnum Trout swimbait and then finessed his spots with 5-inch Senkos in natural shad, baby bass and green pumpkin black flake colors on a 3/32-ounce finesse head.
Same as Day 1, Michels fished hard spots on muddy banks from 5 to 30 feet. After missing a few big swimbait opportunities, he caught all of his weight fish on the Senko.
Michels noted that his best action came far up the Sacramento arm where a lack of shad made crawfish and trout imitations the right call. He caught good numbers both days, but a late-day kicker on Day 2 pushed him over the finish line.
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