RICHLAND, Wash. – The debut of the Wild West Bass Trail (WWBT) in the Pacific Northwest concluded today with Mel Williams of Kennewick, Wash. winning the 2019 Columbia River Open presented by Tri-Cities.
Williams ran away with the trophy as his three-day tournament total of 51.76 eclipsed his nearest competitor by more than six pounds and put $10K in the angler’s pocket.
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FISHERY EXPERIENCE
A decade and a half of tournament experience on the tournament body of water and focusing on largemouth is what Williams felt put him ahead of the field.
“It is a great fishery with some great fish; but the water goes up down, so there are some challenges,” explained Williams. “The winds, the current and the water going up and down make changes and smallies like to stay in certain spots. When you have changes like that and lose current, they tend to roam. That’s why I wanted to target largemouth.”
Williams’ largemouth pattern held and only one smallie made its way into the livewell.
“Some guys did chase the smallmouth; but I stuck to my pattern,” he said. “The first day, I did catch one 3 ½-pounds, but the rest were all largemouth.”
CONDITIONS
For the most part, the daily conditions were the same throughout the span of the event. Although the time of his best bite changed daily.
“Each day, we would have some winds in the morning and that put the swells to about four-feet; but in the afternoon it would drop down and the current would die,” he said. “The first day, I caught ‘em in the afternoon. The first two I caught were just under five pounds. Then the next days, it was more mid-morning for my bite.”
Although Williams reported it was not a typical seaonal situation, the summertime event revealed that there were still pre-spawners for the taking.
“Two of those big fish I caught were post-spawn, but some were in spawn, actually pre-spawn with eggs in them,” he said.
Williams attributed the pre-spawners to late cold winter and snow. The water he targeted ranged from 68 to 70 degrees.
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SPINNERBAIT SUCCESS
Predominately there were four productive areas that Williams focused on. He described the locations as having stained water and various bottom or structure.
“Some had rocks, some had overhanging vegetation, and some were just reeds sticking straight up,” he said. “It was really all different.”
The one similarity to his fish-catching spots was the depth, as all of his weigh fish bit in three-feet or less.
“I was throwing shallow and they would all hit tight to bank,” he said.
He threw a spinnerbait for all of his fish.
“It was a white-colored War Eagle spinnerbait,” he said. “I changed from 3/8 to ½-ounce –depending were I was. It had double willow blades and a chartreuse trailer. It was a double-legged trailer.”
ACCOLADES
As a fan of the WWBT television show, Williams was excited to compete in his home area.
“I would watch Wild West on TV and I was always telling my wife that I would love to fish that someday,” he said. “It was great to have the Wild West here in the Tri-Cities area.”
The WWBT Columbia River Open presented by Tri-Cities was sponsored in part by Nixon’s Marine, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Dayco Heating and Air Conditioning.
REST OF THE BEST | PRO
2nd 45.71 Justin Campbell $3,000
3rd 44.90 Jeremy Percifield $2,000
4th 44.78 Cody King $1,200
5th 44.65 Ben Hanes $1,000
WWBT COLUMBIA RIVER FINAL FULL RESULTS PRO AND AM
TOP AM
1st 29.37 Josh Roy $5,000
2nd 29.26 Ben Warren $1,000
3rd 27.77 Brandon Hua $800
4th 27.52 Garret Mcafee $600
5th 26.33 Ray Kawabata $500
WWBT Lake Mead Open Sept 20 and 21
The WWBT debuted in 2016. The trail includes a Pro/Am circuit and two Teams circuits – one based in California and the other in Arizona.
A special thanks to all the WWBT sponsors – Ben Green Insurance, Dobyns Rods, Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits, General Tire, Genesis Graphics, Lowrance Electronics, Lucas Oil, P-Line, Power-Pole, Protect the Harvest, Ranger Boats, Super Clean, Top This Premier Accessory Outfitters, Vets 4 Hunting and Fishing.
For more information visit WildWestBassTrail.com and follow WWBT at Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram.
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