PEORIA, Ariz. – The Wild West Bass Trail (WWBT) kicked off their 2017 season of the Arizona Teams division with its first stop at Lake Pleasant. The event’s 138 anglers launched out of the Lake Pleasant Harbor Marina on Saturday, October 15, following a five-day off-limits period.
The Arizona team of Matt Shura from Gilbert and Lon Armel of Scottsdale took home the first victory of the season, weighing a seven-fish limit at 17.69, anchored by a big fish of 4.38. Their $325 entry earned the pair a total payout of $6,095 that included contingency dollars from Lowrance, P-Line, Yamamoto and a big fish check for the 3rd biggest bass with the Yamamoto “Toads of the Day” bonus.
FULL RESULTS FOR PLEASANT HERE
Shura credited a lack of practice time on Pleasant as a reason for their win.
“I am the type of person that likes to practice, get dialed in, have a plan worked out and then stick to that plan when I get on the water; but because we couldn’t do that, we were much more open-minded,” said Shura. “Since we didn’t know what to expect, we just went fishing, trying a lot of different things as we went through the day.”
The bigger bass in the team’s limit were tempted by reaction baits in the early morning and again later in the afternoon. “Right off the bat, we got a couple two to three-pounders,” said Shura. “Once the sun came out that bite died.”
To combat the mid-morning lull, the team traveled to deeper water and filled out their limit dropshotting in 10- to 25-ft of water. Their baits included shad-patterned Ricos, Little Dippers and dropshots with Roboworms in Oxblood, Morning Dawn and Aaron’s Magic.
“Once we dropshotted our 7th fish, we went back to the reaction baits – small swimbaits, spinnerbaits, and topwater to try and get a bigger one,” explained Shura. “As soon as the afternoon breeze came up and we saw that little ripple on the water, the fish really started eating for us. We had several followers and ended up with the four-pounder. That was a key bite and that four had a little wolf pack around it.”
Shura noted they ran at least a dozen areas, catching 13 or 14 keepers throughout the day.
“We started out on steeper stuff with pockets (secondary areas with cuts that were protected),” he said. “Areas with deep water nearby seemed to be the better spots for reaction. For the dropshot, we hit some flats that had rock piles on ‘em.”
Shura and Armel have fished together for the past three years. They finished 7th in the WWBT Arizona Teams division last season. They expressed appreciation for the 100 percent payout that the WWWBT offers.
“It is an awesome payday,” said Shura. “And, all for only a $325 entry.”
2016 WWBT TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP AT MEAD
2nd MOLINARI/CARROL
The runner up position was claimed by another Arizona team – Steve Molinari of Waddell and Randy Carrol from Glendale. Molinari and Carrol also sacked up seven for a full limit that went 15.93. Their bag held a 4.39 – the 2nd biggest bass for the Yamamoto “Toads of the Day” bonus. The team’s efforts earned $3,445.
The anglers started in the morning on main lake coves with crankbaits to catch the bulk of their limit.
“The shallow running, square-bill was definitely the key,” said Molinari. “Water depth wasn’t that important. It was more about having something available to run in to – for deflection. That is what got the bites.”
Later in the day, the team made a move into the river to hunt for a big bite.
“That is when we caught our big fish, flippin’ some wood in 2- to 3-feet of water,” recalled Molinari. “We stayed there flippin’ for a couple of hours; but only got two bites. So, we decided to come back out. We fished some deeper water with dropshots on the main lake – main lake points and inside secondary stuff; but didn’t get any keepers doing that.”
Except for the biggest bass, all of their weigh fish ate a shad-patterned Strike King 1.5. Their four-plus went for a green pumpkin Speed Craw on a flippin’ rig. They landed seven keepers.
“It was a perfect day at Lake Pleasant,” Molinari added. “The fishing wasn’t as good as it could be; but it was far from as bad as it has been. It was nice to see everybody catch some fish.”
Molinari and Carrol fished the WWBT team circuit together in 2016, finishing in 10th place. “We ended up okay last year and figured we would give it another shot,” said Molinari. “We sure are starting it off a lot better than we did last year!”
Molinari expressed thanks to his sponsors.
3rd NAPOLEON/JOHNSON
Andrew Napoleon of Mesa and Johnny Johnson of Lakeside locked up their top-3 finish with 15.93. The Arizona anglers hauled up their full limit with the biggest coming in at 3.12. Their tournament earnings came in at $2,200.
Napoleon and Johnson were another team that didn’t have the opportunity to practice prior to the event.
“We’ve been over at Mead for the past several weeks with the U.S. Open, the WWBT championship and the American Bass events; so I thought we’d be goin’ in to Pleasant to donate,” said Johnson. “We were just goin’ in to wing it.”
Both partners spent the day dropshotting. They fished the main lake in a target depth of 20- to 30-feet, where the water was clear.
“Areas with trees or bushes or sticks and few little cuts worked pretty good for us,” said Johnson. “With the moon being full like it was, I had a feeling the reaction fish would go by the wayside and even though some guys caught some smaller reaction fish, it seemed like we were catching the bigger ones by slowing down and throwing the dropshot. So, we stuck with it all day.”
The team caught 11 keepers. All of their weigh fish ate a Roboworms in Arron’s Magic.
“Each fish we caught had orange mouths and it seemed like they were eating a crawdad pretty good, so that worm works good in those situations,” added Johnson. “I tried a jig for a while; but couldn’t get bit on it. I think the finesse was the key, because the fish were barely mouthing our baits.”
Napoleon and Johnson have been fishing together competitively for the past five seasons; but first met in a draw event.
“Our very first tournament together was when I won the championship in 1999,” said Johnson. “We drew each other in that pro/am and years later started fishing together as partners.”
Napoleon and Johnson tied for the 12th spot in the Arizona Teams standings for WWBT last year.
FULL RESULTS FOR PLEASANT HERE
The remainder of the contingency payouts were awarded as follows:
$500 Run and Win with Lucas Oil to Chlup/Valenzuela
$500 Evinrude to Au/Mortensen
$300 Evinrude to Lubenec/Hodges
$200 Evinrude to Patti/Petrucci
$345 Yamamoto Toads of the Day Big Fish #1 – 4.72 to Whiteaker/Kilduf
$345 Yamamoto Toads of the Day Big Fish #4 – 4.28 to McKinnye/Price
$345 Yamamoto Toads of the Day Big Fish #5 – 3.98 to Little/McMains
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. For more information visit WildWestBassTrail.com and follow WWBT at Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram.
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