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B. A. S. S. 559 held its season opener at Lake Eastman. The weather was rainy and cold, perfect for a typical kayak tournament, the day was only missing the wind. Eastman was stingy when it came to the bigger fish, but the smaller size fish were biting. Once lines were in and the judging was completed, Damian Thao won with 83.50” besting second place by 6.75”. Thao didn’t have time to practice before the event, so he decided to check his old way points for active fish. Thao used a Neko rig 4” watermelon black flake Senko worked fast in 20 to 25-foot of water for his first two fish.
“I caught a fish right under my boat in about 35-feet of water and knew then that I needed to fish deep.”
Thao moved out to 50-feet of water and tossed his jig to about 25-foot of water and worked it back to his boat.
“I caught two more nice fish working my jig while my kayak was in 50-feet of water.” said Thao, “The none-keepers were plentiful in shallower water.”
Thao noticed that the bigger bites came on the base off of the break on a LA Custom jig in the Phantom color paired with a 4” Yamamoto twin tail trailer.
“I had four fish and decided to run back to where I had caught my first two fish and caught my last keeper there.”
Thao thanked his sponsors Kayak City, P-Line, 1stGenFishing, 559 Fresno Bait and Tackle, LaCustomJigs, TMCustomLures.
Seven Johnson placed second with 76.75”. Johnson used bigger worms and swimbaits to attract the larger bass. During practice Johnson used a 7” Robo worm in the midnight color wacky rigged on a drop shot to catch his fish. He also used a Baca Burrito Nacho Swimbait in crappie color the 4.5”
“My main area had crappie on the ledge and my big fish came on the crappie swimbait.”
Johnson’s fish came out of 25 to 30-feet of water with the 7” Robo worm near the mouth of the river just off a ledge that he had found the weekend before. He thanked his wife and kids for all their support with his fishing. Johnson also thanked his sponsors Spearpoint Hooks, GMoney Jigs, Swager Tungsten and Irod fishing.
Calvin Vang captured third place with 76.75.” Vang started off with a rip bait catching non-scoreable fish, so he moved to a rock pile on the North end of the lake.
“The rock pile had scattered brush, so I used a Texas rigged drop-shot to land my first keeper.”
Once Vang caught his first keeper, it gave him the confidence: however, for the next two hours all Vang caught were non-scoreable fish.
“I moved out deeper and caught two more keepers on the next two cast.”
Vang’s adjustment gave him two more keepers moving him up the board to finish in third place. Vang thanked his sponsors Asian Business Institute and Resource Center (ABIRC), 559 Bait and Tackle for their continuous support and most of all my fiancé for all her support.
Top Ten:
1. Damian Thao 83.50”
2. Steven Johnson 76.75”
3. Calvin Vang 62.25”
4. Doua Lor 46.00”
5.Clark Vue 38.50”
6. Sean Beach 32.25”
7. Daigo Kobayashi 31.50”
8. John Myers 30.25”
9. Stephan Xiong 19.25”
10. Jorge Mosqueda 17.25”
Big Fish:
Steven Johnson 19.50”
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