Damian Thao wins Central Valley Kayak Fishing at Lake Eastman

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basstrophy
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Joined: Sun May 06, 2007 6:35 pm

Damian Thao wins Central Valley Kayak Fishing at Lake Eastman

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Lake Eastman was at full pool for the first time in many years. The willows, brush and the many native ground cover had years of growth and are now covered with water. The perfect conditions for the trophy lake to produce big bass. Early spring conditions, flooded wood with giant granite rock piles, a warming trend with water temperatures reaching 60 degrees equals spawn and pre-spawn conditions, fish were flooding the banks. Once the lines were out and all the fish were submitted, Damian Thao won Eastman with 85.00” outdoing second place by 4 inches. Thao arrived late to the ramp due to a celebration party with his family. He started off with a Duo Realis 120 SP rip bait in American shad where he found water temperature in the 58-degree temperature. He then ran across the lake and stopped on a point and picked up his first keeper on the rip bait.

“We noticed that the fish were on a hard pan bottom, this clued us in to what the fish were setting up on.”

After running several areas that looked the same without a bite, he went inside a pocket that had the same hard pan bottom with the water temperature of 61 degrees.

“The last point in the back of the pocket had the right structure, this is where we caught several fish.”

“We caught our fish on the Carolina rigged brush hog on that one point.”

Thao found the winning pattern to catch the biggest limit of the tournament on the farthest end of the lake in less than 10-feet of water. The last-minute heroics on that point made the difference for Thao.

“At 1:51 PM until 1:59 I caught three key fish, lines out was 2 PM.”

Thao thanked his sponsors Duo Realis, Garmin, Power Pole, PLine, Kayak City, Wild West Bass Trail, First Gen Fishing, TM Custom Lures, LA Custom Jigs, and 559 Fishing.



John Myers finished in 2nd place with 81.00”. Myers used the flick shake technique hooked with a Senko to fill his limit. He found fish shallow on hard bottom structure in the backs of cuts and pockets that had warmer water.

“I would toss the lure out and let it hit the bottom and then shake it while pulling it off the bottom.”

“Never felt the fish bite as much as the lure feeling heavy.”

Myers covered water from the launch ramp until lines out, then ran back to the ramp. He said he covered 3 to 5 miles of shoreline. His bites were far and few between, but the fish kept biting which kept him positive he was using the right technique to catch fish. Myers thanked his wife for all her support all these years together.

“Without her support, I would not be here now.”

He also thanked his sponsors Super Clean, Lunkerdaddy Lures, TM Custom Baits, Stage Stop Gun Shop, Wild West Bass Trail and Ryan Cook Fishing for all their support.



Gabriel Falcon placed 3rd with 78.75” by drop-shotting his fish off points towards the river arm. During practice fishing, he found that drop-shotting a Robo worm in Aaron’s magic in 20 feet of water off the side of those points was the key to his success. His first fish came inside of a cove where a fish had breached.

“I threw a drop-shot to a log in the water and caught my first fish.”

Falcon moved back to his practice fishing location to fill his limit. He focused on the flats off those points near ledges. He thanked his wife and kids for all their support. Also, he thanked CVKF for bringing back the tournaments to the Central Valley kayak community.



Top Ten:

1. Damian Thao 85.00”

2. John Myers 81.00”

3. Gabriel Falcon 78.75”

4.Ismael Tapia 78.50”

5. Bryan Vogt 72.25”

6. Jermey Sierra 66.25”

7. Robert Yamamoto 59.25”

8. Mark Steiner 56.50”

9. Adam Wolf 50.75”

10. Luis Flores 47.50”

Big Fish:

Jermey Sierra 20.50”
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