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Lake El Capitan is in southern California that has 22 miles of shoreline with 1562 surface acres that holds at full pool a total of 112,806.9-acre feet of water. The lake has a long river arm that flows into the main body. El Capitan Lake is open ½ hour before sun rise and closes ½ hour before sunset. The lake is closed Wednesdays, Thursdays and the first Friday of the month. The lakes down south normally close every night and reopen in the morning. During tournament days, it is common to show up at the gate a few hours early to assure the “hot fishing locations” are caught before the fishermen’s early morning rush ti their fishing locations. It is refreshing to show up at the gate and catch up with fellow fishermen about their latest life plans and what has been happening at the lake fishing – the dock talk. The weather was a perfect 80 degrees with calm winds and the water temperature ranged in the mid 60’s, a perfect day for some kayaking competition. Once the lines were out and the fish were all submitted, Griffith Garrabrant dominates with 91.75” besting second place by 3.25”. The lake has no cell service, so everyone had to make the mad rush to a location where they were able to find service. If you were following along during the day on TourneyX, you saw that very few anglers had service. Garrabrant used his specialty technique, the free rig paired with a Zoom green pumpkin 6” lizard for his winning pattern.
“I was sitting in line waiting for the lake to open and saw a large bolder in the water, this is where I did all my damage.”
On a whim, Garrabrant found the “hot spot” on the lake that sealed his win. Garrabrant started off shallow with reaction baits but never got a bite. The rock he found was the size of a school bus where 20 feet of water surrounded the huge rock. He caught his limit within the first hour of the morning.
“The bigger bites came along the deeper side of the rock by slowly dragging the free rig lizard.” Garrabrant said, “The fish were using the edge as an ambush location.”
The area Garrabrant found had a ton of bait fish in the area that was a helpful key to his success.
“At 9 AM, I had 90 inches.”
Garrabrant lost a fish that went over 20” early that he thought this cost him the win but obviously the missed fish didn’t matter. He worked that rock over the entire day. He would move his kayak to change the angle of his presentation to give the fish a different look. Garrabrant saw an arch on his graph and dropped down his free rig and started to shake his lizard. He got bitten and caught that fish; it was his big fish of the day.
“My big fish didn’t fight at all, it felt like a stick, but once it jumped, I was like, WOW that fish is huge.” Garrabrant said, “The fish had no fight in her.”
Garrabrant thanked ABA, Shane LemMon for putting on such a great event. He also thanked his rod sponsor Duckett Rods for making such a sensitive rod to feel those light bites.
Anthony Garcia finished in second place with 86.50”. Garcia used his forward-facing Garmin sonar to find fish suspended in 40 to 50 feet of water. Garcia used the 2.8” Keitech swimbait and a weightless wacky rigged Senko in smoke shad and baby bass color to catch his fish.
“I used the Garmin forward facing sonar to catch all my fish.” Garcia said, “I caught several 17” fish throughout the day.”
Garcia noticed that the fish suspended over the deeper water were easier to catch compared to the fish along the bank. Garcia used 6-pound test on his rods with a VMC hook with a mono weed guard on his weightless Senko. He used a 3/16-ounce ball jig head with a silver flash Keitech.
“I would reel the ball head with the Keitech over the top of the fish.” Garcia said, “If they didn’t eat it, I would just move on and find another fish.”
Garcia had a limit by 9 or 10 AM and caught fish all day long. Garcia thanked his girlfriend Amanda and his family for all their support. Garcia also thanked his sponsors Oldtown Kayak, Dakota Lithium, IRod, Tackle Shack USA, SIMMS and BooneDox USA.
Steve Buechner finished in third place with 85.50”. Buechner caught one fish first thing in the morning on a rip bait. He switched up to a Senko and caught three more quickly, by 9 AM. Buechner went three hours without a bite. He saw some fish in deeper water and caught 8 more fish on a Senko around noon along a stretch of bank.
“I caught a 19” bass that really boost me up the leader board.”
Buechner kept with the Senko the entire day to catch all his fish. He was using a Texas rigged Senko focusing on thick submersed brush. He was using straight 10-pound braid line on his spinning rod. Buechner thanked his wife and family for all their support and his sponsors Fast Lane Kayak, Hobie and Heck Electric and Solar. He also thanked ABA, Shane LemMon for putting on such a great event.
Top Ten:
1.Griffith Garrabrant 91.75”
2. Anthony Garcia 86.50”
3.Steve Buechner 85.50”
4. Geoff Peterson 84.50”
5.Chris Harris 82.75”
6. Kerry Peeler 81.50”
7. Brandon Cabrales 80.50”
8. Gilbert Garcia 79.00”
9. Brian Leppke 78.75”
10. Kirk Gossett 78.00”
Big Fish:
Geoff Peterson 23.25”
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