Strolling was the top technique for the top anglers with the topwater lures coming in a very close second. The big fish of the tournament was caught on a topwater walking bait. Once the tournament was completed and all the fish were submitted Joseph Silva won with a massive Don Pedro limit that measured 96.50”
“During practice I had found a few schools of fish, so I decided to relocate them during the tournament day.” stated Silva, “I found a small school around rocks, I threw a Sakamata Shad with a ¾ ounce tungsten ball jig head to get my biggest fish of the day. I would throw it out and craw it over the rock, the fish would come up and eat the bait.”
“I caught a 21.5” and a 19” off that rock pile.” exclaimed Silva, “I search around for another school of fish but couldn’t find anything for the next few hours. I changed to a 1/8-ounce jig head that helped me catch the 19” fish.”
“I had about 45 minutes left, I found a nice school near the dam.” remarked Silva, “I was able to catch three nice fish off that school of fish.”
“I sized down to a 4” Sakamata Shad to entice my bites.” mentioned Silva, “The school was as deep as 85-feet and would move up to 50-feet deep.”
“All my fish came out of 55-feet of water on the Sakamata Shad with the 1/8-ounce jig head.” said Silva.
Silva thanked North Bay fishing Tackle for their support and Yak a Bass for another fun year.
Damian Thao placed second with a total of 95.00”. Thao practiced only one day. He had found fish in deep water near main lake locations that were both suspended and hugging the bottom.
“During practice fishing was great and the fish were willing to bite compared to tournament day, the fishing became tough, and the fish were picky to get them to bite.” declared Thao, “I caught fish on the 8” flutter spoon, shaking a minnow and topwater during practice.”
“The fish were still in the 50 to 80 feet of water during the tournament but much more difficult to catch.” claimedThao, “I saw a lot of fish hugging the bottom and when you would throw the minnow down to them, the fish would shoot up off the bottom.”
“The areas that had plenty of deep water nearby had the bigger fish and more fish willing to bite.” pronounced Thao, “I saw the bait in 50 feet of water too.”
“I caught my better fish shaking a minnow on a ¼-ounce jig head paired with a 4” Sakamata Shad.” insisted Thao, “I had found fish on cables that were holding the buoys offshore, those fish were the bigger fish in my limit.”
Thao thanked 1st Gen fishing, Pline, 559 Fresno Bait and Tackle, DrancKrazy and Kayak City for all their support.
John Myers finished in 3rd place with a total of 94.75”. Myers used the Garmin Forward Facing unit to help locate the fish he caught He used a variety of baits to catch his fish.
“I had found a cable that had fish from 5 feet of water to 50 feet of water hanging along it.” replied Myers, “I used a spoon to catch a few fish off the cable but soon saw that the spoon would spook the fish.”
“I switched up to a Mooch minnow and dropped it down to 50-feet of water where I could see several fish come off the cable, those fish showed interest in the bait.” voiced Myers, “I caught a nice fish from the school.”
“My next drop with the Mooch minnow, I noticed the fish were not interested in the bait, so I changed up to a winged fluke.” said Myers, “My first drop, i caught another nice fish off that same cable. Once again, the fish didn’t want the winged fluke, so I changed up again.”
“I dropped down a dice on a drop shot rig and caught one of my larger fish off that cable. The bite was so light that it felt like a crappy bite.” expressed Myers, “Once again, the fish didn’t show interest with the dice, so I changed to a 2” Keitech and caught another fish.”
“I moved to a few offshore points in 40-60 feet of water and culled four of my fish.” spoken Myers, “I caught the fish on the Zoom winged fluke but shaking it just off the bottom.”
Myers thanked his wife for all her support, 1st Gen, Pline and Yak a Bass for hosting these events.
Top Ten:
1. Joseph Silva 96.50”
2. Damian Thao 95.00”
3. John Myers 94.75”
4. Reed Frazier 91.50”
5. Ryan Culler 88.50”
6. Daniel Balaba 88.25”
7. Simon Her 87.50”
8. Isiah West 84.25”
9. Shaun Leytem 84.00”
10. John Ellis 81.50”
Big Fish:
John Ellis 22.50”
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