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Lower Otay Lake is one of California’s most Southern Lakes. The lake is full of big Largemouth bass. The air temperature was ranging in the mid 60’s with the water temperature hovering around the mid to upper 50’s.
Once the lines were out and all the fish were submitted, Mark Christman captured the win with 84.25” at Lower Otay. Christman used a Texas rigged Senko to catch all his fish.
“My first stop, I caught my first fish immediately.” said Christman, “I didn’t get my next bite until 10 AM.”
“My next two fish came on back-to-back cast.” said Christman, “I was nice to get those two bites.”
Christman moved to a new location where he found the Motherlode. He caught several fish in a short time.
“I moved to the Otay Arm.” said Christman, “I finished my limit in a hurry.”
The last few minutes of the day Christman caught his winning fish just after losing a nice fish.
“With 20 minutes left, I caught a nice one in the tulles, but it came off.” said Christman, “With only 10 minutes left, I hooked up with fish that is going to cull, but it flopped off my board.”
“I looked at my watch and only had 5 minutes left of the fishing day.” said Christman, “My third cast, I caught a 16.75”.
Christman’s last-minute heroics won him the event even though he lost one and another fish flopped off his board.
Christman thanked his wife and daughter for always supporting his adventures.
Steve Buechner placed second with 83.25” just one inch behind first and only one-quarter of an inch in front of third place. Buechner used a Senko to catch his first limit.
“I had my limit by 10 AM using a Senko in 10-feet of water.” said Buechner, “The bite died so I changed up to a drop shot.”
Once the sun came up and the day became brighter, Buechner moved to the outside edge of the old tulle line to cull up a few nice fish.
“The sun became bright, so I moved out to 17-feet of water along the old tulle line.” said Buechner, “I could see the old tulle line on my graph.”
Buechner used a 6” Robo worm in the Margarita color to entice larger fish along the tulle line. The key was to make as many drops as possible along the tulle line to get the fish to bite. Buechner thanked his wife Katie and his sponsors Fastlane Kayak, Hobie, Heck Electric & Solor for all their support.
Ron Kim placed in third with 83.00”. Kim's day started on the west side of the lake near the row training docks. He slowly made his way north focusing on hard structure like fallen trees and brush tossing a 5-inch Senko. As the day progressed, Kim made an adjustment to a drop shot paired with a curly tailed Robo worm.
"In the morning, I primarily used a Ned Rig and a 5- inch green pumpkin Senko." explained Kim, "Then in the afternoon I switched up to a drop shot paired with a curly tail Robo worm."
"The day was a mixed bag with catches and lost fish." said Kim, "Despite the bad luck, The weather was fantastic, I enjoyed spending time around the friendly SCKA community."
Kim culled with a 16" fish with only 30 minutes left of the day that pushed him to a third place finish. Kim thanked his wife and kids for all their support.
Top Ten:
1. Mark Christman 84.25”
2. Steve Buechner 83.25”
3. Ron Kim 83.00”
4. Rafael Jimenez 80.75”
5. Juanillo Medina 79.25”
6. Tim OConnor 78.75”
7. Steve Norby 78.75”
8. Brian Leppke 78.50”
9. Ryan Moriarty 78.00”
10. ElyPeter Landagan 76.75”
Big Fish
Kevin Schatte 19.50”
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