WWBT AOY Race Heats Up

[MKA]

The final event of the Wild West Bass Trail Kayak Series regular season is scheduled for Sunday, 9/12/21. This event will determine who will be the Angler of the Year (AOY), who will qualify for the Tournament of Champions (TOC) and who will qualify for the Kayak Pro Tour (KPT) for the 2022 season. Tas Moua, Damian Thao and John Myers (top 3 in points after the first 3 regular season events) have been battling it out all season to see who would capture the coveted AOY title for 2021. The final regular season event was initially scheduled to be on Lake Almanor but due to the fires the format has been changed to any public body of water in California 200 acres or more (angler’s choice). Will it be one of these 3 or will another angler sneak up from behind and capture the crown?

Tas Moua of Fresno, CA:
“My plan going into this final event is to stay focus, fish clean, fish the conditions and just have fun out there. I've had some low finishes this year and that's because I started stressing out. So with everything I've learn this year I’m going to apply it to this final event and hopefully everything works out.”

Damian Thao of Fresno, CA:
“My game plan to secure the AOY title is to just go fishing and try not to let the pressure get to my head. I’m going to fish this event as if it were my first event. There isn’t really much you can do to prepare when you are being chased by some of the best in the west.”

John Myers of Atwater, CA:
“Our last event of the year is going to be the most important event of the year for me. This event
is going to determine the angler of the year race (AOY). Since this event is going to be an open lake
online tournament and we can choose from any lake greater than two hundred acres or more, my
choice is going to be Clear Lake. At the moment, Clear Lake is one of a few lakes that 100” can be
caught in a single day. Even though Clear Lake is several hours away from my home, I feel the extra cost
and time is worth the chance to earn AOY. As one may say,” Go big or go home”. I’m going big.

My game plan is to fish weed beds close to the mid- lake area. Also, as a back-up plan, the
deeper rocky areas with sparse weeds adjacent to the mid-lake. In a kayak, one places all their eggs in
one basket, meaning, once you launch in an area, you’re commented unless you want to spend one to
two hours loading and driving to another launch ramp. I’ve noticed that the bass at Clear Lake have two
feeding windows during the last two weeks, one feeding window around 7 AM – 9 AM and the other in
the afternoon approximately 12 noon until lines out. Right now, locating the bait fish is the key to
finding the big schools of bass. We all know the bait moves around all the time, as a result, the bass
move as well.

This last event will be decided by who makes the right decision, at the right
time, and has some luck locating the bait fish during fishing hours. Let’s hope the decisions made are the
winning choices. Best of luck to everyone for the AOY race, may there be a three-way tie because we all
worked hard all year!”