https://www.fishermanswarehouse.com
Fishing conditions at Lake Berryessa were looking favorable this last week, with amazing weather and active fish behavior. Bass are responding well to soft plastic lures either drop shotted or Texas-rigged Senko's. The focus for bass was the shorelines with willows and rock or hard bottoms. The moon was full which brought another wave of spawning bass to the shallows. Since fishing was spectacular, the number of limits was the best of the year and anglers proved this by catching 608 fish between 78 anglers. The winner, Justin Dutcher, had 98.50” that weighed around 23 pounds.
Dutcher used a jig to catch his limit but the 5” Senko caught his big fish that measured 22.50”. This toad was also the big fish of the tournament.
“I started off in the morning looking for beds but only found empty beds, so I casted around and quickly caught a small limit on a Senko.” said Dutcher, “There was a spawning cove close by, so I went to the back of the cove and tossed the wacky rigged Senko around and caught the 22.50” bass.”
“It was the hardest battle I have ever had catching that 22.50” bass. It looked like a ten pounder, but it only weighted in at 7.34-pounds.” stated Dutcher, “Once I had her in the net, she looked much bigger than what she weighted.”
“I worked that area for the next half hour and then headed out of the cove where there were these three trees.” remarked Dutcher, “There was one tree by itself, but there was a set of trees close by and on my FFS I saw some movement between those two trees. I casted my jig between the trees and caught an 18.25” then two cast later I caught a 21.50” and then a few casts later, I caught a 19.00”. This set my day off well at this point.”
“I left that area and fished a few other areas but then returned to the same set of trees and caught another fish, but it ended up spitting the hook when it jumped.” mentioned Dutcher, “I had a 16” fish but the one that jumped off would have put me over the 100” mark.”
“I went back to the cove where I had caught the 22.50” and culled one more time with a 16.75” fish.” declared Dutcher, “I caught that fish on a 3.3 Keitech.”
“I was fishing in about 13-feet deep working the jig uphill to about 10-feet deep.” claimed Dutcher, “My jig was paired with a Berkey Max sent Chigger Craw in Green Pumpkin.”
Dutcher thanked his wife and family, his brother for his support, his cousin for all his support and a big shout out to Dave and Nino from Clear Lake Outdoors for all their help. John Pearl for being a cool guy for being so supportive with information at Clear Lake. A huge shout out to the crew Greg, Mike, Santa, Alden, Obedie and Bam, without these guys I would not still be tournament fishing. Hanging with the crew is the best part of fishing tournament.
In second place was Dang Xiong with 96.26”. Xiong practiced on Friday the day before and found fish everywhere, but they were not the quality he wanted. He started off early with a chatter bait and caught a small limit quickly and then once the sun got high enough, he was able to find fish on beds.
“I found practice towards the South with plenty of fish willing to bite, but the size was not there.” explained Xiong, “I caught fish everywhere I went.”
“On tournament day, I decided to run East and fish the willows.” declared Xiong, “I started with a chatter bait and caught a limit really quick.”
“Once the sun got up high enough, I was able to look for fish on beds.” proclaimed Xiong, “I caught four bass that were on beds that helped my overall limit.”
“The bed fish were from 2 feet of water to 5 feet of water.” said Xiong, “I was flipping a creature bait to catch the bedding fish. I had to work the lure to get the fish to bite.”
“I also fished the willow trees with the creature bait to catch several fish. A jig dragged on the bottom with rock also caught fish.” remarked Xiong, “I caught around 30 fish during the tournament.”
“I had found empty beds but as the day warmed up fish showed up on the beds.” mentioned Xiong, “The better areas had scatter rock in the back of coves, this is where I had caught my bigger fish.”
Xiong thanked Jame with Yak a Bass for hosting a great tournament and Shaun Leytem for MC’ing.
Joseph Silva finished in third with 96.25”. Silva launched out of Puta Creek and fished the main lake areas to catch his third-place bag.
“I focused on main lake points and islands.” proclaimed Silva, “I used the power shot on a 7-foot 2-inch medium heavy casting rod with 16-pound test with a 3/0 hook paired with a 6” Missile Baits Magic worm with a ½ ounce weight.”
“I caught some fish in 5 to 10-feet of water most of the day.” expressed Silva, “I caught two 20” bass off rock and two 19” near rock but in front of bushes.”
“The key was to go to heavier line so I could quickly catch the smaller fish and get my lure back into the water.” declared Silva, “I was able to utilize my time better with the heavier line.”
“It did help because I had caught several smaller fish in one area and then caught a larger fish in the same area.” said Silva, “I was nice to power fish for the fish.”
“I had found most of the bigger fish were on the windy side of the structure I was fishing.” explained Silva, “The fish were mostly around the structure more then on or inside of the brush.”
Silva thanked his mom and dad for coming out to watch the awards.
Top Ten:
1. Justin Dutcher 98.50”
2. Dang Xiong 96.25”
3. Joseph Silva 96.25”
4. Shaun Leytem 94.00”
5. Dawson Stroud 94.00”
6. Isiah West 93.75”
7. Damian Thao 93.75”
8. Rindy Her 92.75”
9. Daniel Balaba 92.75”
10. Reed Frazier 90.50”
Big Fish:
Justin Dutcher 22.50”
Advertising