Lake Berryessa is one of the best bass fishing lakes in Northern California with massive schools of suspended fish roaming in search of bait fish. Berryessa has largemouth bass, spotted bass and smallmouth bass that can be found schooling together. Lake Berryessa has clear water with large flats and steep walls. There is plenty of offshore structure that bass use to ambush their prey.
The team of Shisiah, Shaun Leytem and Isiah West anchored their win with a massive 103.25” limit. They both used a flutter spoon and a drop shot to catch their winning bag.
“I did not practice but Berryessa is my home lake.” said West, “I knew that the fish would be chasing bait up shallow or working points in schools busting bait.”
“I started my morning running to the Puta Creek bridge in search for the schooling bass hanging around the pilings.” said West, “Three months ago, I had found some fish willing to chew early in the morning next to the pilings.”
“I caught a couple of fish on the Jackall flutter spoon and the Nicklos flutter spoon.” said West, “I went to the other nearby bridge saw some fish but could not get them to bite.”
“I headed back to the Puta Creek bridge and on the way, I found some fish off a point working bait fish.” said West, “There I was able to cull all my smaller fish from that point.”
“The fish were in 35 to 40-feet deep on the bottom below a huge bait ball.” said West, “I did return to the Puta bridge but couldn’t get any fish that helped.”
“I returned to the point and cull more fish until almost lines out.” said West, “I called Shaun, and he came over and drop shotted some nice fish off the bottom that helped our limit.”
“There were windows that the fish would bite.” said West, “The school of fish would scatter as the day went on but when you saw a wolf pack of 4 to 5 fish the fish would bite, and we were able to cull.”
West thanked his girlfriend, Shaun Leytem, and Yak a Bass for hosting these events. Leytem thanked RB Bass, Dobyns Rods, and Pure fishing for all their support.
The Lone Rangers, Joey Silva and Jesse Hoover placed second with a total of 101.00”. They scooped their way to a second-place finish.
“We decided to launch from Steel Canyon while I fished the East side and Jesse fished the West side.” said Silva, “I had fished an area that I had did well in the past and found some fish.”
“The fish were in the 20 to 30-foot range over 50-feet of water suspended in schools of 5 to 8 larger size fish.” said Silva, “I used a 3/8-ounce jig head paired with a Mega Bass Sling Shad minnow.”
“I caught all my fish Mid-strolling.” said Silva, “I would search around for the larger fish and would catch them. There were several other schools of smaller fish, but I just keyed on the larger fish.”
“I only made around 200 cast searching for the larger fish.” said Silva, “There were so many huge schools of smaller fish, so I just focused on the larger marks.”
“I would make the best cast I could at those larger fish.” said Silva, “The fish were in the 20 to 30-feet of water over 50-feet of water.”
“I felt the fish were mostly inactive and to entice the fish to bite, the accurate cast was the key to get the fish to bite.” said Silva, “Also when the fish would come to the bait, I would move the bait away from the fish quickly and if the fish would not bite, I would let it drop back down, like a yo-yo retrieve.”
Silva thanked North Bay Tackle shop for all their help, also his family and girlfriend for all their support.
The team of The Lone Rangers Reed Fraizer and Nick Doring came in third place with a total of 97.25”. They used the Mid-strolling technique to catch their fish.
“We used live scoop to catch our fish.” said Fraizer, “We would go around and find the mega schools of fish and used the flutter spoon to entice bites.” said Fraizer, “Nick caught his big fish on the drop shot rig.”
“We used the minnow, drop shot and the flutter spoon to catch our limit.” said Fraizer, “Most of our fish came off the bottom near some rock.”
“The flutter spoon caught them in 35 to 40-feet deep about 10-feet off the bottom.” said Fraizer, “The 6.5” flutter spoon seemed to work the best for me.”
“We had a mixed bag of smallmouth, largemouth and spotted bass with a few squaw fish mixed in with the mega schools.” said Fraizer, “My two biggest fish was on a flutter spoon and a tube jig.”
“I caught the majority of my fish on the flutter spoon.” said Fraizer, “It was a mix of lures that caught our fish from the drop shot, flutter spoon, jig, and a few other lures all worked.”
Fraizer thanked Yak a Bass crew and my team partner nick and his wife for their support.
Top Ten:
1. Shisiah 103.25”
2. The Lone Rangers 101.00
3. Quality Control 97.25”
4. No Limit Soldiers 90.25”
5. Haynie/Patino 90.00”
6. Backup Trouble 89.50”
7. Slaughter Houze 86.75”
8. St. Nick &Jolly O’Lip Ripper 86.00”
9. Dink Destroyers 78.75”
10. Shake ‘N Bake 75.75”
Big Fish:
Isiah West 22.25”
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