https://www.fishermanswarehouse.com
Yak a Bass held their West Coast Championship (WCC) at the famous Clear Lake. Fishing was great for those anglers that found the fish but the anglers that struggled to locate fish found fishing tough for size and even getting bites. Clear Lake in Lake County California is the bass fishing capital of the West and for a good reason. Bassmaster has rated Clear Lake the top fishery the last two years. With 5 fish limits that reach over 30-pound and during this year a few 40-pound limits have been weighted in during professional tournaments. If you want to catch an average size fish that weights 4-pounds or bigger, Clear Lake needs to be on your list of lakes. The South end of the lake has deep rock piles with docks that cover the shoreline while the North end is much shallower with an abundance of fishable structure. Most of the top ten anglers caught their fish punching baits in heavy cover while a few anglers caught their fish on docks.
After two days of competition Damian Thao wins the West Coast Championship with a total of 198.00”.
“I practiced on Wednesday for the event and found some fish that where of the larger size. The North end was the area that had the larger fish. I had several fish blow up on the frog but never hooked up.” informed Thao, “Since we found a big population of larger fish willing to bite, we decided to take Thursday off to relax and get my rods ready for the event.”
“The mornings were cool, I started off with a frog but never hooked up, so I put the punching rod in my hand and kept it there all day long.” recalled Thao, “There was one point that I worked back and forth for three days to catch my fish.”
“The point had some clean grass, some cheese, and some duck weed.” mentionedThao, “As the day became hotter the bite was better for size and numbers.”
“I caught all my fish on day one punching.” stated Thao, “One key was to rotate my baits, so the fish got something different to look at.”
“The point was about the size of two boats where I had caught all my fish.” exclaimed Thao, “I ended up in 4th or 5th place on day one. It was close for the top ten anglers, with only a few inches separating the top 10 anglers.”
“On day two, I noticed first thing in the morning that the weather was much warmer.” remarked Thao, “There was overcast and smoke in the sky making the weather much warmer in the morning.”
“I had a good feeling that the frog was going to be in play in the morning since it was so much warmer.” declared Thao, “I caught 5 fish in 5 cast that included a 23.00” fish. The 23.00” fish went around 8-pounds and at that point, I knew I had a chance to win this event.”
“I did most of my damage in the morning on the frog.” claimed Thao, “Once the sun came up, the frog bite stopped.”
“After the morning sun popped up higher, I punched the rest of the day.” insisted Thao, “I kept moving back and forth around the matt and changed up my baits to keep getting bites.”
“The majority of my bigger fish came after 1PM.” pronounced Thao, “Each day the bite was the best as the hotter weather later in the day.”
“I stayed there and caught a 20.25” around 1:30 PM. That fish made the difference between 1st place and 2nd place.” said Thao.
“I was using 65-pound Endurx Pline and 80-pound TPC braid line.” declared Thao, “I felt the TPC braid was quite going through the grass, and I got more bites because of this.”
“My baits of choice was a Yamamoto Flappin Hog, Missile Bait D Bomb and DrancKrazy deranged EX.” said Thao, “I rotated these baits which were the baits that I got all my bites from.”
Thao thanked his sponsors 559 Fresno Bait and Tackle, Pline, 1st Gen, DrancKrazy and Kayak City.
Obedie Williams came in second with a two-day total of 196.75”. Williams never practiced for this event but had a good idea what the fish were doing, and he wanted to fish how he loves to fish - punching.
“I had zero practice and just showed up the day before the event.” expressed Williams, “I was just going to swing big.”
“Day-one, I used a drop shot on the edge of the grass to catch a few key fish.” spoken Williams, “I had a one two punch, do the drop shot then I would punch.”
“Day-one half my fish were punch fish, and the other half was drop shot fish.” explained Williams, “I was using a Robo worm on the drop shot and the punch rig, I was using my proto-type bait that I designed.”
“I was using 65-pound braid to punch.” proclaimed Williams, “I punched everything that had a canopy.”
“On day-two, I ran the same pattern but had more company in the area I was fishing.” reported Williams, “I saw boat and kayak anglers pull fish from the area that I was fishing on day-one.”
“The area was big but to share the water; however, it made fishing much more difficult.” alleged Williams, “Each day fishing was tougher but on day-two, I caught less fish but longer fish.”
“The key was one fish that I caught later in the day that went over 20”.” discussed Williams, “I knew I had to have a better bag on day-two because the top 10 all had over 90”.”
“To show up and finish in second place without practice against these guys, it felt great.” commented Williams, “These kayak anglers are some of the best to fish against.”
“Day-two I moved around more than day-one.” recalled Williams, “I kept going back to the juice and it would produce another nice fish. I knew if I kept fishing hard and working the same area, I would do well.”
“The fish ate my bait on the fall.” informed Williams, “I was using from a 1-ounce to a 1.5-ounce weight.”
Willaims thanked his wife for all these years being together and her support. Williams also thanked the Dark Horse Crew for the great times, everyone that put on this great event, the fans and kayak and boat anglers that make this sport beautiful.
“Thomas Willingmyre finished in third with a two-day total of 193.00. He fished docks to catch his fish.
“I used a jig under docks to catch my fish duing the WCC.” asserted Willingmyre, “There was one dock that held most of the fish that I measured in on day one.” said Willingmyre, “I had worked my way down to this dock fishing several other docks on the way and only caught smaller fish.”
“On day one, I fished from 4 to 12-feet deep to catch my fish on day-one." described Willingmyre, “Compared to day-two, I fished deeper to catch a few of my fish.”
“The last dock I fished on day-two I caught a 20” fish that helped me cull up two inches.” communicated WIllingmyre. “I fished clean both days with only one fish that had popped off at the boat.”
“I used the same jig for the whole weekend with only losing one.” verbalized Willingmyre, “The wooded docks were the best to fish. The docks that held most of the fish would have a boat lift attached. I felt it gave more shade and held bigger fish.”
“The jig I was using was the Strike King tungsten ½ -ounce paired with 4.75” Flappin Hog in green pumpkin with black flake.” said Willingmyre
Thomas Willingmyre thanked his wife for all her support.
Top Ten:
1. Damian Thao 198.00”
2. Obedie Williams 196.75
3. Thomas Willingmyre 193.00
4. Isiah West 190.00
5. Simon Her 189.75”
6. Pua Yang185.75”
7.Matthew Brannon 183.75”
8. Brett Crowther 183.75”
9.Alden Walden 183.00”
10. Greg Blanchard 181.50”
Big Fish:
Damian Thao 23.50”
Advertising