Max Lee captured the win with a small limit but was enough for the win; it measured 85.25”. Lee roamed the main river channel in search of suspended fish that he targeted with his Garmin forward facing unit. Most of his fish came on a minnow and a Neko rig around 15-feeet deep over the top of 30-feet. There were a few areas that Lee concentrated on because of the number of roaming fish that were offshore.
“I really didn’t have a game plan going to this event.” stated Lee, “I knew that the fish would change before the tournament due to the summer to fall transition.”
“I caught most of my fish on the 3.5” Mooch minnow and a few on the Neko rigged Z-man shake my head worm.” exclaimed Lee, “During practice the fish were finicky as well as the tournament.”
“The fish would not bite if the splash was too loud and the line size and noise was a huge factor.” remarked Lee, “You had to sneak up on the fish to get them to bite.”
“The rate of fall was also a factor, so I went with a very light weight.” mentioned Lee, “The fish were on the move in about 15-foot of water, and I had to lead them far enough to get my slow falling bait near the fish.”
“The bait had to within 5 feet of the fish otherwise the fish wouldn’t bite.” declared Lee, “The challenge was to make an accurate cast that led the fish enough to get my minnow within 5 feet of the fish.”
“The key to get the fish to bite was to let the fish see the bait before I would start to shake the lure.” claimed Lee, “If I shook the bait too soon, the fish would ignore my bait.”
“Another key factor was to let my line drop on a tight line and pendulum down.” insisted Lee, “It seemed if I let it drop on a slack line the fish would not come up to the lure.”
“During the tournament, the baitfish moved to the bottom compared to practice the bait was in the upper water collum.” said Lee.
“The bigger fish were in the 10 to 15-feet of water and wanted the Neko rig.” replied Lee, “I had to use a real light weight and slowly shake the Z-man worm in front of the fish.”
Lee thanked Donavan for hosting these great events with CVKF, 559 Fresno Bait and Tackle, NuCanoe, and Kayak City.
Jorge Mosqueda finished second with a total of 79.75”. He used a 4” Senko to catch his fish. The key was to cast his lure shallow in the brush and quickly pull the lure out of the brush to trigger bites. Mosqueda fished in less than 7 feet deep all day long, concentrating on brush and rock offshore.
“It was a tough bite during the tournament; I had not caught a fish until around 11 AM.” voiced Mosqueda, “The first fish I caught was 21.75”.
“I was using a 4” Yamamoto Senko in green pumpkin.” expressed Mosqueda, “I was rigging the Senko on the Free rig with a 3/8-ounce weight.”
“My fourth fish was caught on a 4” minnow mid strolling.” spoken Mosqueda, “I saw that fish on the forward-facing unit and casted to it and then started to shake the bait, the fish ate my minnow.”
“Practice was really tough with only a few small fish caught in 4 trips to the lake.” said Mosqueda.
“The key to working the Free rig Senko was to pull the bait quickly through the brush and then let it sink to the bottom. I had to let it sit for a bit before moving the bait again.” explained Mosqueda, “I was lucky to get a limit on tournament day because it was so tough to get a bite.”
Mosqueda thanked Donavan for hosting the CVKF tournaments, and most of all my family for all their support when I go fishing.
Damian Thao came in third with a total of 79.50”. He junk fished to catch his limit. Thao caught fish on a crank bait, minnow, free rig, shaky head, and a Neko rig. During his practice, he was unable to catch a keeper fish.
“I had one day of practice and never caught a fish.” pointed out Thao, “I saw fish in the trees but was unable to get them to bite.”
“When it came to tournament day, I found a lay down tree with rock that had fish willing to bite.” reported Thao, “I caught my big fish a 22” fish on a rock crawler out of that tree.”
“I caught a small keeper on a Ned rig that gave me two keeper fish.” proclaimed Thao, “I went a few hours without a bite until I started to throw the free rig with a brush hog. I caught one more keeper on that rig.”
“I went offshore and started to throw a shaky head worm on rock piles and caught three keepers in about 10 feet of water.” discussed Thao, “After that, I moved offshore and Mid-Strolled for the suspended fish throwing the minnow. I caught several keeper fish that measured from 12 to 13 inches.”
“I did a lot of junk fishing during the tournament to get my limit, that was it.” recalled Thao.
Thao thanked DrancKrakzy, 559 Fresno Bait and Tackle, Pline, 1st. Gen Fishing, and Kayak City for all their support.
Top Ten:
1. Max Lee 85.25”
2. Jorge Mosqueda 79.75”
3. Damian Thao 79.50”
4. Morgan Swisher 75.25”
5. John Myers 63.75”
6. Andre Ly 49.75”
7. Dave Nunes 37.00”
8. Gabriel Falcon 34.75”
Big Fish:
Damian Thao 22.00”
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