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Pua Yang dominated at the Chris Laird Memorial with a two-day total of 170.75” overcoming second place by 4.75”. Yang’s Friday, Saturday and Sunday combined inches was 270.25”. In pounds, it was approximately 54 pounds of Delta bass. Fishing from a kayak and not able to run the Delta, this is extremely impressive.
Please check this link pua-yang-wins-west-coast-championship-t ... 43953.html to see how Pua Yang caught his fish on day one and day two of the West Coast Championship. To clarify how kayak tournaments are run, multiple tournaments can be on the same day. The weekend of the West Coast Championship was on Friday and Saturday; meanwhile, the Chris Laird Memorial ran on Saturday and Sunday. So technically, on Saturday there were two tournaments on the same day. In this article, we are starting on day three (Sunday) which is day two of the Chris Laird Memorial.
On Sunday, Yang decided to launch at a totally different area. Once he arrived at his location, he fished for over an hour and caught nothing. Yang left that location and re-launched at his day one and day two location losing over an hour and a half of his day.
“I had to change up, I used a 1-ounce weight with a Senko to catch my fish on Sunday compared to a 1.25-ounce I used on Friday and Saturday.” said Yang, “I really had to pump the bait to get a bite.”
Yang left the large grass field in the front of the cove and moved further back to some scattered weed patches where he found success flipping his Senko.
“I fished the patches of weeds that I could only see the tips.” said Yang, “This is when I stared to catch the bigger fish.”
“I head back out to the front of the cove and worked the chatterbait.” said Yang, “I caught my fifth fish finally!” “It sure felt great to have my limit.”
Yang struggled on Sunday compared to Friday and Saturday. It took Yang 3 to 4 hours to fill his limit. Once he had his limit, he knew that he had to upgrade. Yang changed back to flipping the craw which was the right adjustment to catch some larger fish.
“Sunday was really slow.” said Yang, “The chatterbait came through in the last minutes of the tournament.”
Yang returned to the ramp a half hour early to assure he made it to the awards banquet. He was not sure if he had had enough to win but was confident that he did his best. Yang thanked his mom his wife and kids without them it would not be possible to do what he loves. He also thanked his crew, they know who they are, the crew gives me good vibes and confidence in my fishing abilities. Yang also thanked the Yak-a-bass crew James, Alden, Josh, Shawn and especially Bill for judging all the fish during each event. It’s not easy to give up your weekend starting at 6 AM judging fish, we appreciate you, Bill. Also, all those anglers that fished this weekend and especially the anglers that came from out of state. We all know it is not easy to travel so far to fish and be away from their families. Please return home safely.
Matthew Brannon placed second with a two-day total of 166.00”. Brannon launched south where he had found larger fish in the Alligator grass and Hydrilla. He punched his better fish but also found that the chatterbait with some occasional topwater.
“I worked the edge of the grass where the drop was located.” said Brannon, “I put my boat on the edge and casted to the edge.”
Brannon slowed rolled the chatterbait to entice his bass on the edge of the grass. He also worked the lanes of grass in a flooded pond with a Berkley Choppo.
“A lot of the fish I was catching were spitting up crawfish, so I used a Rage Craw as a trailer on my chatterbait.” said Brannon, “I would cut the Rage craw down so the arms were just at the end of the hook.”
“Day one was wide open.” said Brannon, “Day two it was much slower, so I started off with a horny toad, give the fish something more subtle.”
Brannon used a green pumpkin with red flakes on his horny toad. His area had been sprayed on Tuesday which turned the water a milky color with a hint of smokey white. He had many other bass boats and weekend pleasure boaters fishing in the same areas.
“The high and falling tide was my best tide on both days.” said Brannon, “The topwater was better in the afternoon compared to the morning.”
Brannon launched both days from the southern Delta during the Chris Laird Memorial tournament days. Brannon thanked his sponsors AFTCO, Torqeedo, Kayak City, Dakota LIthium and Hobie. A special thanks goes to his wife for always being there supporting him and for keeping him positive and motivated.
Dana Graves finished in third with 165.25”. Gaves went into the tournament without any practice. He decided to go to a location where he had not been before. Day one he junked fished for his limit.
“I caught an 18” on a topwater bait early Saturday morning.” said Graves, “I used a Senko and a drop-shot to catch my limit.”
Graves had a feeling to stop at a tule patch on his way to his main location and caught his 18” fish on a topwater. It is important to listen to those feelings because most of the time the voice knows. Graves moved to his main area where he had caught two nice fish, one on a Senko next to a tule point and another nice fish on a drop-shot rig.
“I focused on a Senko and a drop-Shot.” said Graves, “I knew that I didn’t want to waste time punching and flipping to a million holes.”
Day two Graves caught his first fish on a drop-shot but then changed up to a punch rig.
“As the day went on, I was punching bigger fish compared to earlier.” said Graves, “I culled up with a three pounder and then a two pounder.”
Graves knew he had to cull a couple more fish to help his overall limit. He saw this isolated patch of grass that looked good. It was in an area where the tide was moving out with some current.
“I punched in that isolated patch with a pit-boss and felt a bite.” said Graves, “The fish gave me a great fight, but I got her in the boat.”
Graves weighed the fish, and it went 8 pounds 10 ounces. His personal best bass! Congratulations Graves! Graves’s personal best fish measured 22.25”
“I caught my person best during a tournament and it went 22.25”.” said Graves, “It was big fish for the tournament; however, I failed to click the big fish box.”
Graves thanked his buddies at Yank Masters. They provided apparel that he wears. A special thanks goes out to his wife for all her support with my fishing. Also, the Yak-A-Bass crew for always putting on such great events.
Top Ten total for two-days
1. Pua Yang 170.75”
2. Matthew Brannon 166.00”
3. Dana Graves 165.25”
4. Sean Beach 165.25”
5. Dang Xiong 164.25”
6. Alex Cox 159.00”
7. Daniel Balaba 156.50”
8. Sean Case 156.25”
9. Shaun Leytem 155.50”
10. Damian Thao 155.50”
Big fish day one:
Obedie Williams 21.50”
Dana Graves (personal best) 22.25”
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