Weeks before the event, there was talk about 20 to 30 fish days, but no one was able to foresee the forecast that Mother Nature was preparing. As with almost every kayak tournament this year, she tossed a wrench into the weather conditions. Clear Lake’s weather prior to the event was a warming trend reaching the high 70’s with the bass engrossed to find their yearly spawning locations; however, just a few days before the event, the weather changed drastically. A cold front moved in with the air temperature ranging from the mid 30’s to a high of low 40’s, as a result, the water temperature dropped several degrees overnight. The weather just days before the event was very cold with snow in the mountains surrounding Clear Lake, hail, and cold rain with winds pushing 20 plus miles per hour. The only weather that could have been additionally unsatisfactory would have been a Northeast wind blowing at 15 mph or more. The substandard weather conditions made fishing conditions extremely undesirable for the 210 anglers that were eager to fish at the famous bass factory. On a good note, the bass factory did not disappoint the anglers. Several huge fish were caught with the largest bass of the event weighing over 12 pounds.
At 2:14.59 PM the event ended with only one hour remaining to submit your catch for the day. The only angler to catch a total of ten fish was declared the winner. Patrick Wilson became champion of the largest kayak event held in California with a 10 fish limit measuring 168.75” besting second place by an impressive 26.75”. Wilson has won several tournaments during his fishing career both in the bass boat and the kayak circuits with his most recent kayak tournament win at Clear Lake during the KBF and Chris Laird in 2022. Wilson practiced the weekend before the event and found two locations that held fish on the North end.
“I launched on the North end and found two schools of fish near spawning areas that were not far apart.” announced Wilson, “The weather was nice when I practiced but the weather cooled off 40 degrees just days before.”
“I had 5 rods with me, two drop shots, two underspin and one LV rod.” said Wilson, “My focus was to catch as many fish as I could that is why I only had those rods with me.”
“I am personally a numbers fisherman and wanted to focus on catching numbers.” declared Wilson, “I started on my first location and caught two fish right away.”
“After not getting any more bites, I moved to my second location.” vocalized Wilson, “It was only about a hundred yards away from my starting spot.”
“I used a drop shot paired with a Robo Margarita 6” worm to catch most of the fish.” stated Wilson, “I had to dead stick the bait to get my bites.”
“I camped on the second location until around noon.” said Wilson, “There were two kayaks sitting on my first location for the last few hours but just left.”
“I didn’t put any electronics on my kayak.” declared Wilson, “The first location I returned to and caught a few non scoreable fish and then a few scoreable.”
“I wanted to let my primary location rest and let the fish re-load, but I saw a boat arrive on that location fishing with minnows.”
“Nine of my fish were caught on a drop shot and one was caught on an underspin.” emitted Wilson, “The underspin was 3/16-ounce paired with a 4.3 Keitech.”
Wilson thanked his girlfriend and family for all their support. He also thanked Native for hosting a great event.
Alex Cox threw reaction baits to capture second place with an 8 fish limit that measured 142.00” with a big fish of 22”. Cox launched out of the North end during practice but found the wind blowing too strong to safely fish and return to the ramp.
“I launched North and found the wind sketchy, but I did get two bites on a trash fish.” pronounced Cox, “I then drove around the lake and found the only ramp where the wind was not blowing so I launched out of Cach Creek. I found some bed fish but didn’t think it would help because there were not very many fish. I did catch a few fish out front of Cach Creek on the LV”.
“On tournament day, I decided to launch North and fish that area due to the wind wouldn’t be blowing on that side of the lake.” declared Cox, “I started off throwing a trash fish but didn’t get any bites.”
“I knew that during the cold springs that metal was the deal to catch fish.” said Cox, “I tried on a spinnerbait and caught a fish within the next 6 casts.”
“About every hour, I was able to catch a fish with the spinner bait.” stated Cox, “The spinnerbait was a double willow with the front blade gold and the back blade silver.”
“The key location was tulles that were new and the dead ones.” vocalized Cox, “Most of the fish were caught from 3 to 8-feet of water. I was crashing the blade through the tulles.”
“I did catch a few fish around the wood.” announced Cox, “Those fish were in about 3-feet of water.”
“Once the wind stopped, I picked up a chatter bait to put a few more fish into the boat.” said Cox, “The chatter bait had a gold blade with a white skirt.”
“The biggest key to my success was being calm and not having any stress.” said Cox, “I just went out and fished what was in front of me.”
Cox thanked his wife for all her support and all my friends. Also, a big shout out to Native for hosting a great fun event with this type of format.
Ocean Her finished in third place with 8 fish that measured 138.25” with a big fish of 20.25”. During practice, he found that the fish were holding shallower than expected. He stayed at an Airbnb on the water and caught fish in the backyard. He practiced in deep water thinking the fish would be deeper because of the cold front passing through.
“I caught fish at the Airbnb in shallow water.” explained Her, “I practiced in deeper water but never caught a fish.”
“I found that the fish were in the dead tulles in about 5-feet of water.” expressed Her, “It couldn’t be just any tulles, it had to be dead tulles underwater.”
“The fish were getting their groove on with the spawn.” pronounced Her, “As I held the fish, their eggs were expelling, I knew then that the fish were doing their thing.”
“Shallow was the key!” stated Her, “I was using a weighted hook wacky rigging a 5” Senko.”
“I had to use the weighted hook to get the Senko down to the fish and through the tulles.” declared Her, “The bait had to get to the bottom.”
Her fished the South end of the North side of the lake.” vocalized her, “The green pumpkin with black flake caught most of my fish.”
Her thanked his family and his cousin Chang Her and James Xiong for helping him to make the trip to Clear Lake possible.
The next No Limit Big Bass Power Hour hosted by Marvin Forte will be held at Columbia River on June 15th, 2024.
Hourly winners:
Hour 1, Steven Johnson 22.00”
Hour 2, Geoff Peterson 21.75”
Hour 3, Greg Blanchard 22.25”
Hour 4, Jesus Reyes 23.75”
Hour 5, Bob Zhang 21.00”
Hour 6, Jesus Reyes 20.25”
Hour 7, Reed Frazier 20.75”
Hour 8, Matthew Aton 21.25”
Top Ten:
1. Patrick Wilson 168.75” (10 fish submitted)
2. Alex Cox 142.00” (8 fish submitted)
3. Ocean Her 138.25” (8 fish submitted)
4. Damian Thao 136.75” (8 fish submitted)
5. Gilbert Garcia 120.25” (7 fish submitted)
6. Max Lee 117.75” (7 fish submitted)
7. Dang Xiong 116.75” (7 fish submitted)
8. Richard George Jr. 114.50” (7 fish submitted)
9. Anthony Garcia 112.25” (7 fish submitted)
10. David Poirier 109.75” (6 fish submitted)
Big Fish:
Jesus Reyes 23.75”
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