Yak-a-Bass held their event at New Melones, the fishing was impressive with 37 limits out of 90 anglers with only a few anglers that blanked. Practice fishing for most was amazing with fish willing to take topwater and just about any bait put in front of the fish’s face. Of course, just before the tournament the water level was dropping causing fishing to become tough.
Once lines were in and all the fish were submitted to TourneyX web site, Damain Thao hammers another victory at New Melones with 84.50” besting second place by a bigger fish. Thao used a topwater bait, a jig and the Mid Strolling technique to capture his win. Thao found the afternoon bite much more productive compared to the early morning bite.
“First thing in the morning, I ran to the area that I had won the weekend before, but unfortunately there was an angler already there.” pronounced Thao, “So, I ran to the back of a pocket nearby that had a ton of bait and fish busting and caught two keepers.”
“I left those fish because they were small fish.” expressed Thao, “I moved back out to the main lake and started to fish humps and main lake points.”
“I ran back to the area that I wanted to start at and there was no one there.” publicized Thao, “It was island with a long point with a flat on it and a deep drop off to one side.”
“The fish would move up to feed and then move back off the island.” broadcasted Thao, “They would show themselves by either busting bait or I could see them on my Garmin forward facing sonar.”
“There were crappie and bluegill in the area that the fish would key in on while they moved in and out around the island.” promoted Thao, “The fishing was much more difficult compared to the last weekend.”
“To catch them on topwater, the fish had to be busting bait.” announced Thao, “You just couldn’t run the bank and catch a topwater fish, they had to be busting bait.”
“I was using a walking bait to catch fish on top.” declared Thao, “I was able to catch fish on a Jig as well. It was a LA custom football jig in green pumpkin orange paired with a Yamamoto twin tail 4” green pumpkin color.”
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“I did lose a 5-pounder on a 2.8 Keitech with a Jaw Dropper jig head.” stated Thao, “It hurt to lose that fish right at the boat.”
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“I was using the Garmin live scope to cast at random fish with the Keitech to catch those suspended fish.” reported Thao, “It seemed the fish like the Keitech more than other bait fish lures.”
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“The majority of the fish I had caught was in the afternoon.” described Thao, “The bite was much better when the sun was high and the wind was blowing.”
Thao thanked Kayak City, 1st. Gen Fishing, P-Line, Black Bass Angler,559 Fresno Bait and Tackle, LA Custom Jigs, and TM Custom Lures
John Myers was the runner up with 84.50” just missing a win by ¼" big fish. Myers started off on two main lake points that he had found topwater fish the weekend prior. He found out quickly that the fish had moved, so he made a long run South.
“I started on two main lake points that held some schooling fish busting bait, but I found out the fish had moved and didn’t catch a fish on either point.” divulged Myers, “I knew that I had to make a long run and hope that no anglers were on the juice.”
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“After about a 30-minute run to an island, there was an angler on one of the main islands.” announced Myers, “I headed to some points on the way to the next island and caught my first fish around 9:30 AM.”
“As I moved to the next juicy location, I stopped on a point and toss out my jig and caught an 18” largemouth.” reported Myers, “It was nice to get a big fish. It was on a point that had some rock outcroppings. The jig never hit the bottom; I think the fish had its mouth open when I made the cast because as soon as it hit the water, the fish had my jig.”
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“As I made my way around the point, I could see an angler on the juicy island. There were two islands off shore but since I just caught that nice largemouth, I decided to work over that point and surrounding area thoroughly.”
“I caught several fish off that point and two other points in water less than 20-feet deep.” declared Myers, “All the fish I caught on that area were on TM jigs paired with a Yamamoto twin tail trailer green pumpkin with purple and copper flake. I think that the color of the jig matched the bluegills in the area.”
“I move off shore and caught a few fish off an underspin paired with a 2.8 Keitech.” proclaimed Myers, “The angler that was on the juice left so I head over to the island with a nice rock pile and caught several fish all on the jig.”
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“That island with the rock pile was what helped me capture second place.” said Myers, “I caught several key fish off that rock island.”
Myers thanked his best half, his wife for everything she does for him, RB Bass Outdoors, TM Custom Jigs, Stage Stop Gun Shop, 559 Fresno Bait and Tackle and Lunker Daddy Custom Lures.
Daniel Balaba finished in third place with 83.75”. Balaba used a shaky head and forward-facing Garmin to catch his fish. He used his favorite minnow on points in about 20-feet deep that was close to deep water early in the day.
“I caught a bunch of fish Mid Strolling the minnow bait during practice the evening before on point offshore.” voiced Balaba, “The next day the fish were tough to catch, they just didn’t want to bite and I only caught two keepers off my starting location.”
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“I fished a shaky head, Ned and a darter head during the tournament.” stated Balaba, “The shaky head caught most of my limit fish that helped me capture third place.”
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“The area I was catching them on had three rock piles on it, it was an offshore hump.” vocalized Balaba, “The best spot was the rock pile that was flatter than the rest of the humps.”
“I was using a shaky head paired with a Zoom Trick worm in green pumpkin, as well as the darter head had the same worm.” announced Balaba, “The Ned head was green pumpkin.”
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“I was fishing from 15 to 25-feet of water.” declared Balaba, “I did catch a few nice largemouth during practice but only caught spots on tournament day.”
“Those spots were fighting so hard especially the 19” fish I caught.” said Balaba, “Even the 17” fish were pulling and fighting hard.”
“The area was stacked with spots.” stated Balaba, “I fished that area and caught fish all day long.”
Balaba thanked his wife for all her support, Jame, Bill and Shawn from Yak-a-Bass and all the anglers that came out to play. A big shout out to all the anglers that were in the money.
Top Ten
1. Damian Thao 84.50”
2. John Myers 84.50”
3. Daniel Balaba 83.75”
4. Joseph Silva 82.75”
5. Max Lee 82.25”
6. Jesus Reyes 81.75”
7. Dustin Brown 80.75”
8. AJ Ramirez 80.50”
9. Jinno Magno 80.25”
10. Don Rocci 79.25”
Big Fish:
Brian Hackett 19.50”
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