9/28/22 thru 10/2/22
Water temp 70.50 to 74.7 degrees
Water clarity 8ft or more
Wind speed 5 to 10 mph most days
Air temp low to mid 90s
Day 1 of practice for the Wild West Bass Trail Team Tournament of Champions my partner Tony and I launched out of Bridge Bay Marina, which is where we would stay and launch for the duration of our trip. We decided we wanted to run all the way up the McCloud arm to where the bouy zone passed hirtz bay was and work our way back to main lake. First spot we stopped to fish was just inside of a main point. We were hoping to find some fish pushing some bait. Started off throwing some topwater and no luck. So my partner tried a dropshot and I threw a shakey head. Again no luck not even a small one or a bite. We tried this same stuff on a few more main points and some coves we seen as we worked back towards main lake and no luck. For us our confidence was definitely not in the McCloud arm. By this time it was already getting close to noon we decided to head towards the main lake and Sac arm and visit a few places we had fished before. We had caught a couple fish in the Sac arm and then moved over to some spots by the dam. No luck down there for us. We were starting to make our way back to bridge bay around 1:30 when I happen to notice fish breaking the surface chasing bait. We jetted over there and started throwing topwater on these fish. It was some spotted bass in the 1.5 to 2 pound range. This bite was insane for about an hr. I was throwing a IMA little stick and my partner was throwing a river2sea rover. The fish were just destroying the topwaters. It was awesome to watch
Day 2 we decided we were gonna concentrate on the Pitt and squaw arms. So we made our fist stop right where the Pitt and squaw arms fork and we started in the trees. It was instant. My partner hooks up on the first fish of the day with a little popper style topwater. It was game on almost every cast we were catching a fish. Nothing big all in the 1.5 pound range. We decided to move around corner just inside the squaw arm and as we made our way down bank I made a cast right up on the shore. I made one twitch of the rod and this fish lit my IMA little stick up. A nice spotted bass that weighed in at 2.97 on the scale. We could see quite a few of the same size fish on the Garmin live so we decided to leave and not beat them up. We then ran up the squaw further checking out some spots but none which made us say oh let’s fish this spot lol. We decided to go back out more of the main part of lake manage to start picking up fish at all our stops. Just making adjustments here and there to how we’re fish for example line sizes and bait sizes mattered. We had to downsize line and go to a 4.5 inch prism shad roboworm because they wouldn’t eat a six inch for some reason.
Day 3 we pretty much knew what our plan was going to be for tournament day and we knew there was going to be some wind so we were only on water for maybe 2 hours and got off water to take care of some stuff in town.
Day 4 of trip but Day 1 of the Tournament we ran right to where we started on day 2 of practice. We pull up and instantly start throwing topwater but no takers. My partner could see a ton of fish on the Garmin Live so he pulled out the dropshot and went to town. We had a limit in the boat within 30 mins. Catching a ton of fish on the dropshot as well as a smoke colored tube. We then made a move back around corner to where I had caught the big fish from day 2. I decided to pick up a white chatterbait and casting to the shore. Within a couple cast I got one. I continued throwing this in the mix and catching fish throughout the day with it also. We ended up weighing 7.59 for day 1.
Day 5 of trip and day 2 of tournament we ran pretty much same pattern and spots that we fished the day before with pretty close to same results. We weighed in 7.98 for day 2 of the tournament. All in all it was a fun tournament. Caught a lot of fish. Just couldn’t find the big bite we needed but how could you not love all the topwater explosions on your bait even if they aren’t huge, not me that’s for sure lol.
RB Bass Outdoors Angler Vern Westberg II
