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Yak-a-Bass held a tournament at Don Pedro Lake located in the famous Motherlode. Don Pedro has 126 miles of shoreline and is located between Lake McClure and New Melones. Don Pedro has a healthy population of spotted bass, largemouth and smallmouth. The spotted bass population is very respectful in size compared to many lakes in California. The trophy size largemouth ranging from 10 to 16 pounds is admiring to the trophy bass hunters that spend days just throwing the big trout bait in search of one trophy bass.
Don Pedro was fishing great with big spots submitted to the leader board throughout the day. The big largemouth showed up with the longest going 20” and the big fish of the day a 20” spotted bass. 99 anglers submitted 577 bass to the TourneyX web site – fishing was spectacular. The weather during the tournament was perfect, not too hot, not too cold, finally a perfect day to be on the water doing what we all love to do, fish.
Shaun Leytem prevails over the field of 99 anglers with a total of 86.25”. His winning bag consisted of a 19” spotted bass he caught just minutes before the end of the tournament. Leytem’s entire bag consisted of Don Pedro’s fat spotted bass. Leytem ran first thing in the morning for over a 45-minutes to a pair of bed fish he had found the day before.
“Friday, practice day, I was catching fish mid strolling a Yum 4” sonar minnow.” said Leytem, “My biggest was only 16.25” during practice with plenty of 15” fish.”
“Going into the tournament, I didn’t have a lot of confidence to win the tournament.” stated Leytem, “So I made a long run East to some bed fish I had found the day before, but they were gone.”
“I was mid strolling the sonar minnow and watching it fall.” expressed Leytem, “I would slowly reel as I shake my rod tip, I could see the fish follow my bait and if there were two or more fish interested in the bait, one would bite.”
“I had a few other areas marked but they didn’t pan out either.” vocalized Leytem, “I only had two fish at 9:30 AM and finally had a limit around 11 AM.”
“I figured out that the fish were on secondary points headed back into coves.” conveyed Leytem, “So, I started to head my way back to the ramp fishing the same type of structure.”
“On the way over to my last stop, I said a prayer for my dad since it was his heavenly birthday.” revealed Leytem, “At the last stop, I caught two key fish that helped me cull up enough for the win. I knew my dad was with me.”
“I casted out a 5” Senko and caught a 17.75” spot and then the 19” fish.” indicated Leytem, “I was headed back to the ramp when a buddy congratulated me for the win, I didn’t know what place I was in at that time.”
“It was a stressful 30 minutes waiting for the 4 PM deadline for the tournament.” divulged Leytem, “Someone always waits for the last minute to post their fish.”
“I won by just a quarter of an inch.” disclosed Leytem, “It has been 20 years since I have won a tournament, and it is hard to win against this caliber of fisherman.”
Leytem thanked his wife, family and friends for all their support. Leytem also thanked his sponsors RB Bass Outdoors, Hook’DTackle Shop, The Rod Glove, Newport Vessels, Dobyns Rods, Frenzy Baits, and Pro Point Fishing Lures.
James Sanchez is runner up with 86.00” just one quarter of an inch behind first place. Sanchez used the Mid strolling technique to catch his second-place limit also, one on a jig and one a lizard.
“I was Mid strolling a spunk shad 3.5” frost purple.” pronounced Sanchez, “I would get up close to the bank and toss the spunk shad out to deep water.”
“I caught the big fish a 20” Mid strolling the spunk shad on a point with rock.” declared Sanchez, “Almost all my fish came on points with rock, I was able to see the fish suspended in 20 to 30 feet, this is where I did my damage.”
“I just got lucky.” stated Sanchez, “I had found some bed fish the weekend before, but they were gone, so I just went fishing.”
“I made a long run North for the bed fish, but it didn’t work out.” pronounced Sanchez, “The Mid strolling was the deal for me.”
“My active target electronics was my best tool I used during the tournament.” declared Sanchez, “During my practice fishing, I found that the fish were suspended.”
“I caught a 20” spot and then my very next cast I caught a 19” smallmouth.”
Sanchez thanked Yak-a-Bass for hosting a great event and my wife for all her support.
Joseph Silva placed third with 86.00”. Even though Silva tied for second place Silva’s largest fish was smaller than Sanchez’s big fish. Silva used the Mid strolling technique to catch his fish.
“I made a long 45-minute run to my first location, a long slowly tapering point.” declared Silva, “I would put my boat in shallow water and cast out to deep water and caught a 17.5” immediately.”
“I didn’t get any more bites, so I moved to another rocky point.” proclaimed Silva, “After the location change, I found that the fish were suspended about 20 feet from the shore in about 20 to 30 feet of water.”
“I was using a 3” fluke and a 4” fluke, the 3” fluke I paired with a 1/32-ounce jig head and the 4” fluke was paired with a 1/8-ounce jig head.” publicized Silva, “I would use the 1/8 ounce when the wind had picked up.”
“If there was no wind the fish would run from the 4” bait compared to the 3” bait.” declared Silva, “After making a run to fish wood and not culling up, I ran back to the rocky points and proceeded to cull up ¼” at a time.”
Silva thanked his dad for all his support and all the support from his family.
Top Ten:
1. Shaun Leytem 86.25”
2. James Sanchez 86.00”
3. Joseph Silva 86.00”
4. Dustin Brown 85.75”
5. Jonathan Hervey 85.00”
6. Sean Beach 84.75”
7. Richard George Jr. 84.50”
8. Isiah West 84.25”
9. Greg Blanchard 84.25”
10. Aaron King 84.00”
Big fish
James Sanchez 20.00”
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