August 2025 Canyon
Canyon Lake August 2025 Tournament Summary
Canyon Lake showed out in a big way for the August Midweek Bass Anglers event. The top teams found healthy, aggressive bass in multiple parts of the lake, with several fish over 5 pounds making it to the scales. In fact, first place culled multiple 5-pounders, an almost unheard-of situation. While not every team shared a report, the anglers who did provided a clear picture of how the lake fished — plastics dominated, key structure paid off, and Canyon proved it is rebounding strongly from its recent fish kill.
Top 3 Places
1st Place – Doyle Wofford & Joe Edgett
Weight: 17.79 lbs
Big Fish: 6.86 lbs (2nd Big Fish of the event)
Notes: The winning team leaned heavily on plastics — thin Senkos, Power Worms, and wacky-rigged stick baits. They culled multiple 5-pounders, an unusual and impressive feat, with the 6.86-pounder anchoring their bag.
2nd Place – Nick Teschler & Griff
Weight: 17.63 lbs
Big Fish: 7.03 lbs (Winner of the 5-lb Pot and event Big Fish)
Notes: After a slow start upriver, Nick and Griff moved to a main-lake spot where dragging bottom baits turned the day around. They consistently caught quality fish and even tossed back 4-pounders before locking in the heaviest single bass of the event.
3rd Place – Don Blume & Mike Adamson
Weight: 13.45 lbs
Big Fish: Not reported
Notes: While no report was submitted, their weight was enough to secure a solid third-place finish in a field where Canyon produced several heavy bags.
Overall Key Techniques and Baits
Plastics were the main players across the board. While some anglers tried reaction baits, most success came from worms and creature baits fished on the bottom.
Worms & Stick Baits
Seven-inch Power Worms, thin Senkos, and wacky-rigged stick baits (standard and weighted) accounted for many of the big fish, including Doyle and Joe’s winning 6.86-pounder.
Zoom Magnum Trick Worms and Zoom Baby Brush Hogs (watermelon candy) produced multiple 5-pounders.
Standard dropshot rigs with purple, morning dawn, and MMIII worms helped Mark Royal and Jeff Mason build their 4th-place bag.
Creature Baits
Baby Brush Hogs (free-rigged) and other creature presentations worked when anglers wanted a bigger profile, especially in cover.
Vern and Gilbert leaned on creature baits along walls after their reaction plan fizzled, and they made three culls with them.
Reaction Baits
ChatterBaits provided some early bites (Joe Edgett got their first keeper that way), but the bite died quickly.
Topwater and crankbaits were tried on main-lake points (Vern & Gilbert) but never really produced tournament-quality fish.
Overall, plastics dragged or worked slow on the bottom were overwhelmingly the winning formula.
Productive Structures & Locations
Teams spread out across Canyon, but certain types of structure consistently held fish:
Main-Lake Points & Flats
Several teams started here with reaction baits but found the fish uncooperative. Switching to worms and plastics on these areas was more productive later.
River Section
Nick and Griff began their day upriver but only scratched out two small fish before moving on. Vern and Gilbert also pulled a keeper upriver. The river seemed to hold some fish, but not the quality needed to win.
Steep Walls & Banks
Vertical structure was key for multiple teams. Vern and Gilbert culled repeatedly working worms and creatures around the walls.
Jeff and Mark capitalized on south-channel walls with Carolina Rigs, pulling out both their big fish and late-day upgrades.
“Nothing” Looking Banks with Subtle Features
One of Doyle and Joe’s big fish came off a smooth-sloping bank with a small pocket — the type of subtle structure that often gets overlooked.
Mark’s key fish came from dragging past a single isolated rock near a bank — proof that even one piece of cover can change the outcome.
Recycled Spots
Several teams mentioned going back through areas multiple times and still finding quality bites, a sign the fish were replenishing or holding tight in key stretches.
Big Fish Trends
The biggest fish of the event weighed 7.03 lbs (Nick & Griff, winning the 5-lb pot).
Doyle and Joe weighed a 6.86-pounder and culled multiple 5-pounders — a rare feat in Arizona summer fishing.
Jeff and Mark secured 4th with a 5.95-pounder caught on a Carolina Rig.
Across the top finishers, most big fish came on worms or stick baits worked slow along structure, not fast-moving baits.
Takeaways
Bottom baits dominated — Senkos, Power Worms, Brush Hogs, and Trick Worms outfished reaction presentations.
Canyon is rebounding strongly — multiple teams culled quality fish, and several weighed in over 17 lbs.
Structure variety mattered — steep walls, isolated rocks, and subtle banks all produced, but main-lake points with reaction baits were less consistent.
Persistence paid off — revisiting spots and adjusting bait styles made the difference between average bags and tournament-winning weights.
Canyon Lake may have gone through tough years, but this event proved it’s on the mend — producing heavy bags, multiple big fish, and some of the best summer action Midweek Bass Anglers have seen there in decades.
Angler Reports
1st Place – Doyle Wofford & Joe Edgett – 17.79 lbs (2nd Big Fish – 6.86 lbs)
Doyle Wofford
After not being able to fish many events this year (work sucks!), I was really looking forward to the Canyon tournament. Prior to the fish kill, I spent a ton of time on this lake, and I’m extremely happy to see it starting to return to what it once was.
I was fortunate to draw Joe Edgett as my co-angler, and he certainly didn’t disappoint. Joe would be a lucky draw for any boater. He wasn’t able to pre-fish, but I got out for a few hours on Tuesday. After catching two fish over six pounds and one over five, I was sure I had already used up our good fortune for tournament day. Since I didn’t get any bites on reaction baits Tuesday, I decided to stick with plastics for the tournament.
I caught our first fish quickly, but it was too small to even throw in the livewell. Joe caught our first keeper on a ChatterBait, but that bite died quickly. I kept throwing seven-inch Power Worms, jigs, and thin Senkos, and we had our three-fish limit within about an hour. Joe then switched to a wacky-rigged stick bait and hooked into our first fish over five pounds. Within about 30 minutes, I put two more fish over five pounds in the boat, culling out our smaller fish. Both of those came on the thin Senko.
Later, we returned to a bank we had already fished twice. Joe hooked into a fish he thought was too small to even ask for the net—but he was wrong! The fish came alive when it saw the boat, and Joe yelled for the net. We finally got it in, and it turned out to be our big fish of the day at 6.86 pounds. It’s not every day you cull fish over five pounds!
A big thanks to the weigh-in crew for another outstanding job.
Joe Edgett
Well, I guess things happen for a reason. I was one of four co-anglers who didn’t get paired with a boater after the first draw. Since I was going out of town the week before the tournament and couldn’t pre-fish, I contacted Joe Michels to withdraw. While I was out of town, I got a text from Joe asking if I could fish because a boater needed a co-angler. I decided, what the heck, I’ll do it.
As luck would have it, I got paired with Doyle Wofford, whose co-angler had to back out because of work. I met Doyle at his house the morning of the tournament, and we headed to the lake. We talked about his pre-fishing and plans for the day—basically, soft plastics on the bottom, not deep. That sounded good to me. I love bottom-contact baits.
At Doyle’s first spot, where he’d caught a good fish in practice, I tried a bluegill-pattern ChatterBait while Doyle stuck with a worm. Of course, Doyle got the first bite. A little further down, I got a bite on the ChatterBait, then Doyle hooked another on the worm. Before long, we had a limit. That was it for my ChatterBait—I switched to a Zoom Baby Brush Hog (watermelon candy), free-rigged.
At spot number three, I threw my Brush Hog at the bank, never felt it hit bottom, and saw my line moving. I set the hook and landed our first 5-pounder. A little later, Doyle nailed a fat 5+ pounder in a pocket he knew well, and then caught three more good bass, including another over five. We now had 15+ pounds in the livewell.
With about an hour left, Doyle suggested going back to where I’d caught the earlier 5. This time I switched to a Zoom Magnum Trick Worm (watermelon candy), wacky-rigged and weighted. After a few casts, I felt a light tick-tick, thought it was a bluegill, then realized something wasn’t right. I swept the rod sideways—fish on! At first, I didn’t think it would cull, so I kept quiet. Then the fish jumped, and I screamed, “Doyle, get the net! I’ve got a big one on!”
After some panic and fear that the hook wouldn’t hold, we landed it—a 6.86-pounder. We culled a 5-pounder with it! Doyle and I just looked at each other and said, “This is crazy—we’re culling 5-pound largemouths!” What an unbelievable day.
Thanks, Doyle—I had a blast fishing with you and hope to do it again. Your knowledge of Canyon Lake really gave me an eye-opening view of what this fishery can be.
Thanks again to Midweek Bass Anglers of AZ for a great event, and to the weigh-in crew for a smooth job at the dock.
2nd Place – Nick Teschler & Griff – 17.63 lbs (5-lb Pot – 7.03 lbs)
Nick
This was my first time at Canyon in over a year. I got in two short practice days, Friday and Monday. I found good fish in two spots—one in the river and one main lake—and both were loaded.
On tournament day, we ran up the river first and spent about three hours grinding, but only had two small fish for maybe 3 pounds total. We finally bailed and ran to the main-lake spot, and they were there—and they were eating. We caught all of our fish dragging bottom baits, which was the opposite of practice, where reaction baits had been key.
It went from a slow day to a fun day fast. We were tossing back 4-pounders consistently before the bite shut down. Congrats to Doyle and Joe on the win—that was a tough one to lose.
Griff
First, I’d like to thank Nick for hosting me. Our day started slow with two small fish in the river. After two hours, we moved to the main-lake spot we found in practice. That’s when the bite turned on, and Nick started catching them one after another. I spent a lot of time netting fish for him but did manage to get one close to 4 pounds—too small to help us.
3rd Place – Don Blume & Mike Adamson – 13.45 lbs
Don
Congrats to Doyle and Joe, and to Nick and Griffin—you guys rock. Thanks also to the board and the weigh crew, you always do a great job.
Had another fun tourney fishing with Mike. I think one of our fish weighed more than our total weight when we fished together at “Unpleasant” in June.
We found some big fish in practice upriver, so on tournament day we started about a half mile from the Apache Dam. Mike got our first fish, a solid 5-pounder, pretty early on a drop shot along the walls. About 45 minutes later I caught our second fish, another 5-pounder, on a free-rig Senko in green pumpkin. Just before 8:30 we landed our third, a 1-pounder, again on the free-rig Senko.
We then struggled for a couple of hours before finally upgrading the 1-pounder with a 3.45-pounder on the walls just past Beercan. Only six fish for us all day, but overall it was a great day on the water.
4th Place – Jeff Mason & Mark Royal – 13.17 lbs (2nd Big Fish – 5.95 lbs)
Jeff Mason
Congrats to Doyle and Joe, and to Nick and Griff, on their winning bags. Thanks to the weigh-in crew for another great job.
Canyon Lake really showed up. I’ve fished here since the early 1980s, and this was as good as I’ve ever seen it. The fish were healthy, fat, full of color, and fought hard. I hope MWB keeps this lake on the schedule for next year.
Hats off to my partner, Mark Royal—he did the heavy lifting, catching all three of our final fish on a Carolina Rig. They all fought hard, but he got them in the boat. I must admit—I was pretty amazing on the net!
Mark Royal
First, thanks to the behind-the-scenes folks who make these tournaments possible. The weigh-ins have gotten smoother, and getting fish back quickly has to help survival rates.
Jeff and I started in the cove before the right turn into the main channel. I tried a jerkbait and a baby bass Senko—no bites. We then fished the dam wall leading into the channel—again nothing. Finally, we swung back and forth across the channel and put two small fish in the livewell on dropshot rigs with purple and morning dawn worms.
By mid-morning we only had two fish. Around 10 a.m. I picked up a 3-pounder on a Carolina Rig with MMIII, which gave us some relief. A little later, I spotted a “rock” 25 feet off the bank, tossed my Carolina Rig, and hooked into our big fish of the day. Jeff netted it and told me later it was one of his favorite spots—so now it’s officially “Jeff’s Rock.”
Not long after, I caught another 4-pounder, again on the CR. That was it for the day, but it pulled us into 4th place in the final 90 minutes. Thanks, Jeff, for a great day and for showing me the lake you know so well!
5th Place – Vern Ridgway & Gilberto Muñoz – 12.12 lbs
Vern Ridgway
Congrats to Doyle and Joe on the win. Great job!
I drew Gilbert Muñoz as my co-angler, and we kept it simple. We started with reaction baits—topwater and crankbaits on main-lake points—but neither produced. We moved to Beer Can Flats and caught two on worms and creature baits, then moved upriver where Gilbert caught our third fish.
From then on, it was all worms and creature baits along the walls, where we managed three culls and finished with just over 12 pounds. Thanks again to the weigh-in crew—great job, guys. See you at Rosey.
6th Place – Bryan Colby & Bob Bereiter – 11.20 lbs
No Report