2025 November Apache Lake
Tournament Summary
Joe Michels wrote the Reports below, but he didn’t write a Tournament Summary. I couldn’t fish Apache, so I can only summarize what’s in the Reports below and in the Apache edition of Bass Bites. But, please hang in there, amigo. You’re about to see something that’s rare, if not unprecedented: a brief summary from me. And then I’ll try to add Joe’s Apache Lake Bass Bites to its link on the Results Page. Secretary Terry B. Johnson.
One important thing went extremely well in the Apache Tournament: the fishing. For Loway Shammas and Bill Peiffer, the fishing was excellent. Their bag of 5-Alive weighed 17.61 lb, eking out 1st Place over Charlie MacIntosh and Tom Atherton, who had 5-Alive for 16.95 lb. And the next 16 (yes, 16!) finishers weighed in 10 lb or more. The catch included 4 (4!) 5-lbers, capped by the 6.63 lber that Raymond Bates and David Dunlap weighed in. All told, 32 boats and 64 anglers weighed in 155 fish, 155 of which were alive! That is awesome. Congratulations to everyone.
Angler Reports
Loway Shammas: First, thank you again to the staff and leadership for putting on these events. I genuinely look forward to them each month.
I had the pleasure of fishing with Bill Pfeifer for the final tournament of the 2025 season at Apache Lake. I’ve fished Apache many times over the years, but it has always been my Achilles heel. I pre-fished the lake 3–4 weeks earlier under very different conditions—water temps in the mid-70s, still able to get bit on a topwater frog (my weakness!). During those trips I found schools of bait right at the dock and spooned up some solid 2-pounders. Combined with remembering how Don Blume crushed them on spoons up the river last year, I felt confident that spooning would be the foundation of my mid-November strategy. I also found bass in the grass willing to eat a jerkbait.
Fast forward to tournament day: I hadn’t been on the lake for almost a month, so I came in essentially blind. The plan was simple: Find baitfish, Fish reaction baits in the grass.
At launch time, we were boat 30 of 32, and after watching half the field run to the river, I decided to head to the main lake. I chose a cove with the perfect combination: shallow grass, tulles, and deep water close by.
Despite water temps in the low 60s (and common sense telling me otherwise), my hard-headedness made me start with a frog in the tulles—just to keep them honest and maybe stick a morning kicker. No luck.
We shifted to the shallow grass with a shallow jerkbait, and Bill put our first two fish in the boat—nothing big, around 1.5 lbs each, but a solid confirmation of our two-part gameplan. We kept working that grass from different angles and put several more fish in the boat.
Right before leaving the area, I made the classic “last cast” comment—and instantly stuck our first good fish: a solid 3-pounder out of the grass. That bought the spot a little more of our time, and we eventually scratched up a 2.5-pounder as well.
Once the bite slowed, we eased out toward the channel. As I scanned, I noticed bait balls in 40–50 feet with active bass feeding. We stopped immediately and began spooning with a 7g micro metal jig and a ½ oz metal jig. We added a few more 1.5-pounders to finish our limit.
We kept after it and worked up around 12 pounds, but then I saw a bait ball sitting at 45 feet with a cavity full of bigger marks. I grabbed the Nichol’s 6” flutter spoon, cast past the ball, let it sink through the bait ball and settle on the bottom, then worked it aggressively. Within a few lifts I felt heavy weight—at first, I thought I was snagged, then the head shakes started.
Given the weight, Bill and I assumed it was a flathead (and honestly were hoping it would at least win goonfish!). But as it rose, we saw it was something much better: a big bass. Bill handled the net beautifully, and we put a 6-pounder in the boat, culling out a 1.5-pound fish and changing our day immediately.
We stayed with them and picked up several more fish, including another 3-lber on the flutter spoon and a nearly 3-lber on the micro metal jig. After letting the area rest, we tried a couple more grass spots. We caught fish, but nothing that would help.
We returned to the original cove for the final hour, but with wind and rain moving in, the spoon bite fizzled. Still, about 20 minutes before weigh-in, we managed one last cull fish on the spoon—just a couple ounces, but every ounce mattered.
In the end, our bag held up, and we were blessed to take the “W”!
Huge thank-you again to the weigh team—and to God for giving me the privilege of doing something I love so much.
Bill Peiffer: No Report submitted.
2nd place: Charlie Macintosh and Tom Atherton
Charlie MacIntosh: Congratulations to Loway and Bill on the win! Tom and I went to the lake the Wednesday before the tournament and found a mix of productive and non-productive areas. But the productive areas had good quality fish. We also pre-fished Monday and Tuesday. Mostly we looked for plan B areas and techniques but found little that was productive. We lightly touched the good areas we found the previous week and they were slow too. By Tuesday afternoon, we had caught sufficient quantity over the two days but nothing over two lbs. We finished the day touching the edge of a good area and Tom quickly boated one over two lbs. With that we felt better and called it a day.
On tournament day we headed to our spots which were in the upper lake and river. We quickly found a bite and early on landed our kicker for the day. We had a limit by 8 am and spent the day steadily culling up. Late in the afternoon Tom delivered our 2nd biggest fish weighing 3.25 lb. Our entire bag came on drop shots in 15-30’ of water. I threw 6” straight tail roboworms in MM III and morning dawn/chart.
The weather was beautiful save about 45 minutes, and I had a great partner with whom to enjoy the practice and tournament days. Thanks to the Weigh-In Crew for doing a great job!
Tom Atherton: No Report submitted.
3rd Place: Nick Teschler and Doug Moore:I
Nick Teschler: I got to fish with Doug Moore for the 2nd time this week. This is one of my favorite events of the year because of the camping and everyone telling lies at the campfire. I was able to get up and fish Monday and Tuesday to try and figure them out. Monday was brutal for me I caught 3 fish all day and couldn’t put anything together. I made some adjustments on Tues and was catching fish everywhere I went. I wasn’t catching big ones but I knew I could prob catch 12-13lbs. Tues night the rain came down pretty hard and it switched up my bite completely. Doug and I threw a jerkbait majority of the day. I would have fish follow every bait I threw it seemed, but they connected most on the jerkbait. Doug caught his big one dragging a worm behind the boat. We caught a decent amount dragging and a decent amount with a jerkbait. It was a fun day and a fun season and the first time I’ve fished all of the events. Congrats to the winners and everyone else that caught em. Congrats to Joe and Griff on a great season it was a fun aoy race the last few events and came down the very end. Looking forward to next season.
Doug Moore: I was unable to pre-fish but Nick hit it on Monday and Tuesday and found some biters on Tuesday up the river. So that's where we started Wednesday morning and Nick was able to quickly put a nice limit in the boat on a jerkbait and drop shot, while I honed my netting skills. That slowed down so we headed out to the main lake where Nick had some success on Tuesday but nothing doing. So back to the river and I finally contributed about 1 o'clock with the 5 lber on an oxblood blue vein curly tail on a drop shot. Finished out in the rain like everybody else and headed to the weigh-in. Congrats to Loway and Bill on their big bag and to Raymod and David on that 6.6. And as always, thanks to the weigh-in crew.
4th Place: Joe Michels and Nathan Fearno
Joe Michels: I spent five days fishing the Apache between the Arizona Bass Federation tournament and Midweek Bass. The biggest fish I managed to reel in was a 2.5-pounder. During the AZ Bass Fed tournament, Andy Goettl snagged a 3.75-pounder, which was the biggest fish I caught in all those days. On Midweek Tournament day, the fishing was pretty much the same for us—we were catching fish in the 1.0-1.8-pound range. We tried cranks, jerkbaits, and dropshots, and the same size fish were biting in both 8-foot and 35-foot water. We fished along banks, grass, habitat, walls, and points, and the same thing happened everywhere.
Around 11 a.m., we headed down to the dam to fish a point that was packed with bass we had spotted the day before. We couldn’t catch them the day before, and when we arrived on tournament day, they were still there. The point was just overflowing with them. They would not bite. We were completely stumped.
Then, something amazing happened. The bass started busting on shad! There was no wind, it was super calm, and the clouds were thick. It was perfect for us to see them busting. We also noticed they looked like they were in great shape—bigger than anything we had caught in the livewell. As soon as I saw that, I knew what to do. I grabbed my spoon box, dugout, and an old Hopkins 3/4-ounce hammered spoon. Nathan tied on a new 6th Sense pained spoon with 3D eyes, and we started chasing the fish at high speed. As soon as we got close enough, we would cast at the jumping fish. Almost every time, they would bite. We caught them on spoons and also a jerkbait if they were shallow enough.
As we chased the jumping fish, we also started using FFS and watched the fish move from the surface, chasing a school of shad, and then dropping down to 15 feet, 20 feet, and even down to 30 feet. We would throw spoons at them. Almost every time, they would chase the spoons if we made good casts. Almost every time, they didn’t eat. We would follow a school of bass, throwing over and over.
After some time, we realized that casting at the same school wasn’t working. Once they decided not to eat our bait, they’d just look but not bite. So, we started searching for other schools of bass. It seemed like there was always a school feeding nearby, but they were usually too far away—80, 90, or even 100 yards! So, we cranked up the trolling motor and headed out to catch them. It was a blast! We ended up in the middle of the lake, in a big cove, and sometimes even near the shore. If we could throw our bait when they were biting, the new school of bass would usually eat. Sometimes, as we got close enough to cast, they’d stop biting, which is where the “FFS” came in handy. Even if the fish weren’t on the surface, we could usually find them and throw a spoon at them. We did this for about two hours, catching a fish now and then and upgrading our gear.
Then, we stumbled upon the magic school of fish! They were slamming the shad both on the surface and underwater. In less than five minutes, we caught three fish, each weighing between 2.75 and 3.10 pounds. I caught the first one and then went to work weighing, culling, and fizzing the bass. Nathan stayed on the school and boated a 3.10 and 2.80 while I was busy with the rest. We lost that school and had to work hard to find our last two 2.8-pound fish a while later. Then, a small front came through, it got windy, and it was hard to stay on the fish. After the small front passed, the fish didn’t bite the same, and it was over.
No video this time as my camera equipment is not waterproof and with the threat of rain, I never turn them on.
Nathan Fearno: No Report submitted.
5th Place: Steve Ferguson and Griff
Steve Ferguson: First congrats to #1 place Loway #2 Charlie M. #3 Nick . T and their co-anglers to figure it out and put it together. I had a great co angler J. Griff. I met Griff On Tuesday morning to prefish we went to the river and caught some bass on jerkbaits and a couple on spoons along with a 10 lb plus smooth daddy catfish on a spoon. It was a sporadic bite. Griff had a lot of big follower as he worked the glide bait but no takers. We didn't have a lot of spots but we had one and a game plan for derby day. We were boat #4 out of the gate so we knew we could get to our spot in the river quick. I threw a topwater Rico and on my second cast landed a 3lb and figured this is going our way quick, as Griff worked a Deep diving jerkbait and put on a show as he was battling for co angler of the year.. He had the right depth and color and cadence and put fish in the boat we had a good limit by 9:00 around 12lb. If it was a catfish tournament we would have won. LOL Griff caught I believe 4 catfish that were all over 5 lb. All on the magic jerkbait. The biggest bass went over 3.5 lb and we culled a few time but could not connect with a big one even the glide bait temped Griff several times= no go. We ended up 5th place with 14.00lb just behind Joe M. He got us by .20 oz But overall a great tournament along with the rain. Thanks again for a great 2025 season and the weigh in teams that make it work, might not always goes smoothly but the job gets done at the end of the day and the fish go back swimming and thats what matters the most. Again thanks Floyd and Joe and Doug Moore "the money man" for all the hard work that goes behind the scenes. Looking forward to the 2026 Season . HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all the Mid Week Whackers.
Griff: Apache was tough to figure out for us, we did find a bite in a very small area about 60yards. During practice we noticed they were eating the Jerkbait in deeper waters so I tied on a Asura ex dr and fished it in about 18ft of water. We caught a lot of fish but never found the kicker we were looking for.
6th Place: Raymond Bates and David Dunlap
Raymond Bates: I fished with newer club member, David Dunlap. David’s enthusiasm for bass fishing, equipment and lures, made for some good discussion all day. David’s favorite lake is Apache and topwater is David’s favorite technique. He proved that he can catch a big one at our first stop in the mid lake where he caught our 6.8 pound bass on a pencil popper with salt water hooks at the mouth of a small shallow creek. We had no other bites until around 11:00AM, then we caught a shallow jig fish, followed up by several shallow finesse worm fish. Finished, the day up the river and had no luck. I really enjoyed our club visiting Apache again this year. I am looking forward to attending the club’s banquet. Congratulations Nick and thank you for all who contributed there time and effort.
David Dunlap: Big fish was caught on a 6" pencil popper in shallows by reeds early morning. She missed it the first time, then another 2 pops and she swallowed it. Silver sparkly color seemed to be the ticket with cloud cover/early morning. (Can include exact lure if needed).