August 2024 Saguaro

The recent tournament was a thrilling display of skill and strategy, with anglers navigating the challenging conditions to bring in impressive catches. The event was marked by several standout performances and some exceptional big fish that highlighted the day.

Kevin Russel and Steve Ferguson took the top spot with a commanding total bag of 17.68 lbs, anchored by a 7.13-pound big fish. Their success came from targeting steep walls using oxblood drop shots, quickly securing a limit and culling out 4-pounders by mid-morning. Their combination of strategy and a bit of luck paid off, earning them first place.

Doyle Wofford and Brad Shoemaker followed closely in second place with a total of 15.64 lbs, featuring a 6.58-pounder. The duo focused their efforts on a cliff wall near Ship Rock, using jigs and wacky-rigged Senkos to land several quality fish. Their persistence and ability to adapt throughout the day kept them in contention for the top spot.

In third place, Joe Michels and Steve Tinsley brought in 14.20 lbs, highlighted by the tournament’s biggest fish at 7.91 lbs. Steve’s switch to a Neko-rigged 7-inch Senko, guided by Joe’s advice, proved crucial in landing his personal best and securing their position on the leaderboard.

Summary of Baits and Techniques Used by Participants

The tournament featured a variety of baits and techniques, with anglers adapting to the conditions and using different strategies to target bass effectively.

1. Drop Shot:

• Kevin Russel and Steve Ferguson used oxblood drop shots near steep walls to secure their winning bag, culling 4-pounders early in the day.

• Jeff Mason and Rick Brown relied on drop shots for two of their keepers, with Rick catching their big bass of 7.68 lbs in about 20 feet of water.

• Loway Shammas and Ray Noble used drop shots along steep bluff walls and rocky outcroppings in the river to land their fish.

• Rick Torres and Mitch Vitkovich used drop shots along the bank and across the lake, catching several fish, including a 4-pounder.

• Steve Grier and Otto Gal also relied on drop shots, using brown 6” worms with chartreuse tails to catch their fish.

2. Jigs:

• Doyle Wofford and Brad Shoemaker utilized jigs, with Brad catching several key fish, including a 4-pounder early in the day. Doyle also lost a potential big fish on a jig.

• Rick Torres and Mitch Vitkovich started the day using jigs on the flats, with Mitch catching their first bass quickly and continuing to use the jig throughout the day.

3. Wacky Rigged Senko:

• Doyle Wofford used a wacky-rigged Senko to land a significant fish weighing 6.11 lbs, contributing to their second-place finish.

4. Neko Rigged Senko:

• Steve Tinsley switched to a Neko-rigged 7-inch Senko after advice from Joe Michels during pre-fishing, which led to him catching the tournament’s biggest fish at 7.91 lbs.

5. Carolina Rig with Craw:

• Rick Brown caught their first keeper of the day on a Carolina rig with a craw, contributing to their fourth-place bag.

6. Swing Head Jig with 7” Worm:

• Manny Madrid and Jeff Stone used a swing head jig rigged with a 7” worm to boat their first keeper in a shaded area along rock walls in the river.

7. Big Worm:

• Joe Michels mentioned in the third-place report that he plans to release a video detailing his successful use of a 8” worm in the tournament

The diversity of techniques and baits used in the tournament highlights the anglers’ adaptability and skill in targeting bass under different conditions, contributing to a highly competitive event.

**FIRST PLACE**

**Kevin Russel and Steve Ferguson**
Big Fish: 7.13#
Total Bag: 17.68#

Keith Russel

It was a good morning on the water, Had a limit early and were culling out 4lb bass by 10am. We got everything on oxblood drop shot near steep walls throughout the lake. I would love to say it was skill but it was just luck in reality. Had a great time with Steve!

After the tourney I was bummed to see fish floating all over the dock area while trucks were pulling out to go home. A few of us stayed behind and got what we could back to swimming and cleaned up the dead ones.

Thanks to the staff that dedicate their personal time so we can have these derby’s. I greatly appreciate their contributions!

Doyle Wofford

For the second tournament in a row, I was lucky enough to draw Brad Shoemaker as a co-angler and we were able to get together to pre-fish on Tuesday. Seems like we ran most of the lake, eliminated a few spots and caught quite a few fish but nothing over about 2.5 to 3 pounds. Brad caught our biggest fish Tuesday on a cliff wall across from ship rock.

Since we were boat number 24 on Wednesday, we decided to run towards the same wall to see if we might be able to fit in somewhere. Little did we know at the time that we would not leave that wall all day. Brad caught our first fish on a jig that weighed over 4 pounds. Great start! A little while later I was lucky enough to hook up with a nice fish as well on a wacky rigged Senko. When we finally got the fish in the boat Brad and I both thought it would weigh at least 8 pounds. When we saw 6.11 on the scale, we had to re-weigh it a couple times to believe this bucket mouth wasn't any bigger than the scale showed.

A short while after that Brad hooked into another nice fish that was almost 4 pounds. Brad stuck with his jig for the most part and I switched back and forth between the jig and wacky rig. We only caught a few more fish but was able to cull a few ounces.

The only downside to the day was that I did lose a fish that Brad and I both thought would have been bigger than anything we had in the live well. It bit a jig and I couldn't keep if from jumping. Came up out of the water, gave us a great show and spit it out! I was luck enough to have some last cast majic and caught one at 11:15 that was almost 5 pounds getting us over the 15 pound mark.

Great day on the lake and once again, thanks to all the guys that volunteer their time to make this club run smoothly.

**THIRD PLACE**

**Joe Michels and Steve Tinsley**
Big Fish: 7.91#
Total Bag: 14.20#

Joe Michels - Video Link

I have created a video that includes baits, rods, reels and fishing clips of the tournament. I have not yeat made this public so if you want to see how we did it, click here.

Steve Tinsley

I want to start by thanking the weigh-in crew and club directors for all of their efforts in keeping this club running smoothly.

I contacted Joe Michels after seeing we were drawn to fish together and we decided to pre-fish on the Monday before the tournament. That Monday I started the morning off catching 6 smaller bass on a drop shot using smaller worms. Joe mentioned several times that fish that size aren't going to win any tournaments and suggested I start throwing something bigger. I had a bag of 7 inch senkos with me, and decided to try the big senkos on a Niko rig. Right away, I caught bigger fish on back-to-back casts using this setup, then hooked into an even bigger fish that I lost. It didn't take long to realize Joe was right in saying big baits catch big fish. After pre-fishing on Monday, I felt confident I found a good bite for tournament day.

The day of the tournament, it only took about 5-7 minutes for Joe to catch out first fish that was about 3 pounds. About 5 minutes later I caught a 3 pounder and we were feeling great about our start. After that we went about an hour without getting a bite, then I hooked into a giant bass that got 1st place big fish and is my personal best. We now had a limit and with over 14 pounds we felt pretty good about our chances.

It wasn't even 7:00 yet and started feeling pretty cocky we would cull our smaller fish. That wasn't to be. Neither one of us got another bite the rest of the day. We only caught 3 fish during the tournament but were fortunate they were good enough to take 3rd place, and 1st place big fish. I can't thank Joe enough for suggesting I use a bigger worm and putting me on my new Personal Best!

Jeff Mason

Luck of the draw, Rick and I were paired up, and as in the past we were able to put a good bag together as partners. Rick has proved to be one of the best fishermen in the club over the years and he proved it again Wednesday, catching all of our keepers. One on his C-rig with a craw, and two on a drop shot. I am going to call him Dr. Brown from now on after the care he gave our fish.

We had our limit by 8:30 and Rick managed their care for the rest of the day. Constantly checking on them, adding fin weights, changing live wells from recirculate to auto, adding Rejuvenade, and keeping a wet towel on top of the live wells to keep the water temp down. Thanks Doc!

FISH STORY: My team fishing partner Lyle Dalby of over 30 years and I pre fished at Saguaro last Thurs and he caught a big fish off the steep cliffs up the river on a jig. Fish looked a lot bigger than the 7.64 lbs I weighed on my scale, the fish was also blind in one eye. Rick hooked a BIG one at 8:30 in the same area and the battle was on! I netted the fish, it was the same fish as Lyle caught, same size, blind in same eye!! How lucky was that!!!

Rick Brown

Saguaro Lake and big bass are biting, well sign me up! I was happy to hear that. I got paired with my good friend Jeff Mason. Jeff and I have fished together several times over the years and have always done well. This time was no different, Jeff took us to the right spots to put together a great bag.

We caught around 7 fish, the first one came on a Carolina rig craw and the rest on drop shot. I caught our big bass of 7.68 around 8:30, on a drop shot in about 20ft of water.

Thanks to the board and weigh in crew for another well run tournament.

Manny Madrid

First I would like to congratulate the winners, Kevin Russel and Steve Ferguson, that was a heck of a bag they put together.

I was fortunate to be paired with Jeff Stone. We were able to pre-fish one day together, producing a day of dinks for us. However, I was able to be on the lake a decent amount before the tournament. Figuring the day of the tournament most teams would focus on the main lake, so I focused on the river hoping for less pressure from other teams. The week prior I found a pretty good frog bite but that fizzled the week of the tournament. During practice, we found fish on a small rock pile and adjacent rock walls on either side in the river. Our plan tournament morning was to focus most of the day on those fish and just stay put.

We had an early boat number so we were first in the river and we went to the rock pile first, waiting for the sun to cast shadows along the walls. We came up empty on the rock pile, but the wall we wanted to fish had another team pull up on it so we fished the opposite side on smaller rock walls with small shade pockets. We were able to boat our first keeper fish on a 7" worm rigged on a swing head jig. A few minutes later in another shade pocket we were able to boat our second keeper on a drop shot. We caught a handful more that wouldn't help.

We moved back to the rock pile and just could not get them to eat. A few more boats pulled up on the wall we wanted to fish. After a little while the boats moved on so we took advantage and moved to the rock wall. There we were able to land two more solid fish finishing our limit and culling one fish. With about and hour and half to go we moved to the main lake. We fished a few spots that did not produce. We made one last move to spot that had been decent in previous weeks. Immediately catching two more fish on drop shot and being able to cull one more time.

Loway Shammas

I had the pleasure of fishing with a new angler to midweek, Mr Ray Noble. Ray was a pleasure to have on the boat encouraging and a terrific netman. We were able to get five bites throughout the day. We landed four fish. Fortunately, the three that we got landed us in sixth place. All fish were taken on drop shot and two of the three were in the river working steep Bluff walls and Rocky outcroppings. It was a terrific day, great atmosphere truly blessed to be fishing in God's creation!

Special shout out to president Floyd Vaughn. No one handles the flashlight directly to the eye like this man as you're backing down the ramp! LOL seriously though thank you guys for all the hard work you do to put this on for us Anglers.

Rick Torres

I had Mitch Vitkovich as my co-angler and he taught me a lot of good stuff. We started out fishing the flats with jigs. Right away Mitch caught a bass. We went down the bank and managed to catch our limit before 7:00am. I wasn't very successful with the jig so I started fishing with a drop shot. I did catch one with the drop shot along the bank.

We then move across the lake to one of my spots that I have been catching good size bass on pre fishing. Mitch stayed with the jig and I stayed with the drop shot. We started catching bass. There were several times we were doubling up. We then moved to another area where Mitch caught a good sized one. We moved to the narrows and fished the walls but didn’t catch any bass. Then we headed in the weight - in.

I Had lots of fun. Thank you Mitch for giving me some good pointers and learning a lot from you. I want to give a big congratulations to all the winners.

Mitch Vitkovich

I had the pleasure of teaming up with Rick Torres. For unforeseen circumstances we were unable to actually pre-fish together, but he and I were able to get out a couple times on our own. This turned out to be very beneficial.

We started on an area where the fish seemed to be located shallow very early in the morning. I started with a 1/2oz BUG-I-JIG green/pumpkin, with a 5 1/2 inch trailer, orange and green fleck (thank you Gary Senft). Rick started with a drop-shot. Not sure the color but it only took us a half hour to get our limit in the boat. We were able to get our 4th fish and start culling shortly after that. We then made a short move across the lake to a spot Rick found in his pre-fish which gave us another 7 or 8 fish. This is where Rick caught his 4lb bass on a drop-shot. These fish were also shallow.

The third move was to a spot both of us pre-fished and it gave us a couple more fish which one was our last keeper of the day. It fell to a BUG-I-JIG also. This fish was our deepest fish of the day, 25 feet. Sad thing was that was our last fish of the day. We did not catch a fish after 9:45am.

We then moved into the narrows with no luck. It was a fun day. Thank you, Rick, for a great day on the water.

Otto Gal

Thank you, all midweek staff for all you do. Also, thanks to Steve Grier for being a good boater partner.

The first place we stopped Steve caught a bass on the first cast. They say it's bad luck but I'd love to do that! That was the only bite we had there so we moved onto the second spot which produced several small fish. All the fish we caught were on drop shot, using brown a 6" worm with chartreuse tail . We moved around a lot, all the way up and past the no wake zone.

He commented that if we go in with a 5 lb. limit it is going to be brutal. So, he decided to go back to where we started, arriving there at 10AM. Success: after a few casts he caught a 5+ pounder and 10 minutes later another one at 4 lbs. I didn't have a good fish catching day but I was a great net man for Steve. I have fished with him several times and we always have a great time.

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