Jordan and McCosker win Wild West Bass Trail Clear Lake event with 7 fish, 41.52 pound bag!
Special from WesternBass.com
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A seven-fish limit of 41.52 – bolstered by the big bass of the event at 11.80 – placed Jody Jordan and Greg McCosker atop the 172 boat field at the 2017 Wild West Bass Trail (WWBT) California Teams tournament on Clear Lake Saturday, March 11.
The team targeted the north-end of the lake, rotating through six spots and reported catching 30 fish. “We had bites all day; but our best action was before lunch,” said Jordan.
They took most of their fish on three types of lures – an umbrella-rig, swimbaits and ripbaits.
“The A-rig was a Yumbrella,” added McCosker. “It had shad-colored Keitech’s (3.8 and 4.8).”
They threw several types of swimbaits; however noted their best success came on four or five-inch Keitechs and their ripbait was a Megabass Vision 110.
“We did catch one on an Osprey and two on a Hudd,” revealed Jordan. “The swimbaits and the ripbait were all shad-type colors.”
The teammates both expressed appreciated to their family as well as the WWBT.
Jordan and McCosker were awarded $10,810 of the $56K that was paid out in the event. Their victory earned $8,500 and added contingency dollars came from the Big Fish award,Ranger Cup, Lowrance, Costa, Yamamoto and Power-Pole.
Full Wild West Bass Trail Clear Lake Results Here
2nd Nichelini/Keller
Also boosting their bag with a double-digit kicker was Mike Nichelini and Carl Keller. Nichelini and Keller took the runner-up position with 40.19 and the second biggest bass of the event at 11.54.
“We went middle to north-end,” said Nichelini. “We mainly stayed on three spots though. When you get this many people on the lake, you just don’t want to leave your water open to long.”
They hit their three spots with a variety of baits, citing an umbrella rig, lipless crankbait and ripbaits.
“The rig was a basic Yumbrella – the unbladed, standard, five-wire with Keitechs,” added Keller. “The 4.8’s as the main and 3.3 as teasers.”
There other successful lures was a Lucky Craft Staysee 90 in shad colors, and LV 500s in red craw patterns.
The team took home $6,360 including Big Fish dollars and the Dobyns Rods contingency award. They also thanked the WWBT for the event.
3rd Martin/Bitker
Completing the top trio was Chris Martin and Jeff Bitker with 39.57. This team also concentrated on the north-end. They reported the morning to be more of a challenge and the bite to have picked up about 11 a.m. They caught approximately two dozen fish using “every brand’ of swimbait. Their efforts earned $3,500 for the day.
Overall, following the recent two-week closure, the Clear Lake bass were ready to bite. Of the 172 competing teams only 29 did not have a full limit and six bass over 10-pounds were weighed.
The top-10 teams at WWBT Clear Lake:
- 41.52 Jordan/McCosker
- 40.19 Nichelini/Keller
- 39.57 Marin/Bitner
- 39.50 Church/Church
- 38.51 Francheschi/Gottwals
- 35.81 Mennie/Breazeale
- 35.65 Black/Ross
- 34.43 Pearl/Bruggemann
- 32.68 Howe/Wilson
- 32.30 Johns/Bounds
A total of $56,650 was paid for the WWBT Clear Lake Teams event including the below listed contingency dollars.
Yamamoto Toad of the Day Awards
- $860 11.80 Jordan/McCosker (1st)
- $860 11.54 Nichelini/Keller (2nd)
- $860 11.02 Agner/Milligan (21st)
- $860 10.95 Johns/Bounds (10th)
- $860 10.49 Gomez/Acosta (19th)
The following WWBT contingency payouts were also awarded to the Clear Lake Teams:
$500 Evinrude Pearl/Bruggemann Jr (8th)
$300 Evinrude Dunlap/Tibbets (18th)
$200 Evinrude Souza/Orozco (33rd)
$150 Ben Green Insurance Gutierrez/Brewer (17th)
$250 Run and Win with Lucas Oil Jones/McKa (35th)
$250 Run and Win with Lucas Oil Cline/Foor (64th)
$250 Run and Win with Lucas Oil Baldwin/Leal (97th)
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Offering professional-level competition throughout the west, the Wild West Bass Trail provides its anglers the opportunity to further develop and advance their fishing careers. Additionally, the WWBT offers its corporate partners the opportunity to expand sales through comprehensive national and regional television coverage, exclusive on-the-water demonstrations and various tournament incentive programs.
For 2017, the WWBT will conduct 16 events that include one Pro/Am circuit and two Teams circuits – one based in California and the other in Arizona. The Pro/Am circuit consists of five tournaments throughout California and Arizona and a year-end, qualifying championship event. Each Teams circuit includes four tournaments and a year-end, qualifying championship. For more information visit WildWestBassTrail.com and follow WWBT at Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram.
