LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. (March 6, 2022) – Pro Patrick Touey of Santa Maria, California, caught a five-bass limit weighing 18 pounds, 8 ounces Saturday to win the Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. at Lake Havasu. Touey’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 66-7 earned him the win by a wide 18½-pound margin over second-place pro Kyle Grover of Rancho Santa Margarita, California, and earned Touey the top payout of $29,218 in the first tournament of the 2022 Toyota Series Western Division.
“This feels amazing. I’ve been fishing for quite a long time, and I’ve been close, but I’ve never been in the situation to finish the job,” said Touey. “Today was just a special day. I was looking for three bites. I got my third bite and was like ‘let’s get another one.’ Got my fourth … then we ended up with five, so it was a blast. Just crazy man … crazy.”
The victory is redemption for a previous trip to Havasu, where a costly misstep taught him a valuable lesson – a lesson that paid dividends this week.
“What’s really funny is, two years ago in an MLF Toyota Series event I made a bad decision on Day 1 and kind of tanked. So, on Day 2, I just threw everything out the window and went for broke. I was throwing the same bait, same technique, same areas almost. I ended up weighing almost 20 pounds. So, when I got here this week in practice that’s kind of what my game plan was,” he said.
Touey approached his areas with a mid-sized swimbait geared for the forage.
“They like gizzard shad here. People forget that with it being such a clear lake,” said Touey. “Everybody wants to finesse. These big fish here, they eat gizzard shads all year long. If you can commit to big bait style fishing, it obviously can pay off sometimes.”
In addition to utilizing the right swimbait, proper adjustments to the constantly changing weather and conditions throughout the event were essential to staying on the bite. He utilized areas with different characteristics to keep on the changing fish.
“I had two sections of the lake, and they were both completely opposite from each other. On Day 1 I caught them all on the steeper stuff. Steep, red rock wall pockets. Just little pockets, and there would be shade lines in those. The fish seemed to be schooled up. Once that shade was just on one side of the cove, it seemed like every fish in the cove was sitting on that side of the cove.
“Day 2, I went filtering through there and just wasn’t seeing what I wanted to see. Not many followers, not many biters. So, I kind of made a little adjustment to fish some more 45-degree banks, areas with a lot of overhang and wood, with cages down in the middle to stage on.”
After two days of lights-out fishing, Touey was confident he knew what he needed to do shut the door on the final day and take home the Toyota Series title.
“I didn’t have any decisions to make. I was like ‘I’m throwing this all day, if I get five bites, they’re going to be big,’” said Touey. “I went to my 45-degree bank area and just ground it out for five bites… and it happened.”
The top 10 pros on Lake Havasu finished:
1st: Patrick Touey, Santa Maria, Calif., 15 bass, 66-7, $29,218
2nd: Kyle Grover, Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., 15 bass, 48-15, $11,628
3rd: Patrick Whitaker, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 13 bass, 48-10, $8,615
4th: Mark Williams, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 12 bass, 47-11, $8,180 (included $1,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus)
5th: Mike Williams, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 15 bass, 47-0, $6,462
6th: Tim Rath, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 15 bass, 46-11, $5,744
7th: Justin Kerr, Simi Valley, Calif., 15 bass, 45-7, $5,026
8th: Jason Akins, Apple Valley, Calif., 13 bass, 45-4, $4,308
9th: Nate Caldwell, Fort Collins, Colo., 15 bass, 44-15, $3,590
10th: David Valdivia, Norwalk, Calif., 15 bass, 44-14, $2,872
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Grover won the $500 Day 1 Berkley Big Bass award in the pro division Thursday with a largemouth weighing 6 pounds, 3 ounces. Touey won Friday’s $500 Berkley Big Bass award with a 9-pound, 7-ounce giant.
Mark Williams took home an extra $1,000 as the highest finishing Phoenix MLF Bonus member. Boaters are eligible to win up to an extra $35,000 per event in each Toyota Series tournament if all requirements are met. More information on the Phoenix MLF Bonus contingency program can be found at PhoenixBassBoats.com.
Colby Huntze of Discovery Bay, California, won the Strike King Co-angler Division on Lake Havasu Saturday with a three-day total of nine bass weighing 27 pounds even. Huntze took home the top prize package worth $33,500, including a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard motor.
The top 10 Strike King co-anglers on Lake Havasu finished:
1st: Colby Huntze Discovery Bay, Calif., nine bass, 27-0, Phoenix 518 Pro boat w/115-hp Mercury outboard
2nd: Jordan Reidhead, Mesa, Ariz., eight bass, 25-0, $3,682
3rd: Zack Eggelston, Goleta, Calif., nine bass, 23-8, $2,946
4th: John Bitting, Kingman, Ariz., six bass, 19-14, $2,577
5th: Ken Hromada, Gilbert, Ariz., eight bass, 19-13, $2,209
6th: Matt Mealiffe, Menlo Park, Calif., eight bass, 18-9, $1,841
7th: J.D. Blackamore, Yorba Linda, Calif., seven bass, 18-6, $1,473
8th: Tyson Christman, Glendale, Ariz., seven bass, 18-6, $1,289
9th: Skyler Koury, Phoenix, Ariz., five bass, 17-6, $1,105
10th: Teddy Snyder, Palo Cedro, Calif., seven bass, 15-15, $1,071
The Day 1 Berkley Big Bass $150 award winner in the Strike King co-angler division, was Vince Vella of Oakdale, California, with a 5-pound, 2-ounce bass, while the Day 2 $150 award went to Teddy Snyder of Palo Cedra, California, with a 5-pound, 3-ounce largemouth.
The Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. at Lake Havasu was hosted by Go Lake Havasu. It was the first tournament in the Toyota Series Western Division. The next event for Toyota Series anglers will take place on March 31-April 2 – the Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. at Dale Hollow Lake in Byrdstown, Tennessee, hosted by the Byrdstown-Pickett County Chamber of Commerce. For a complete schedule, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.
The 2022 Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. consists of six divisions – Central, Northern, Plains Presented by Outlaw Ordnance, Southern, Southwestern Presented by Outlaw Ordnance and Western – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the six divisions and finish in the top 25 – or the top 12 from the Wild Card division – will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 cash. The winning Strike King co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard. The 2022 Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. Championship will be held Nov. 3-5 on Lake Guntersville in Guntersville, Alabama, and is hosted by Marshall County Tourism and Sports.
Proud sponsors of the 2022 MLF Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. include: 4WP, 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, AFTCO, A.R.E. Truck Caps, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Rifle Coffee, E3, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, Gary Yamamoto Baits, General Tire, Lew’s, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Outlaw Ordnance, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, Wiley X and YETI.
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