WEAVERVILLE, Calif. – The 3rd stop of the BAM Tournament Trail Kayak Series on Trinity Lake concluded with Joseph Silva of Windsor, Calif. capitalizing on a productive morning bite for the win with a total of 96-inches for his best five, which had an estimated weight of 20.25 and included one smallmouth. Silva’s TourneyX verified biggest went 19.75-inches, anchoring his top-spot, for the first-place payout of $886.45
“The first hour, I got something like 90-inches with a mid-strolling rig – a 3/0 Keitech Tungsten Jig Head and a five-inch (Deps) Sakamata Shad,” shared Silva. “I had that rigged on 20-pound braid to 12-pound fluorocarbon so when those bass came to bite, I really set the hook and it was in.”
With the bulk of his bass in the first two hours, Silva spent the rest of the day trying to upgrade. “I managed to cull about three times,” he shared.
Damian Thao Takes 2nd At Trinity Lake
Fresh of his win at the 2nd event of the BAM Kayak Series, Damian Thao of Fresno, Calif. locked in with 92-inches to secure the runner-up spot, earning $398.10 for his effort.
Thao targeted main lake points with a slower taper. “The main location I was fishing had a hard bottom and a good mix of sand where the Kokanee would roam around,” he said. “When the boat traffic started to show up, it would cause a mud line and the fish would position right on the bank.”
A key for Thao was taking advantage of small windows when the fish would turn on. “The bite was extremely good until the sun came over the hills,” he explained. “Once there was too much sunlight the fish would pull off – suspend – and be much more difficult to catch.”
Topwater produced Thao’s better fish. He threw a Chartreuse Shiner Teckel Kicknocker with a STIX #5 paired to a Shimano SLX DC on 50-pound P-Line TCB braided line and credited a five-inch Deps Sakamata Shad for suspenders. “These fish were busting trout on the bank and when they started to pop, I would toss the topwater and catch them,” he stated. “Once they stopped breaking the surface, I would use my Garmin LiveScope and target the suspended fish.
Daniel Balaba Breaks Into Top-Three At Trinity Lake
NorCal angler, Daniel Balaba from Richmond put together 91.50-inches to position himself in the top trio. Balaba also found his fish on a tapering main lake point. “The fish were in 10 to 25,” he added. “First thing in the morning, they were schooled up on a stump and I caught my big fish on a Ned and later in the afternoon, I caught them mid-strolling.”
BAM Kayak Trinity Lake Top-10
1 Joseph Silva 96.00″ $886.45
2 Damian Thao 92.00″ $398.10
3 Daniel Balaba 91.50″ $327.85
4 Jesse Hoover 90.75″ $281.01
5 Cody Gayman 89.25″ $257.59
6 Eli Veregge 87.50″ $210.76
7 Scott Savko 87.25″ $290.00
8 Richard George Jr 87.25″
9 Abel Patino 87.00″ $250.00
10 Matthew Brannon 86.25″
-RELATED: Joseph Silva Wins First-Ever BAM Kayak Series Event At Tulloch
-RELATED: Damian Thao Targets Beds To Win BAM Kayak Series At Rollins Lake
The BAM Kayak Series paid the top-7 of the 29 kayak competitors for their placement on the standings. Full results here.
Additionally, Abel Patino from Acampo, Calif. collected $250 in contingency dollars from Tackle Warehouse.
Lines In for the next BAM Kayak Series will be on the California Delta on September 7.
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