WCBA Skinner Reservoir Tournament Recap 5/16/2026
It was a battle of the clubs at Skinner Reservoir on Saturday, May 16th, as seemingly every
bass club in Southern California had chosen the same lake for tournament day. By 4:00 AM,
the launch line extended well down Warren Road, creating a scene more fitting for a holiday
weekend than a standard club event.
As Ed Cazares eloquently put it while standing somewhere near the back of the seemingly endless line,
“We’re f*cked if the sheriffs drive by.” Fortunately for OG and Miguelito, they had the
foresight to arrive Friday evening and avoid the early-morning chaos entirely.
Once launched, eleven teams spread across the reservoir under cool, cloudy skies, spending
the entire day idling at Skinner’s strict 10 MPH speed limit while hunting for quality fish.
Post-spawn fishing can quickly become either feast or famine, and Skinner proved exactly that.
While numbers fish and recovering males were willing to bite, finding the quality needed to
separate from the field was an entirely different challenge.
When weigh-in finally arrived, one team had clearly solved the puzzle. Team David Mendez and
Gerald Sowers separated themselves from the rest of the field with an impressive 17.52-pound
limit, winning by more than five pounds in one of the tougher post-spawn events Southern
California anglers will face. Ironman Mendez had the big fish at 5.9 pounds.
Team Dr. Randy Estrada and Samson Sly-hoar secured second place with 12.15 pounds, while
Ed Cazares and Joe Nava rounded out the top three with 11.70 pounds.
📊 TOURNAMENT METRICS
- Teams: 11
- Total Fish Weighed: 54
- Total Weight: 116.34 lbs
- Average Weight per Team: 10.58 lbs
- Average Fish Weight: 2.15 lbs
- Limits: 10/11 Teams
🏆 FINAL STANDINGS
| Team | Fish | Weight | Big Fish |
|---|---|---|---|
| David Mendez / Gerald Sowers | 5 | 17.52 | 🐟 5.90 |
| Dr. Randy Estrada / Samson Sly-hoar | 5 | 12.15 | – |
| Ed Cazares / Joe Nava | 5 | 11.70 | – |
| Scott Warren / Anthony Muro | 5 | 11.46 | – |
| Rory Parker / Logan Van Olphen | 5 | 11.20 | – |
| Frank Schwamborn / Alvaro Muro | 5 | 10.38 | – |
| Chris Velotta (Guest) / John Diaz | 5 | 10.02 | – |
| Chris Graciano / Jonathan Gauthier | 5 | 9.75 | – |
| Albert Medina / Thomas Riley | 5 | 9.06 | – |
| Dean Leslie / Miguel Lizarraga | 5 | 7.23 | – |
| Eddie Roblero / Chris Bonilla | 4 | 5.87 | – |
10 of 11 teams brought full 5-fish limits to the scales.
🌦️ WEATHER CONDITIONS & BAROMETER
- Overcast skies throughout the day
- Light and variable wind conditions
- Launch temperature: ~62°F
- Highs in the low 70s
- Barometer at launch: 29.87 inHg
🌊 WATER CONDITIONS
- Visibility ranged from 2 to 6 feet depending on area of the lake
- Typical post-spawn conditions throughout the reservoir
🎣 PATTERN & BITE
Skinner’s post-spawn bite proved to be exactly what many expected: inconsistent, frustrating,
and heavily dependent on locating the right class of fish.
While finesse tactics likely accounted for a large percentage of the fish weighed, the winning
pattern may have told a different story entirely. Ironman has long been known as a committed
power fisherman, and it would surprise absolutely nobody if much of the winning weight came from
targeting the tules—either flipping directly into them or working adjacent edges throughout the day.
With persistent gray skies overhead, many fish appeared reluctant to bury too deeply into heavy
cover, allowing shallow power techniques to remain viable longer than expected.
Miguelito reportedly found a productive flipping bite as well, generating steady action throughout
the day, but lacked the quality bites needed to stay near the top of the standings.
One of the bigger moments of the morning came when “The Stick” Leslie lost a fish estimated
well over five pounds on a frog early in the event—a fish that almost certainly would have changed
the complexion of the leaderboard for that team. But as tournament anglers know all too well:
coulda, woulda, shoulda.
Finesse presentations still played a major role throughout the field, with dropshots, Neko rigs,
and even an old-school split shot rig reportedly contributing key fish during tougher stretches
of the day.
With the entire field limited to Skinner’s 10 MPH restriction, efficiency, timing, and fish
management became just as important as lure selection.
🐟 BIG FISH
5.90 lbs – David Mendez / Gerald Sowers
📝 CLOSING NOTES
Skinner tested patience as much as fishing ability, but the second stop of the West Coast
Bass Anglers’ inaugural season delivered another highly competitive showing from the field.
From bumper-to-bumper launch traffic before sunrise to a crowded lake shared with nearly every
club in Southern California, the event had all the ingredients for chaos. Instead, it turned
into another solid day of competition, camaraderie, and good fishing.
A special thanks goes out to Compa Chris for handling the post-tournament weenies, and to
O.H. Ivie for cooking and supplying the buns. According to several anglers, they tasted better
than the legendary Angler’s Marine hot dogs.
Another special thanks goes out to Alvaro Muro for handling photography duties throughout the
event and helping document another chapter in West Coast Bass Anglers history.
Next stop: Pyramid Lake on June 20th. Bring your high-elevation game—and prepare to share the
water with jet skiers who may or may not possess boater cards.
📸 PHOTO GALLERY
