WCBA Piru Lake Tournament Recap 8/22/2026
Lake Piru greeted the West Coast Bass Anglers with one thing in particular: heat. Lots of it.
Ten teams made the trip to Ventura County for the club’s August stop at Lake Piru, where anglers were greeted with hot summer conditions and a lake that once again proved it has a strange sense of humor.
The fishing was hot for some of us. Unfortunately, the fish themselves weren’t necessarily the kind of hot we were looking for.
That’s Piru.
And that was the story for a lot of the field. There were plenty of rats willing to cooperate, but finding the fish that actually mattered at the scales was a completely different proposition. Some boats struggled just to get their five-fish limit, while others could catch fish seemingly all day without finding the size they needed.
Piru is a strange lake.
Six years ago, this was a completely different fishery. Three- and four-pound bass were not exactly uncommon, and running crankbaits and jigs through the lake could produce quality fish on a consistent basis. These days, getting excited about a 13-inch bass pretty much tells you everything you need to know.
With all the flooded timber, you’d think there would be a solid shallow-water bite waiting to happen. Saturday proved to be considerably more confusing than that. The cover was there. The fish were there. The bites were there.
The better fish?
Apparently they had other plans.
When the scales closed, Ed Cazares and Mark Chadeayne had figured out enough of the puzzle to put together the winning limit, bringing 7.93 pounds to the scales on a jig bite.
Good thing we didn’t change the venue, right?
Maybe pre-fishing does have its merits after all.
Mark also claimed Big Fish honors with a 2.38-pound bass. Under normal circumstances, a 2.38-pounder might not exactly generate much excitement for a Big Fish award.
At Piru in August?
Hell yeah.
Finishing in second place were David Mendez and Sherman Wray, who brought 7.29 pounds to the scales. Their five-fish limit included one dead fish and left them just 0.64 pounds behind the winners.
Rory Parker and Albert Medina rounded out the top three with 6.94 pounds, followed closely by Chris Graciano / Chris Bonilla with 6.69 pounds.
Miguel Lizarraga / Gil Bowman and Greyson Sowers / Gerald Sowers both finished with five-fish limits weighing 6.37 pounds, while Team Eddie Roblero brought another five-fish limit weighing 6.16 pounds.
📊 TOURNAMENT METRICS
- Teams: 10
- Total Fish Weighed: 45
- Total Weight: 54.61 lbs
- Average Weight per Team: 5.46 lbs
- Average Fish Weight: 1.21 lbs
- Limits: 7/10 Teams
🏆 FINAL STANDINGS
| Team | Fish | Weight | Big Fish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ed Cazares / Mark Chadeayne | 5 | 7.93 | 🐟 2.38 |
| David Mendez / Sherman Wray | 5 (1 Dead) | 7.29 | – |
| Rory Parker / Albert Medina | 5 | 6.94 | – |
| Chris Graciano / Chris Bonilla | 5 | 6.69 | – |
| Miguel Lizarraga / Gil Bowman | 5 | 6.37 | – |
| Greyson Sowers / Gerald Sowers | 5 | 6.37 | – |
| Eddie Roblero | 5 | 6.16 | – |
| Dr. Randy Estrada / Dan “Pops” Colgan | 4 | 5.03 | – |
| Joe Nava / Dean Leslie | 3 | 4.32 | – |
| Frank Schwamborn / Thomas Riley | 3 | 3.88 | – |
Seven of ten teams brought full five-fish limits to the scales.
🌦️ WEATHER CONDITIONS & BAROMETER
- Hot summer conditions throughout the tournament
- Warm temperatures throughout the day
- Heat became an increasingly noticeable factor as the tournament progressed
🌊 WATER CONDITIONS
- Summertime conditions throughout the lake
- Extensive flooded timber provided abundant shallow-water cover
- Plenty of small bass were available, but quality fish were difficult to locate
- Several teams reported plenty of bites without enough keeper-sized fish
🎣 PATTERN & BITE
The story of the tournament wasn’t necessarily a lack of fish. It was a lack of size.
Piru produced plenty of bites, and several anglers caught impressive numbers of bass throughout the day. The problem was that most of those fish were simply too small to matter.
For Team Gil Bowman and Miguelito, approximately 50 bites turned into roughly 30 bass. Only six of those fish were keepers.
That’s a hell of a lot of catching for one five-fish limit.
And that seemed to be the general theme around the lake. Lots of rats. Lots of bites. Not enough quality.
With all the flooded timber, a solid shallow-water bite seemed like it should have been waiting for us. Instead, Saturday proved that Piru isn’t interested in making things that easy. Anglers found fish in a variety of areas and on different presentations, but the better bass remained frustratingly difficult to locate.
Big Ed and Mark managed to put together the best limit of the day, weighing 7.93 pounds. Mark’s 2.38-pound kicker also turned out to be the biggest fish of the tournament.
So maybe Ed was onto something.
Maybe pre-fishing does have its merits.
Of course, there’s another side to the pre-fishing argument.
OG Medina pre-fished Piru and found them.Got on a good bite the week before.
Tournament day?
Didn’t find them.
So that’s why I’m officially going back to saying:
CHALE to pre-fishing. 😉
Piru apparently reserves the right to completely relocate its fish between pre fish Saturday and tournament day, regardless of how much work you put in beforehand.
That’s tournament fishing.
🐟 BIG FISH
2.38 lbs – Mark Chadeayne
📝 CLOSING NOTES
Congratulations to Team Big Ed Cazares and Mark Chadeayne on taking the win at Lake Piru, with Mark also claiming Big Fish honors.
A huge thanks once again to Compa Chris for firing up the BBQ after the tournament. We appreciate the hard work, time and dedication he continues to bring to the club. The food, the conversation and the post-tournament bullshit are every bit as much a part of WCBA as what happens on the water.
Piru may not be the fishery it was six years ago, but Saturday still delivered what tournament fishing is supposed to deliver: a frustrating, confusing, occasionally ridiculous, and ultimately fun-ass day on the water.
You can catch 30 bass and still struggle to put five keepers in the boat. You can get 50 bites and somehow feel like you didn’t catch shit. You can watch somebody bring 7.93 pounds to the scales and realize that a 2.38-pound bass is the Big Fish of the tournament.
And somehow, after all of it, you’re already thinking about the next one.
That’s WCBA.
We’ll see everyone at next month’s meeting.
📸 PHOTO GALLERY
