The California Bass Contenders held its second tournament of the 2026 season at Lower Otay Reservoir under absolutely picture-perfect conditions.
Southern California had just experienced some unstable weather leading into the event, but on tournament day, Mother Nature delivered. A cool morning launch gave way to mid-60s temps by afternoon. A few wisps of clouds drifted overhead, but for the most part it was classic bluebird San Diego. A clean sunrise over the hills. Glass water at blast-off. The sound of outboards breaking the morning calm as a dozen teams idled out with purpose.
With a 30.09 barometer at launch and post-front conditions, many anglers expected a grind. Otay didn’t get the memo.
Late February in San Diego. That usually means the Padres begin their annual campaign for second place in the NL West, and the Florida-strain bass start thinking about something far more important — the spawn. Fish were definitely in transition. Some shallow. Some suspended over bait. Some staging on first breaks. If you found the bait, you found the residents.
Eleven of twelve teams figured that part out and came out with limits. But, quality bites was the separator.
Fish were shallow. Fish were deep. The only thing consistent was that if you weren’t adjusting, and moving, you were donating.
🌡 Tournament Conditions
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Weather: Cool at launch, bluebird skies in the mid 60s throughout the day.
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Wind: Light
- Water Conditions: Stained with some algae bloom in some areas.
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Barometer at Launch: 30.09″ Hg
🥇 Official Results
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Derrick Yoshinaga / Dan “Pops” Colgan – 5 Fish – 17.20 lbs
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🏆 Big Fish: 9.96 lbs (Derrick Yoshinaga)
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Albert Medina / Miguel Lizarraga – 5 Fish – 14.41 lbs
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Dean Leslie / Chris Cruz – 5 Fish – 13.82 lbs
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Frank Schwamborn / Thomas Riley – 5 Fish – 13.51 lbs
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Dave Mendez / Anthony Muro – 5 Fish – 12.96 lbs
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Gary Crouse / Jonathan Gauthier – 5 Fish – 12.13 lbs
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Dr. Randy Estrada / Alfred Houston (Guest) – 5 Fish – 10.45 lbs
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Kenny Isiago / John Diaz – 5 Fish – 10.33 lbs
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Steve Meza / Zack Coelho – 5 Fish – 9.94 lbs
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Gerald Sowers (Guest) / Eddie Roblero – 5 Fish – 9.03 lbs
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Chris Graciano / Alvaro Muro (Guest) – 5 Fish – 8.86 lbs
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Rory Parker (Guest) / Sherman Wray – 1 Fish – 2.97 lbs (I think they launched at Upper Otay)
🔥 Big Fish of the Tournament
Yoshi’s 9.96-pound giant anchored the winning 17.20-pound bag and now leads Big Fish of the Year.
Working a steep west-side dropoff, Derrick slow-rolled a chatterbait and committed to the area.
“I thought I was stuck until I felt the fish move.”
Close enough to double-digits to count in my book.
🧠 Pattern Notes
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11 of 12 teams brought in 5-fish limits.
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Limits came early for several teams.
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Quality bites separated the check cashers from the donation pile.
Derrick’s west-side dropoff grind proved that putting in time on structure can pay off in one giant swing.
Team OG/Miguelito rolled to a waypoint they’d intentionally left alone during prefishing the week before and had limits by 6:30am — on topwater. In February. When the wolf packs of fish started blowing up in the back of the cove:
“Are you serious? I didn’t even bring a topwater.” – Miguelito
As the sun climbed, Forward Facing Sonar in conjunction with a vertically fished custom-painted Owner lipless crank produced steady 3-pound class fish. A deep reaction bite in late February. We’ll take it.
As Bruce Smith from East County Bait and Tackle said in his last podcast after fishing Otay twice in a short period of time 2 weeks ago: “…fish moved around a little bit. [The second day.] This Otay thing, it’s like they can be in one cove one day, and then if that bait moves out of that cove two days later, there won’t be a fish in it. So you gotta move around, you kinda gotta get lucky. One of the main things at Otay is to go out into deeper water and to scope, look for bait, look for fish on bait, and jig minnow them, maybe throw a spoon on them. That can be anywhere from 20 to 70 feet deep, it’s kinda crazy.”
📊 Tournament Analytics
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Total Teams: 12
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Total Fish Weighed: 56
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Total Weight: 135.61 lbs
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Average Fish Weight: 2.42 lbs
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5-Fish Limits: 11 of 12 Teams
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Big Fish: 9.96 lbs – Derrick Yoshinaga
Otay showed out. Plenty of bites. Plenty of limits. But the teams that upgraded into the 3 pound class separated themselves from the field.
➡️ Next Stop: Lake Havasu (2-Day Event)
Cool. Clear. Versatile fishery in the Spring.
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Smallmouth on beds?
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Largemouth staging?
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Sight bite?
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Flipping tules?
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Up river gamble?
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Bill Williams run?
Havasu rewards knowledge— and punishes guessing.
See you guys at the next meeting, March 4th, 2026 at Chaparral Bowling Lanes.
