LAKEPORT, Calif. (March 9, 2024) – In his 18th season fishing the Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse, Elk Grove, California’s Ken Mah has finished 11 times in the Top 10. He’s been close so many times before, and Friday at Clear Lake, he finally added the big No. 1 to his MLF résumé.
Mah didn’t just eke by, either. The Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats veteran went absolutely nuclear the final two days of the event, weighing in close to 30 pounds on Day 2 (29-12) and putting the cherry on top on Championship Friday with the largest bag of the tournament (31-10) that was anchored by a behemoth Clear Lake 11-pounder. In total, he weighed in 15 fish for 82 pounds, 6 ounces over three days.
As was the case for many anglers this week, Mah didn’t pile up big weights with big numbers – he had just nine bites on Day 1, 11 on Day 2 and seven on Day 3 – but he got the right bites at the right times, as evidenced by the tournament-best 11-pounder, which he caught mid-morning Friday.
What separated Mah from many in the field was the way he caught his fish, namely, flipping shallow cover. While the majority of anglers were casting big swimbaits offshore, Mah spent his time flipping, at first somewhat offshore and eventually near the bank.
“I [caught] my biggest one near the bank,” he said. “That was late in the day on Day 1. And that kind of clued me in a little bit. As the tournament went on, I started to catch less and less of them out of the brush and more and more on the bank. That was a key move for me.
“I followed those big fish. They want to move shallow right now. Me being able to follow them shallow was a key adjustment.”
Adjusting on the fly was perhaps part of Mah’s plan, though. After snowfall during practice and with forecasts calling for increasingly warmer weather throughout the week, he knew he’d have to move with the fish and try something a little different at some point.
For his flipping setups, Mah relied on a black-and-blue jig with a 3-inch Big Bite Baits YoMama trailer tied to 65-pound-test braid spooled on a Shimano Chronarch 150 MGL reel paired with a G. Loomis GLX 894. He also flipped just the YoMama on 22-pound-test Sunline Shooter with the Chronarch and a G. Loomis GLX JWR895.
Mah isn’t one to play up his accomplishments (and despite this being his first MLF win, he’s won all over the place out West on other tournament trails), so he was somewhat understandably subdued about catching more than 61 pounds over the final two days of the tournament. Still, it wasn’t entirely lost on him what a crazy tournament he put together.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen,” he said. “I knew the weather conditions were getting better for what I wanted to do. Things came together. It was [just] one of those things.”
With the win, Mah not only finally has a shiny red trophy to add to his mantle but also finds himself in the driver’s seat for Western Division Angler of the Year. Of course, there’s still two tournaments to go – and he’s not overlooking either of them – but he’s experienced enough with the West Coast slate to really put an exclamation point on what has been a terrific FLW/MLF career to this point, not to mention the fact that the Western Division finale takes place on his home fishery of the California Delta.
First, though, is Havasu in May, which is a timeframe that presents some new challenges for Mah and the rest of the division.
“My attitude about the season and each tournament is a microcosm,” he said. “Getting off to a great start is a great thing, but it’s not about how you start – it’s how you finish.
“I’m cautiously optimistic. We’re going to Havasu at a different time of year that I’ve not been before. With that postspawn Havasu fishing, it should suit my style better than the usual pre-prespawn time. I’m looking forward to it.”
And why not? There’s a sense of relief that comes with notching your first MLF win.
“It’s one that was alluding me,” he admitted. “To close it out here against this field, it’s just amazing. I’m blessed. This is a trophy I’ve been chasing.”
The top 10 pros on Clear Lake finished:
1st: Ken Mah, Elk Grove, Calif., 15 bass, 82-6, $26,261
2nd: Joe Mariani, Winters, Calif., 15 bass, 76-4, $10,176
3rd: Jon Strelic, El Cajon, Calif., 15 bass, 74-1, $7,878
4th: John Pearl, Upper Lake, Calif., 15 bass, 73-13, $6,565
5th: Christian Melton, Menifee, Calif., 15 bass, 68-3, $5,909
6th: Nathan Phillips, Kelseyville, Calif., 15 bass, 67-15, $5,252
7th: Juarez Jackson, Kelseyville, Calif., 15 bass, 66-5, $4,596
8th: David Valdivia, Riverside, Calif., 15 bass, 65-4, $4,239
9th: J.D. Blackamore, Yorba Linda, Calif., 13 bass, 65-0, $3,283
10th: Patrick Touey, Santa Maria, Calif., 15 bass, 61-12, $2,626
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Pro Daniel Shelton of Kelseyville, Nevada, earned the $500 Berkley Big Bass Award on Day 1 Wednesday with a largemouth weighing in at 9 pounds, 4 ounces. The Day 2 $500 Berkley Big Bass Award on Thursday was earned by pro Roy Hawk of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, with an 8-pound, 14-ounce largemouth bass.
Kirk Marshall of Discovery Bay, California, won the Strike King Co-angler Division Friday with a three-day total of 13 bass weighing 52 pounds, 2 ounces. Marshall took home the top co-angler 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 Clear Lake finished:
1st: Kirk Marshall, Discovery Bay, Calif., 13 bass, 52-2, Phoenix 518 Pro boat w/115-hp Mercury outboard
2nd: Jonathan Green, San Pablo, Calif., 13 bass, 50-7, $3,396
3rd: Blaine Christiansen, San Jose, Calif., 12 bass, 49-12, $2,716
4th: David Zavvar, Concord, Calif., 13 bass, 44-12, $2,377
5th: Jerimiah Valador, Kelseyville, Calif., 10 bass, 44-5, $2,187
6th: Mike Walsh, El Cajon, Calif., 10 bass, 42-13, $1,848
7th: Troy Diatte, Salinas, Calif., 12 bass, 42-1, $1,358
8th: Jose Juarez, Jr., Kelseyville, Calif., 11 bass, 41-0, $1,188
9th: Paul Buccola, Dayton, Nev., 12 bass, 40-10, $1,019
10th: Mike Alvarez, Clovis, Calif., 11 bass, 40-4, $849
Jerimiah Valador of Kelseyville, California, earned Wednesday’s $150 Berkley Big Bass co-angler award with a 6-pound, 7-ounce bass, while the Day 2 $150 co-angler award on Thursday went to Damon Witt of Riseville, California, with an 8-pound, 2-ounce bass.
The Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Clear Lake was hosted by the Konocti Vista Casino Resort & Marina. It was the first of three regular-season tournaments for the Toyota Series Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse. The next event for the Toyota Series Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse anglers will be the Toyota Series at Lake Havasu, May 2-4, in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. For a complete schedule of events, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.
The 2024 Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats consists of six divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern, Southwestern and the Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the six divisions or the Wild Card division and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 and a qualification to REDCREST 2025. The winning Strike King co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard. The 2024 Toyota Series Championship will be held Nov. 7-9 on Wheeler Lake in Huntsville, Alabama, and is hosted by the Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Madison County Commission, and the Huntsville Sports Commission.
Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Toyota Series include: 7Brew, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, E3, Epic Baits, FX Custom Rods, General Tire, Lew’s, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Suzuki, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota and YETI.
For complete details and updated information visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular Toyota Series updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the MLF5 social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
