BOARDMAN, Ore – Zackery Shaff from Richland, Wash. weighed 21.35, bolstered by a 7.74 Big
Bass to add to his Day One 22.08, putting together a winning weight of 43.43 at the Columbia River for the BAM Trail’s final regular season stop of the 2025 Pacific Northwest Pro/Am Circuit presented by the Boardman Chamber of Commerce and Boardman Community Development .
Shaff credits his victory to being stubborn. “Believing the fish were there and I was going to catch ‘em,” was the reason he felt he was able to claim the W. “I had to adapt today and really slow down but be stubborn and really fish my areas.”
A two-prong approach was the basis of Shaff’s strategy. “Big reaction baits on Day One, followed up with slow, weightless soft plastic Senkos to try and trick ‘em today,” he elaborated.
A mid-sized River2Sea S-Waver in bone was his first day’s go-to and a wacky-rigged, six-inch Green Pumpkin Yamamoto Senko was the predominate lure on his Day Two.
“For the swimbait, a Dobyns 736CB Glass is a freakin’ awesome rod,” he commented. “It’s a glass/hybrid ChatterBait rod. It’s fantastic for ChatterBaits; but it throws that S-Waver and other glide baits, really, really well, up to an ounce and ¾ or so. It has a good moderate action; so, once you hook ‘em, they stayed hooked pretty well.”
“The other was a Dobyns Champion Extreme 764 spinning rod. It’s sort of unusual to use a spinning rod for a six-inch Senko; but I was going between five- and six-inch Senkos and that rod has some backbone to it, even for a spinning rod.”
Shaff focused on open areas in 10-feet or less. “Particularly in the morning, you had to know where they were, without being able to see ‘em,” he shared.
Shaff’s accomplishment netted a total payout of $10,900 which included the $10,000 grand prize, $325 for Big Fish, $325 for Day Two Big Stringer and the Bass Boat Technologies contingency of $250.
Posten Slipped To Second
After leading Day One with 24.46, Gary Posten of Pendleton, Ore found his second day of fishing a challenge. Coming to the scales with 12.91, nearly half of his first day’s limit, which held the tournament’s biggest bass at 7.74. Posten totaled out at 37.37, just over six-pounds behind Shaff.
Posten attributed his fish to a River2Sea Ish Monroe Phat Mat Daddy Frog fished on his home-built, 7’3” heavy-action rod with 80-pound braid.
“I prefer to build my own,” he said about his fishing rod. “I think you can do a couple things that you can’t really find on the market, so I like to build ‘em.”
Posten pocketed $3,827 for his efforts. His payday contained $325 for the Day One Big Bass, and another $325 for the Day One Big Stringer.
Burkhardt Brakes For The Grass Edge
Darryl Burkhardt of Boring, Ore rounded out the trop trio hoisting daily five-fish limits of 18.73 and 16.32. His tournament total of 35.05, included a Day One 5.54 big bass.
Burkhardt fished edges in depths of 6- to 10-foot.
“The water was really clear, and I had to make real long casts to give the fish enough time to try to commit to it,” he said. “A lot of them would follow it right until they could see the boat and then they would peel off to the left or the right.”
He also threw a Powder and Bone River2Sea S-Waver and a Super Spook in White and Bone as well.
“I throw all my reactions baits on a Lews fiberglass rod and the new gold Lews reel,” he said. “I did make a great purchase from Tackle Warehouse right before the event. I got a set of the Power Pole Paddles that you hook to the Power Poles and allow you to drop them into the water and they act like brakes. Man, did they work well. You drop those down into the wind when you’re fishing a grass edge and it almost brings the boat to a complete stop.”
Marshall Makes His Move
California co Randy Marshall made his way from Folsom to Boardman to bring the backseater win back to the Golden State. His event-total was made up of a Day One sack of 14.32 that claimed 5th place and a Day Two limit of 12.61 for the winning weight of 27.93.
As his first trip to the fishery, Marshall could only describe it as “unbelievable”.
“I have to give a lot of credit to my pros,” he explained.
Marshall was throwing a spinnerbait and topwater in zero to six-feet.
“If I was in six to maybe 15 or 18-feet, I was throwing a swimbait and sometimes I might throw a Keitech on a lead head – 3/8 ounce,” he said. “If I was deeper than 18, pretty much I was throwing a dropshot or a tube. I rotated through colors.”
Marshall employed NRX rods, Shimano reels, and Sunline fishing line with a Tatsu leader to present his lures.
Earning the co-angler trophy as well as cash payout of $2,500, Marshall was very appreciative of BAM for their continued efforts to host the tournament trail.
REST OF THE BEST FINAL RESULTS