Steckel Wins 2026 WON Bass Lake Havasu Open Marquez Claims Second Place; Motley Wins AAA Division

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BY DAN O’SULLIVAN

Lake Havasu City, Ariz. – Leading a professional bass tournament heading into the final day can be an exhilarating experience. An angler knowing that they have done enough to be on the precipice of a major victory can cause a person to feel pride in accomplishment and anticipation.

It can also place a target on their back.

Having the game plan and the nerves of steel it takes to close out events has been known to create pressure that some anglers find troublesome. Los Angeles, Calif. pro Anthony Garcia started the final morning of the 2026 WON Bass Lake Havasu Open presented by Ranger Boats and Mercury with a 5.45-pound margin over second place pro Cody Steckel of Las Vegas, Calif. Steckel, who had overtaken Jason Marquez of Lake Havasu City, Ariz. for the lead, was sitting on the Ranger Hot Seat with only Garcia left to weigh.

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Garcia needed slightly more than 11 pounds to retain his position atop the leaderboard. This seemed a certainty as the Southern California pro had easily surpassed that on each day of competition. He weighed 16.71 pounds on the first day and weighed the biggest limit of the event at 22.16 pounds and the largest bass of the event, an 8.56-pound largemouth.

Needing 11.37 pounds to win the 2026 Ranger Z518 powered by a Mercury ProXS150 was all it would take; Garcia’s weight bottomed out at 10.78 pounds and Steckel would become the 2026 WON Bass Lake Havasu Open Champion with a three-day total weight of 50.24 pounds.

Marquez finished in second place with 49.68 pounds and was followed by Garcia in third place with 49.65 pounds. Three-time WON Bass Angler of the Year and 2024 US Open Champion Kyle Grover from Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. finished fourth with 48.51 pounds and Conrad Demecs of Surprise, Ariz. rounded out the top five with 48.30 pounds.

Steckel earned his first major tournament win by employing a combination of dropshotting, sightfishing and a jighead minnow on the final day exclusively. “I caught most of my fish the first two days on a few different dropshot rigs and I caught some bedded fish on the lower end of the lake,” he said. “I found a bank in Windsor Bay during practice that had a lot of fry guarders on it, and I saved it for the final day.”

He thought about the stretch of bank after day two weigh-in and decided he needed to scale down his offering, so he went to the local tackle store and bought some 3/32-ounce Range Roller jigheads and threw a Natural Shad colored Evergreen Last Ace 128mm minnow bait on it. “I really felt that those fish were going to need a slower fall to trigger the strikes and it made a lot of difference for me,” he said. “I thought I could get 16 to 17 pounds out of there, but really thought I needed a little more when I left to head back to weigh-in.”

Steckel threw his offering on a 7’7” medium action Phenix Feather spinning rod matched with a Shimano Nasci reel spooled with 10-pound-test Power Pro Super Slick braided line to a 10-pound-test Seaguar Tatsu Fluorocarbon leader.

The win is an emotional accomplishment for Steckel. “I would have never thought that my first big win would have come here,” he said. “I travel around with my dad and we do this together and this is the lake I have the most to learn on; I’m absolutely blown away by this win and to share it with my dad and friends and family around is unbelievable,”
His total Champion’s purse included the $55,000 Ranger Z518 and Mercury Pro XS150 package and $5,000 cash totaling $60,000 including a daily big bass bonus.

Marquez, a past winner of the Lake Havasu Open said that he thought there would be a chance he could make up the more than six-pound deficit he had on the leader as the day began. “It is really hard to duplicate the kind of day he (Garcia) had, and I went out to catch 17 pounds and got close,” he said. “I did what I needed to do, Cody just did it a little better than me.”

Like Steckel, Marquez fished in the Windsor Bay area, however, he targeted deeper postspawn fish. “I’ve been able to utilize this area recently and it’s because it is always replenishing, so I can hit it multiple times a day and find new fish there,” he said. “I have a few different patterns that I catch them on, but the majority are in 12 to 18 feet of water.” He targeted the offshore structure where the fish would rest up and feed with a chartreuse OSP Blitz Max crankbait and a 1/16-ounce Neko Rigged Yamamoto Senko in green pumpkin with purple and copper flake.

He said he would have loved to win but knows he’ll have opportunity again. “I’ve done well here and I’ll get my chance again,” he said. “To know this is Cody’s first win is cool, he fished well and earned this win, I’m really stoked for him.”

The AAA Division Championship was claimed by Damon Motley of Orange, Calif. with a three-day total weight of 46.53 pounds, he earned $4,300 for his victory. Second place went to Bryan Kurata of Thousand Oaks, Calif. with 45.47 pounds. Dave Phillips of Nampa, Ida. Finished in third place with 45.43 pounds, he was followed by CJ Allen of Flagstaff, Ariz. in fourth place with 44.97 pounds and Dennis Saiki finished in fifth place with 44.91 pounds.

The daily livestream of the weigh-ins aired at Facebook.com/WONBassTournaments. Daily takeoffs and weigh-ins occurred at Havasu Riviera Marina in Lake Havasu City, Ariz.

The Top 10 in each division are below, for complete standings go to: https://wonbassevents.com/pages/lake-havasu-open-pairings-results

The 2026 WON Bass Western Opens Series of events Consisting of five events in California, Arizona and Nevada, will culminate with the 2026 WON Bass U.S. Open at Lake Mead in October. The five event dates are as follows:

Jan. 8 to 10, 2026 – Clear Lake – Champion Garrett Ellenson – 98.37 pounds
Feb. 19 to 21, 2026 – Lake Shasta – Champion Brennan Osborn – 62.28 pounds
April 16 to 18, 2026 – Clear Lake – Champion – Garrett Ellenson – 95.87 pounds
May 7 to 9, 2026 – Lake Havasu
Oct. 9 to 11, 2026 – U.S. Open at Lake Mead

For complete details or to register, look to wonbassevents.com and WONews.com to hear the latest news about the 2026 season and beyond and follow along at Facebook.com/WONBassTournaments.
The 2026 WON Bass Lake Havasu Open was brought to you by Bass Pro Shops, Ranger Boats, Mercury Marine, Bridgford Foods, AFTCO, Power Pole, Costa, Berkley, Gamakatsu, Okuma, Lowrance, Stealth Lithium Batteries, Daiwa, G-Ratt Baits, Reese Fishing, Signature Gates, Abu Garcia, DD26 and Fenwick
Local presenting sponsor was Anderson Toyota

Cody Steckel moves to Second Place on Second Day

Lake Havasu City, Ariz. – May 8, 2026 –– Seldom do things turn out exactly as one hopes during a bass tournament.  When an angler plans around a pattern, they will often have to make adjustments for the conditions or the migration of the bass.  When the second day of the WON Bass Lake Havasu Open began every angler in competition for the win had a plan.

Whether they were able to make that plan work or not was another story.  For Los Angeles, Calif. pro Anthony Garcia, his plan and keeping an open mind for opportunity catapulted him from 11^th place after the opening round of competition to the lead with a 22.16-pound limit.  When paired with his 16.71 performance on day one, gave him a total weight of 38.87 and a nearly five-and-a-half-pound lead over second place pro Cody Steckel of Las Vegas, Nev.

Garcia’s limit was bolstered by an 8.57-pound largemouth, the big bass of the tournament thus far.  In taking the lead with this margin, Garcia has nearly planted himself in the driver’s seat of the 2026 Ranger Boats Z518 powered by a Mercury ProXS 150 prize boat provided by Bass Pro Shops.

While the lead is significant, it is not insurmountable, and Garcia is followed in the standings by anglers who have proven to be consistent.  Steckel, who has competed across the country, began the day in third place with 18.52 pounds, added 14.90 to move into the runner-up position with 33.42 pounds.  He swapped positions with Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. pro Kyle Grover, a three-time WON Bass Angler of the Year who added 14.50 pounds to his day one weight of 18.62 pounds and a total weight of 33.12 pounds, good enough to start the final day in third place.

Garrett Howard of Riverside, Calif. ended the day in fourth place with 33.08 pounds and day-one leader Jason Marquez slipped to fifth place with 32.99 pounds.

Garcia said that he is fishing from the midlake area and above, and he has a couple of patterns that he is employing.  He reported having a “very specific” dropshot patter he declined to provide details about other than to say he is fishing in 25 to 30 feet of water, and that he is sightfishing later in the day.  “I had 16 to 17 pounds about midday and then went looking for bedfish,” he reported.  “I went into a pocket up north and found a big fish on bed and threw at her and caught my biggest one; I was able to cull up one more time later on another bedfish.”

He said that he feels confident in what tomorrow brings.  “I feel like I can easily catch 15 pounds early,” he said.  “If I do that, they’ll really have to catch good to beat me; I’m very excited to get out there tomorrow and see what I can do.”

Steckel revealed that is employing much the same tactics but is using the opposite end of the lake.  “I have started midlake to get my early limit, then after I get my weight at about 10:00AM, I’m running south to look for bedded fish,” he said.  “It worked out decently today except that I didn’t get any of the bigger bedfish to eat the whole bait.  I’ve got a few really good ones that are locked on and if I can get a couple of those to go, I feel like I have a real shot; but I also feel like I’ll need 20 pounds tomorrow to overcome Anthony’s lead and I feel like it’s possible.”

Damon Motley of Orange, Calif. took over the lead of the AAA Division with a two-day total of 35.47 pounds.  He is followed in second place by Waddell, Ariz. AAA James Gammelgaard with 33.84 pounds.  Third place went to Mike Gabrielson of Bullhead City, Ariz. with 33.49 pounds while Brent Decker of Chandler, Ariz. placed fourth with 31.84 pounds and CJ Allen of Chandler, Ariz. rounded out the top five in the AAA Division with 31.53 pounds.

The daily livestream of the weigh-ins aired at Facebook.com/WONBassTournaments. Daily weigh-ins from Havasu Riviera Marina in Lake Havasu City, Ariz. begin after the first flight checks in at 3:00 PM Pacific Time.

The Top 10 in each division are below, for complete standings go to: https://wonbassevents.com/pages/lake-havasu-open-pairings-results

2026 WON Bass Lake Havasu Open Day Two Pro Standings

2026 WON Bass Lake Havasu Open Day Two AAA Standings

The 2026 WON Bass Western Opens Series of events Consisting of five events in California, Arizona and Nevada, will culminate with the 2026 WON Bass U.S. Open at Lake Mead in October.  The five event dates are as follows:

Jan. 8 to 10, 2026 – Clear Lake – Champion Garrett Ellenson – 98.37 pounds
Feb. 19 to 21, 2026 – Lake Shasta – Champion Brennan Osborn – 62.28 pounds

April 16 to 18, 2026 – Clear Lake – Champion – Garrett Ellenson – 95.87 pounds

May 7 to 9, 2026 – Lake Havasu

Oct. 9 to 11, 2026 – U.S. Open at Lake Mead

For complete details or to register, look to wonbassevents.com and WONews.com to hear the latest news about the 2026 season and beyond and follow along at Facebook.com/WONBassTournaments.

The 2026 WON Bass Clear Lake Open is brought to you by Bass Pro Shops, Ranger Boats, Mercury Marine, Bridgford Foods, AFTCO, Power Pole, Costa, Berkley, Gamakatsu, Okuma, Lowrance, Stealth Lithium Batteries, Daiwa, G-Ratt Baits, Reese Fishing, Signature Gates, Abu Garcia, DD26 and Fenwick

Local presenting sponsor is Anderson Toyota

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