BY MIKE STEVENS
LAKEPORT — A perennial top-10 bass lake in the country if not on a global level, Clear Lake is where trophy largemouth are always on the radar for competitive anglers shooting it out at the highest level. At last year’s event, each of the top seven finishers turned in 3-day total weights over 71 pounds. That of course includes the winner, Austin Bonjour of Templeton, California who was the only one to eclipse the 80-pound plateau when he piled up 83.28-pounds of largemouth bass which was enough to propel him to the top of the leaderboard and earn his first WON BASS championship at the fabled western lake.
Bonjour came out of the gates guns-a-blazing’ and weighed-in a 33.84-pound sack on Day 1, and while that was his best day of the tournament, it was only the third-heaviest limit brought to scale on that day. While that level of parity means any angler in the field can shoot to the top of the daily standings on a given day of fishing on this particular trophy-bass factory, it was consistency over the next two days that allowed Bonjour to lock up the title.
With the 2025 WON BASS Clear Lake Open right around the corner, Western Outdoor News caught up with Bonjour to see how he was preparing to defend his title, specifically, what might change and what stays the same as far as his approach a year after putting it all together.
“Clear Lake is number one of all the (WON BASS) venues,” said Bonjour. “Mohave is a close second. “I like how both of them are natural beauties. They’re just gems. Clear Lake stands the test of time and pressure and seems like it never succumbs to that pressure. It aways puts out big bags, and you don’t’ have to be a local to do well there. Anyone can do well if they find the right area.”
While the Templeton, California resident is not a Clear Lake local, he is definitely keeping tabs on conditions on the lake as we close in on the event.
“The lake is high, almost full pool right now,” Bonjour told WON. “The fish are going to be healthy, and it’s April in Northern California, so it can be raining or snowing and cold, or sunny and hot. There are either going to be postspawn fish or spawning fish, and believe it or not, even postspawn fish because lot of the big females get their stuff done in March. But it’s going to depend on conditions, but I feel like it’s going to be a battle of prespawn and spawn fishing.”
One interesting tidbit that came out of this interview was the fact that Bonjour not only hasn’t fished Clear Lake since he won the Clear Lake Open last year, but he has only fished it in tournament situations…period. But he does have a suitable substitute where he tunes up that he refers to as “Clear Lake 2.”
“Santa Margarita Lake fishes just like Clear Lake. They are almost identical,” he said. A lot of 4- to 6-pound fish and then like a 10 pounder. It’s just like Clear Lake. They’re like the same exact bass.”
His Santa Margarita training grounds and the similarity with Clear Lake went well beyond the bass themselves, too. According to Bonjour, they even have similar structure and vegetation spots that are attacked the same way he would fish similar spots at Clear Lake.
Bonjour had already brought up his thoughts on how anyone can come from anywhere and do well at Clear Lake before he was asked if locals have a big advantage there, but he did bring up some interesting points on both sides of that coin. He said locals have the advantage at other times of year when the fish are not close to the banks (or preparing to shallow up), and they’re hanging around “little sneaky spots” that only locals know about for possibly months on end. But when spring closes in, that becomes well less of a factor.
“This is the time of year fish are coming to the bank, and that levels the playing field for the guys coming from out of state or out of the area,” said Bonjour. “The lake is also so plugged full of bass, it’s not even funny. They are everywhere, and you find success when you realize you can’t catch them all. That levels the playing field as well. Your odds are so much better with the amount of fish in the lake. It mixes really well with the time of year when the fish are coming up, not on local sweet spots and there’s a billion bass in there. And the weights show, last year 20 pounds a day didn’t even get you a check. It’s fun for everybody.”
While Bonjour will be fishing hard for the repeat victory, when asked who the favorites are going into the 2025 installment of the WON BASS Clear Lake Open, he quickly listed off two locals and two out-of-towners.
Among the locals was John Pearl (unknown of Pearl will be fishing this one) who Bonjour said is a “scary dude who knows the lake really well,” and Paul Bailey who is “extremely dangerous on that body of water.”
For the non-locals, he said reigning WON BASS Angler of the Year Kyle Grover is “one bad dude who knows how those fish school and set up, and how to fish them,” and one of Bonjour’s best friends, Patrick Touey who has the same knowledge of Clear Lake and has come very close to big wins there in the past.
A year ago, conditions could not have been better for the WON BASS field with blue skies, warm temps and a light breeze setting the backdrop for the competition days at Clear Lake. An environmental setup like that puts sight-fishing for big spawners at or near the top of the list in a competitive situation, but Bonjour got it done in 2024 with only two of his 15 keepers coming off beds. So, like the weather conditions, anglers have to be ready for anything, and the best ones will have a Plan B and beyond in place while keeping spawning areas in mind because that’s where tourney-winning kicker fish tend to come from in April. In 2024, seven bass over 9 pounds, six over 8 and another seven over six pounds were weighed on Day 1 alone.
There are a ton of sticks in the WON BASS field that could make a storied run emerge as champion when the dust settles of the Clear Lake Open, and Bonjour is definitely in the right place mentally to hit the tournament on all cylinders and make a run at a repeat.
“If it’s really warm leading up to the event, I feel like there will be fish spawning, it’s just a question of how many and how clear the water is,” he said. “Last year’s practice period was cold and backed the fish up a bit. If it’s cold and the water temps is lingering in the 60s, those fish will be sitting right outside of where they want to spawn which is how I won last time. That win was a life goal. was a life goal. I never thought I was going to accomplish it. It’s mentaly draining but super rewarding. You are there for 3 to 4 days of practice, 3 days competition, and you’re on the gas the entire time. If you’re going to win, you have to be catching big bags., You’ve got to be fishing at 100 from your first stop in practice to the last cast of the tournament, and that’s mentally exhausting for sure. I’ve got a shot to go back-to-back. Let’s see what happens.”
The 2025 WON Bass Lake Shasta Open is brought to you by Bass Pro Shops, Ranger Boats, Mercury Marine, Nitro Boats, Triton Boats, Bridgford Foods, Volta Power Lithium, Power Pole, Lowrance, Daiwa, AFTCO, Costa, Berkley, Abu Garcia, Fenwick Rods, Anderson Toyota, A&M Graphics, Anglers Marine, Signature Gates, DD26 Fishing, Bad Ass Bearings, Cipher Fishing Megaware Keelguard.
For complete details or to register, look to wonbassevents.com and WONews.com to hear the latest news about the 2024 season and beyond and follow along at Facebook.com/WONBassTournaments.
Local presenting sponsors are Clear Lake Outdoors and the City of Lakeport. Daily takeoffs and weigh-ins will happen at Library Park in the City of Lakeport, California.
