Ish Monroe Wins BAM on California Delta

OAKLEY, Calif. – The past three days were everything that pro angler Ish Monroe of Oakdale, Calif. could have wanted as the final stop of the BAM Trail’s West Division’s Pro/Am presented by Tackle Warehouse and the City of Oakley played out on his home water the California Delta at his preferred time of year.

By scales closing on Championship Sunday, Monroe had bagged another 23.48 for the day, notching a tournament total of 62.79, hoisting the champion’s trophy and pocketing $9,250 including $250 contingence from Bass Boat Technologies for the W. Ish will also take home Skeeter Real Money, Yamaha Power Play, Power Pole Captains Cash and Costa bringing his winnings to $25k

“Everything went right, pretty much the whole week,” said Monroe. “This is my time of year. I love it because they’re always eating a frog and the punch. I don’t pick up a dropshot. I don’t have a spinning rod in the boat.”

Foregoing any type of finesse tactic, Monroe added a Chatterbait to his tournament arsenal and relied on it heavily for the final day of fishing.

“It was a JackHammer in B-Hites Hot Craw, a brown and red color with a Missile Baits Spunk Shad 4.5 in Rotten Tomato, a color exclusive to Fisherman’s Warehouse, so you got to go there to get it,” he said.

His punch rig held a Missile Baits D Bomb, and he rotated through three colors. Once again, the exclusive Rotten Tomato color from Fisherman’s Warehouse as well as Peanut Butter and Jelly and Monroe’s favorite Candy Grass. His frog fish fell to a River2Sea Phat Mat Daddy.

Although he managed to land more than two dozen keepers each day, Monroe’s fishing time was abbreviated as he made a 160 mile trek daily to his fishing location.

“I got into an area that you really cannot get into on super-low water; but we had the perfect tides; we had low incoming water to get in and high outgoing water to get out,” he said. “I ran my Yamaha 160 miles burning about 40 gallons of gas every day.”

Monroe was excited to finally get the BAM Delta victory as it had just slipped away from him the year prior when he finished 2nd on the tidal water fishery.

Also for his win Ish earns a spot in the BAM Pro Am Championship in September at Lake Almanor.

• Jackhammer Chatterbait in B-Hites Craw with a Missile Baits Spunk Shad in Rotten Tomato (exclusive to Fisherman’s Warehouse)

• Punch setup with Missile Baits D Bomb in Rotten Tomato, Peanut Butter & Jelly, and Candy Grass

• River2Sea Phat Mat Daddy Frog in Yellow Head

• River2Sea Whopper Plopper in Yellow Head

Despite catching more than two dozen keepers daily, Monroe’s fishing time was limited by a 160-mile round trip run.